Pedregon still fighting

Tony Pedregon takes out the timing cones during a qualifying run on Friday. The 2007 champion is still in the hunt for a repeat (staff photo by Will Lester).

From the outside, Tony Pedregon's quest for a repeat championship in Funny Car looks like a dilusion of grandeur at best.
But the Southern California native isn't quite ready to throw in the towel just yet. The difference may come in qualifying, where Pedregon began the event 62 points behind brother and leader Cruz Pedregon, 50 behind Tim Wilkerson and trailed third-place Robert High by 23 points.
But he also knew if he could pick up three points on his brother, he could trim that advantage from four rounds to three rounds, and from two rounds behind Hight to one round.
So far, his plan is working, at least in chase of his brother.
Tony Pedregon, after two rounds of qualifying, is sixth and with Cruz Pedregon not yet qualified, that lead would be trimmed to 58 points and three rounds. But he would still be 22 behind Hight, who is seventh after two rounds.
"For starters, we've already achieved our qualifying positions," Tony Pedregon said. "We've gained those points on him, as long as he stays three positions behind us. Robert on the other hand, we know he's running good, but I kind of like our chances of catching Robert, even if it's two rounds. Two rounds we can make up. Three rounds is tough, because you are just asking a lot.
"Our gameplan is that we knew yesterday that it would continue to get warmer, so (Thursday) was probably going to be our best shot to be aggressive, which really is against our normal approach. We usually want to just get down the track (on the first session), we couldn't do that, and that part of it worked good. At this point, we have to get to the final and win the race and hope the other guys skip a beat. I have seen stranger things happen. We haven't conceded, yet."
Pedregon is also prepared to face his brother early, and defeat him, if necessary.
"We can only hope Cruz doesn't get in the way," Tony Pedregon said. "We have aligned ourselves with companies, like Q and Snap-On and Prestone, who pay me to win. Cruz understands that. We have both understood that over the years.
"I have that issue with Cruz; I have that issue with Bob Tasca, who is a good friend of me. As close as we are, I had to beat him. I think we do a good job of separating that and have a good understanding that if Cruz is in the way, I'm going to race him no different than any of the (John) Force cars. For Cruz's sake, he may want to stay out of my way."