FULLER SUFFERS RARE EARLY LOSS AT BRISTOL

Fuller and his Rob Flynn-led Caterpillar/Matco Tools team started from the No. 9 position after qualifying with a pass of 4.584-seconds. That placed the Caterpillar team in a first-round match-up against No. 8 qualifier and former NHRA Rookie of the Year J.R. Todd. As the first pair of dragsters to square off on Sunday, the drivers used nearly identical reaction times and Fuller sped to a pass of 4.635 seconds at 280.95 mph. The Caterpillar dragster suffered a mechanical failure during the pass and slowed from a sure mid-4.5-second elapsed time. That allowed Todd to score the round win with a run of 4.589 at 321.04. Fuller now has a record of 10-7 this season.

“That was a tough round,” Fuller said. “We were on a really good pass and the car hit a bump and knocked my foot off the throttle pedal and that’s why we lost the round. It should have run a low 4.50, but it’s just one of those tough breaks in drag racing. I don’t mind taking the blame, but we're analyzing why it happened. Our car is running good. We’ll move on to Topeka and hopefully represent our CAT dealers and do well.”

The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 20th annual O’Reilly Summer Nationals, May 30-June 1, at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kan. Fuller’s teammate, Antron Brown, advanced to the quarterfinals on Sunday at Bristol. Brown ranks second in the NHRA standings with two wins this season.

Headquartered in Houston with race operations located in Brownsburg, Ind., David Powers Motorsports fields the two-car Top Fuel operation of drivers Rod Fuller and Antron Brown. DPM proudly represents racing partners Matco Tools, Caterpillar, Forward Sports Marketing, Valvoline, Toyota, Ringer’s Gloves, Go Fast Sports, iLocate GPS, Goodyear, FRAM, and Autolite.

R1 Todd (.066) 4.589 ET, 321.04 MPH def. FULLER (.074) 4.635 ET, 280.95 MPH


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