Hernandez looks to build on rookie season accolades at 51st Mac Tools US Nationals

Indianapolis (8-30-05) - If faith can move mountains, NHRA AMS TLR Pro Modified Champion Josh Hernandez is hoping the confidence in his Tommy Lipar Racing team can pummel a mountain of points separating himself from point leader Mike Ashley during this weekend's MAC Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Hernandez has been chipping away at that lead over the last three events by recording two wins in three final round appearances.

Hernandez enters the most prestigious of the NHRA AMS TLR series events knowing he and his team have to be at their best.

“We are ready for the US Nationals, no doubt about it," Hernandez said. "This weekend is different for us because the qualifying is spread out over a longer period as compared to the last event where we made a lot of laps in two days. The weather can change so much over the course of the weekend, but our team is always ready for the challenge."

Coming off of an impressive win at the ADRL Racensur.com Sunshine Drags in Valdosta, GA., Hernandez is holding onto the second position in the AMS/TLR point standings.

The major motivation tool is that he leads the standings in the Flowmaster Pro Mod Clash points, a special race-within-a-race that rewards the winner a $20,000 prize. Points are accrued based on qualifying positions throughout the year the Dr. Moon’s Rage 1957 Chevy has been on top of the qualifying ladder more often than anyone else.

In his rookie season at the wheel of the Pro Modified entry, Hernandez has done things that seasoned veterans could only hope to accomplish. The team has racked up three national event victories and a score of final round finishes.

This feat becomes even more amazing when one realizes that the season began with a horrific crash at a preseason event in Houston, Texas, that destroyed the team’s car. Many teams would have scrapped the season at that point, called it quits. Not the TLR team, not Howard Moon and certainly not Hernandez. The team located a car and prepared it. He mentally prepared himself to get past the trauma of the wreck. Now they are trailing only one man in the current point standings, the 2004 world champion Mike Ashley.

Hernandez has the utmost of respect for his friendly rival Ashley. He knows the key to gaining ground is for Ashley to exit early in eliminations.

“Mike is a heck of a racer and we have been battling pretty hard to make up ground on that team but it is not easy," Hernandez said. "Mike and his team are very strong and we do not make up much ground on him at all when we keep meeting in final rounds. We are chipping away though.”

Although the point gap is large and the remaining number of elimination rounds continues to shrink, the team is not mathematically out of the hunt.

“We are still alive in the hunt for the championship and that is very big for us. If any team out here can make up that gap, this one can,” Josh said. “It is going to take some good luck for us and some bad luck for him, but we are going to fight right up to the very end. The word quit is not in our vocabulary.”

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