BRISTOL, Tenn. — Brandon Bernstein authored a successful chapter to a career-best year last July at Bristol Dragway.
The Bristol story was anything but routine, however. Bernstein had to wrestle and nurse his famed Budweiser-Lucas Oil dragster to victory in the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
"It was so hot that weekend, and it became a pedal-fest trying to get to the finish line first," Bernstein said. "We didn’t have the most consistent race car, but it feels special when you can win a round by your driving style."
After some tuning from shrewd crew chief Tim Richards, Bernstein eventually earned his fourth win of the season in style with a pass of 4.648 seconds at 317.57 miles per hour. That effort easily beat Bob Vandergriff, who never established traction.
"Tim made a big adjustment for the final round, and our car went right down the track," said Bernstein, who also posted the low elapsed time of 4.538.
Bernstein went on to record five wins en route to a third place finish in the inaugural Countdown to the Championship Top Fuel standings.
"It would have been great to win our first championship," Bernstein said. "Hopefully, we can build off what we accomplished last season and win it this time."
Drivers and fans had mixed reviews with NHRA’s playoff system. Some felt the setup was too complicated, some felt it was unfair and some were downright confused.
"I hated the format," Bernstein said.
The revised Countdown to the Championship is composed of two distinct tiers dubbed the Countdown to 10. That includes an 18-race regular season and the Countdown to 1, which is a six-race playoff.
"This system gives you a little better playing field," Bernstein said. "It doesn’t knock you out of the championship race because of one bad race.
"This way with six races, you have a chance to catch up."
Bernstein hopes to start his catch-up game this weekend at a track that has been good to his family. A grandstand at Thunder Valley is actually named after Brandon’s father, Kenny. Meanwhile, Brandon’s Bristol resume features two wins (2003, 2007) and two top qualifying positions in 2003 and 2005.
"Our team has struggled a little bit so far this season," Bernstein said. "We did get to the finals at Gainesville, but we’ve gone out the first round as of late.
"We’re just really struggling with consistency. Hopefully we can find the handle on that soon."
And Bernstein would love to find that handle at one of his favorite stops on the NHRA schedule.
"Knowing that you’ve won at a track before gives you confidence," Bernstein said. "We had a great weekend at Bristol last year, and we would love to have a repeat of that."
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