The Infinite Hero Foundation team was officially eliminated from the Championship chase on Sunday during the16th annual NHRA Nationals the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
They entered race day as the No. 1 qualifying team at the Strip with their pass of 3.871 at 327.43 mph.
In round one, Beckman lined up against Jeff Arend and made a 3.890-second pass at 326.95 mph. He then advanced to the second to face Courtney Force.
Beckman went into immediate tire smoke and coasted to 7.852-second pass at 78.74 mph to give Force the win.
Entering race day, Beckman trailed the points leader and Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Ron Capps, by 131 points. But due to their second round lose, Beckman fell back to 151 points behind Capps, who advanced to the semifinals.
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| Photo Credit: Auto Imagery |
“I really thought we’d put down some numbers good enough to have a car that could go out and win the race, and to go out and smoke the tires second round, nobody was expecting that out of the Infinite Hero car.
“We're staying and we're testing tomorrow, and we're not testing so much to get an advantage for Pomona, we're testing to get a head start for next year. We'll go back to our regular combination for Pomona and go out there and try to be smart about it and turn on four win lights Sunday there.”
In two weeks, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series returns to Auto Club Raceway at Pomona for the final race of the 2016 season.
“I gotta tell ya, a trophy makes the off-season go by really, really well. Right now, everybody is staying positive, we'll focus on Pomona, we'll unload there and on Friday we'll go to work.”
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