Tucker content despite first round Indy loss

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With only six total professional passes at Lucas Oil Raceway in his career, Pro Stock driver Shane Tucker had a solid weekend at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals despite a first-round loss.

A slight issue on his burnout couldn’t faze Tucker, who ran his fastest speed of the weekend in round one of eliminations at 208.71 mph. With almost identical reaction times, .052 to .050, Tucker’s Auzmet Chevrolet Camaro was just one-hundredth off from upsetting No. 3 seed Shane Gray.

“We were prepared for the track today for sure,” Tucker said. “I haven’t been able to look at the speed we ran but we really haven’t found the sweet spot of the car yet. That’s going against us a little bit but it’s getting better. I felt good heading into the first round today.

“We had some stuff go on during the burnout where it dead-headed fifth gear. With all that going on, I was still calm and ready to go. I knew when I let the clutch out that I was late. I thought I was actually a lot later than I was. I expected to look over and see him in top gear but I still couldn’t see him.

“It felt good to have a good run. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t get the win in the end. He was there for the taking; I just didn’t get there in time.”

While he was disappointed that he couldn’t pull off the round-one victory against Gray, Tucker is happy about the dependability that his car is showing with every pass it makes. Tucker, however, would like to try pushing the limits a bit more to try to get that extra edge needed for his first NHRA win.

“I think we definitely have a consistent race car,” Tucker said. “I also think we’re not getting after it enough and we’re really soft. I’m sure when we start to get after it we’ll probably find the limit of the car and where it needs to be.

“It’s just one of those things that we’re racing guys here that have done 800 to 1,000 runs on the racetrack. That gives them so many more runs of data to go back to compared to us. We just need to be a little bit smarter in our decisions and maybe get after it a little bit more.”

Tucker and the team will work on preparing their setup for the NHRA Carolina Nationals, September 12-14, at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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