{"id":17569,"date":"2015-08-19T16:02:39","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T23:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=17569"},"modified":"2015-09-16T11:26:13","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T18:26:13","slug":"nhra-mello-yello-competitors-prep-for-brainerd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/nhra-mello-yello-competitors-prep-for-brainerd\/","title":{"rendered":"NHRA Mello Yello Competitors Prep for Brainerd"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"15SteveTorrencePressKitPHOTO\"
Steve Torrence sits comfortably in 10th the Top Fuel points over Clay Millican.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photos: Courtesy of NHRA<\/p>\n

The NHRA Mello Yello series heads north to the Land of 10,000 Lakes this weekend for the running of the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, and with only two races to go before the Countdown to the Championship, there\u2019s plenty of mental pressure on certain drivers to either step up or step away from their title bid at this race.<\/p>\n

After Brainerd, the tour heads\u00a0to Indianapolis\u2019 \u00a0for the the Chevrolet U.S. Nationals on Labor Day.\u00a0 This year, it returns back to points and a half and the combinations are endless of who could make a major move and get in the Countdown.<\/p>\n

Urgency was the underlying theme of last year\u2019s race, and teams and fans alike expect the same this year.<\/p>\n

In Top Fuel, Tony Schumacher and Antron Brown have clinched playoff berths and in 10th<\/sup>\u00a0 Steve Torrence is holding a 103-point lead over Clay Millican, who returns to competition after the tragic loss of his son, Dalton last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a really good race team and now we expect to make the playoffs,\u201d proclaimed Torrence.\u00a0 \u201cThe goal now is to win the championship.\u00a0 You can do it from No. 10 (starting position), but you\u2019d like to be a little closer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"
Courtney Force needs to win the next two races to get her way into the Countdown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funny Car’s Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman are in the Countdown, but 11th<\/sup>\u00a0place Courtney Force trails her John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight by 73 reachable points. Hight is tied for\u00a0ninth with Alexis DeJoria and this three-way battle highlights why\u00a0every round is\u00a0so important when so few points separate the competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is another huge race and that puts a lot of pressure on my Traxxas team, but we thrive on that pressure,\u201d said Courtney Force.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s racing. \u00a0We are motivated and going to do everything as a team to do well at Brainerd. \u00a0We are in a tough position, but also excited and ready for this race. \u00a0We’ve got no other choice at this point, but to push each other and give it 110% all weekend long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"15DrewSkillmanNHRAPHOTO\"
Drew Skillman has had a great rookie season and looks like he\u2019s heading into the Countdown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pro Stock’s Greg Anderson, Erica Enders-Stevens, Chris McGaha and Jason Line are locked in to the Countdown.\u00a0 From all appearances it looks like Drew Skillman will hold the 10th<\/sup> position, but you can\u00a0never tell what happens in this upset-minded class.\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying begins at Brainerd on Friday, Aug. 21, with sessions at 4 and 6:30 p.m. EDT. \u00a0The final two qualifying sessions will take place Sunday, Aug. 22, at 2 and 4:30 p.m. \u00a0Final eliminations are scheduled for 12 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 23, live on ESPN3 and 9 p.m. on ESPN2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heading into Brainerd, the NHRA class forerunners are looking to shake things up, keep their places, and break some ties as the Championship countdown edges ever closer.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":17570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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}},"categories":[3465,3470,3399],"tags":[1461,82,1196,1974,77,1972,640,1258,512,128,7,440,1942,575],"class_list":["post-17569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-nhra","tag-2015-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-antron-brown","tag-brainerd-international-raceway","tag-chris-mcgaha","tag-courtney-force","tag-drew-skillman","tag-erica-enders-stevens","tag-jack-beckman","tag-jason-line","tag-matt-hagan","tag-nhra","tag-robert-hight","tag-steve-torrence","tag-tony-schumacher"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/15SteveTorrencePressKitFeature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-4zn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17569"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17594,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17569\/revisions\/17594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}