Seattle, Washington (August 5, 2015) - As the NHRA tour reaches its final stop of the three-race Western Swing this weekend with the 28th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, drag racing's reigning Rookie of the Year, Richie Crampton, finds himself comfortably in the mix for the pending playoffs. Now, with a postseason position virtually locked up, the sophomore pro says he and his Lucas Oil teammates are focused on one thing only.
"We need to make fast, consistent runs on race day," Crampton said. "If you do that, everything else falls into place -- the wins, the points, your spot in the rankings, the championship, that all gets taken care of when you run well on Sundays."
Crampton has run extremely well on race day during the three national events his team won this year in Las Vegas, Topeka, Kan., and Bristol, Tenn. They've also looked strong in eight other semifinal and quarterfinal efforts. At the same time, like all nitro teams, there have been a couple of off weekends, something Crampton hopes his team can eliminate when the playoffs start in mid-September in Charlotte.
"Ideally, you want to have good momentum going into the Countdown," Crampton said. "We've seen so much happen since the inception of the playoffs, some where people have come from way back to win it all, and other times where the leader going in just powers through. It's all in how your team performs for those six races.
"We're fifth at the moment, right in the middle, so we're in the group that will run for the championship, but of course we'd like to move up a spot or two to be that much closer to the front. The main thing is to get on a roll and minimize mistakes down the stretch."
Pacific Raceways has some great history for Crampton, albeit not as a driver. He was on the crew when his current boss, team owner Morgan Lucas, drove to the winner's circle in 2013. Prior to becoming a driver last year, Crampton served as Lucas' clutch specialist.
"That was a fun day, for sure, and what's important now is we have that data in the books to look at for this year's race," said Crampton, who hails from Adelaide, Australia. "Pacific Raceways is a great track in one of the most beautiful places in the country, and it can be very, very fast when the conditions are good because of all the trees around the facility. Even though we make our own air with the blowers, the motor doesn't have to work nearly as hard to make it ideal when there's an abundance of oxygen.
"This is the last stop of the Western Swing, so we need to earn as many points as we can, get the car running strong, and brace for what's ahead."
Top Fuel qualifying sessions are scheduled for 3 and 6 p.m., Friday, and 1:30 and 4:30 p.m., Saturday. Eliminations begin at 11 a.m., Sunday. ESPN2 will carry both qualifying and elimination action.
