Burgess set the bar high in first session at Virginia Motorsports Park, blowing the field away with a 5.936 at 241.20 mph to take the top spot after one round and making it clear that he has the World Championship points battle on his mind.  In the second round, he ran a sizzling 5.911 at 242.32 to take the No. 2 spot over night.

"We had a good solid day today and we were able to step it up, but we've got to make up some ground this weekend.  There are only eight rounds of racing left, and I'm two-and-a-half rounds behind. So, we've got to make up some ground this weekend to have a chance at catching Burton (Auxier) for the World Championship."

After a slow start in the first session, Commisso ran a speedy 5.940 at 239.31 mph.  His first race in a new car proved to be no challenge for the Toronto native.

Commisso said, "The car ran very smooth, nice and clean, and believe it or not it ran pretty soft.  I know we ran a 5.94, but I know this car can go faster than that.

"For our first full run down the racetrack we were all very pleased.  I have to thank Al Billes (crew chief) and the whole team for working round the clock to get the car ready.  I'm really looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

Troxel ended the day No. 8 at 5.969 with a 241.97 after running a 6.022 at 240.77 mph in round one.

She said, " We've got all three cars running down the track pretty well.  We've got information from all three cars we can share, and that really helps Al tune us.

"Today, the big thing was for us to get in some good runs because of possible bad weather tomorrow, and we definitely did that.  We got all three cars qualified and looking forward to tomorrow."

Weather permitting, the final round of qualifying is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Saturday, with eliminations scheduled to begin Saturday evening with the B&J Transmissions Bonus round at 4:00 p.m. The balance of eliminations is scheduled to run Sunday afternoon.

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