"For some reason I looked at the schedule wrong and I actually had a flight booked and was ready to go to Brainerd last week," Toliver laughed. "It's funny because I looked on NHRA.com where they count down the days to the next race and when it said eight days and so many hours, I just thought they hadn't updated it. Then it registered and I thought, 'You dummy, Brainerd's next week.' Oh well, I rebooked my flight and I'm ready to go.
"The biggest problem we're having is we're not qualifying the CANIDAE car high enough. We're getting knocked out first round by cars that have just plain out-qualified us. We need to step it up and Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) is working really hard on that. We're working hard to get to the next level and then be consistent with what we have. There are just too many good cars out here so you've got to be there."
The Jim Dunn Racing team had good performance numbers with the CANIDAE car at Norwalk, prior to the just-completed Western Swing, matching its best qualifying effort of the season and posting the second-fastest speed of the meet. Toliver and the team now look to regain some of that momentum starting this weekend at Brainerd.
"I'm not going to say we can't get over this hump, we just haven't gotten over it up to this point," Toliver said. "We're certainly not going to roll over and quit trying. We're going to keep working hard and see if we can't get this thing turned around. Making the top 10 is out of the question, but we want to make a good showing and finish the year strong."
A one-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Saturday, Aug. 15, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday, Aug. 16, when NHRA Race Day kicks off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 am (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 10:00 p.m. (ET).
Kirk Weeks
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