{"id":11742,"date":"2017-08-01T12:16:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T17:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=11742"},"modified":"2017-08-01T12:16:31","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T17:16:31","slug":"top-fuels-scott-palmer-channeling-inner-rocky-heading-to-30th-annual-nhra-northwest-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/01\/top-fuels-scott-palmer-channeling-inner-rocky-heading-to-30th-annual-nhra-northwest-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Fuel\u2019s Scott Palmer channeling inner Rocky heading to 30th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of the NHRA<\/em><\/p>\n

KENT, Wash. \u2013 With each passing race, the magnitude of the situation grows a little bit bigger for Scott Palmer<\/strong>. But that appears to be just fine for the Top Fuel driver determined to make his first career appearance in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series<\/a> Countdown to the Championship.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Scott Palmer. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

A first-round win in Sonoma on Sunday over eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher in his 10,000-horsepower CatSpot\/Marck Industries\/Tommy Thompson Motorsports dragster kept Palmer in ninth and stretched his lead over 10th-place Troy Coughlin Jr. Heading to this weekend\u2019s NHRA Northwest Nationals at scenic Pacific Raceways, the final stop of the famed Western Swing, Palmer knows he must continue to push forward to keep his spot in the top 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big opportunity,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cGetting into the Countdown would be like winning a championship for us. It\u2019s the most important thing ever right now and it\u2019s the most important thing racing-wise that\u2019s happened to anyone on this team. This team is Rocky Balboa and we\u2019re fighting Apollo Creed. There\u2019s some incredible teams out here, but we\u2019re still going to keep fighting.\u201d <\/p>\n

Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Aaron Strong (Pro Stock) were last year\u2019s winners of the event that will be televised on FOX Sports 1 and FOX national broadcast network, including live final eliminations on FOX starting at 4 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Aug. 6. It is the 16th of 24 events in 2017, meaning only two events follow it before the Countdown to the Championship. Palmer can see the finish line of that first playoff berth, but there\u2019s still work to be done.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Scott Palmer. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

He has used consistent runs in his dragster to become a threat to win rounds at each race and Palmer knows he must maintain that approach in Seattle. Palmer, who has five round wins in 2017, is 47 points ahead of Coughlin and 75 points up on 11th-place Shawn Langdon, but he expects to see major challenges from each over the course of the next few races.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very exciting for us,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cI talked to Tommy (Thompson) and he told me to do everything I need to in order to give myself the best chance of making the Countdown. We\u2019re trying to fight off two Kalitta (Motorsports) cars and that\u2019s a tough task we\u2019re up against. They\u2019re going to be throwing the kitchen sink at it to try to get in, but I think we\u2019re headed in the right direction. It\u2019s just very important that we continue our good runs and make runs to the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means no radical changes heading to Pacific Raceways, where Palmer will try to use a consistent approach of running in the high 3.70s and low 3.80s to unseat some of the top drivers in the class. The list includes the likes of defending event winner and back-to-back world champ Brown and current points leader Steve Torrence, who won in Sonoma and has a career-best six victories this season. But Palmer is undaunted by the challenge and is having the time of his life competing for the spot in the NHRA\u2019s six-race playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key for us in Seattle is the same as always and that\u2019s making it to the finish line clean,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cI still think you make your own luck. If you go down the track a lot it makes people have to think about you. We\u2019ve done a good job. We\u2019re trying to go a little faster but we can\u2019t get carried away. The key is making a good run on Friday and putting ourselves in a better qualifying position. We\u2019ll get a little more aggressive on Friday, but that\u2019s going to be our only change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capps will look for a repeat win to keep his impressive pace in Funny Car going in 2017. The reigning world champ has six wins this year, but will be challenged by three-time season winner Matt Hagan, Robert Hight, who won in Denver, and Sonoma winner J.R. Todd.<\/p>\n

In Pro Stock, Strong earned his first career win a year ago. Bo Butner has picked up his first professional victories in 2017, winning three times to take over the points lead. Other top performers this year include rookie Tanner Gray, who has three wins, and Greg Anderson.<\/p>\n

The event features thrilling competition in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series as well, showcasing the future stars of the sport.<\/p>\n

As always, fans will have the opportunity to interact with their favorite drivers as they\u2019re granted an exclusive pit pass to the most powerful and sensory-filled motorsports attraction on the planet. This unique opportunity in motorsports gives fans direct access to the teams, allowing them to see firsthand the highly-skilled mechanics service their hot rods between rounds, and get autographs from their favorite NHRA drivers.<\/p>\n

Fans also will want to visit NHRA\u2019s popular Nitro Alley and Manufacturers Midway, where sponsors and race vendors create a carnival atmosphere, with interactive displays, simulated competitions, merchandise, food and fun for the entire family.<\/p>\n

Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 2:30 and 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 4 and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 1:30 and 4:00 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 6.<\/p>\n

To purchase general-admission or reserved seats, call 253-639-5927. Tickets also are available online at www.pacificraceways.com<\/a>. Kids 12 and under are free in general admission areas with a paid adult. To honor the Salute to First Responders, military and first responders can save 20 percent on general admission tickets at the gate. For more information about the NHRA visitwww.NHRA.com<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of the NHRA KENT, Wash. \u2013 With each passing race, the magnitude of the situation grows a little bit bigger for Scott Palmer. But that appears to be just fine for the Top Fuel driver determined to make his first career appearance in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,309,468,297],"class_list":["post-11742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-nhra","tag-nhra-northwest-nationals","tag-pacific-raceways","tag-scott-palmer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Palmer_Scott_Action_2017.jpg?fit=2250%2C1500","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-33o","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11742"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11746,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11742\/revisions\/11746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}