Shields Qualifies on Top in Charlotte

Shields Qualifies on Top in Charlotte

Charlotte NC - Duane Shields qualified on top at the O'Reilly Auto
Parts NHRA Nationals in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shields stopped the
clocks with a 5.34 at 267 MPH for the top seed. The popular Nevada
based racer needed his qualifying success to lead him all the way to
the final round to regain some momentum towards the World
Championship. But sadly for Shields, he came up a little short in
North Carolina and lost in the second round.

In the first round, Shields took on Don Fiorelli for the second
straight week. Fiorelli jumped the gun and left before the tree was
activated which gave the win to Shields who recorded a 5.41 at 266
MPH. "We had the car set up soft on that run as we didn't want to take
any chances" Shields said.

In the second round, Shields faced John Finke. At the green Finke left
first with a 0.098 to Shields 0.102. Shields then smoked the tires and
Finke was long gone scoring a 5.77. Shields contributed the loss to
trying a few new things that just didn't work. "I have the tendency to
try new ideas and I have to stop doing that" Shields said. He then
went on to explain that he will be going back to his old set up after
a break next week. "This loss hurt our shot at the Championship but we
still have a chance. Now, our destiny also depends on how others do.
Regardless, we're just going to have fun at the remaining races and
try to score another win or two."

Shields and the Shortline Express team thanks their sponsors NGK Spark
Plugs and Hussey Copper.