By 
This weekend's NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals just got a little more interesting.
Make that A LOT more interesting.
Due to rainouts on both Sunday and now Monday at Epping, N.H., this weekend's Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway will now have double the importance to NHRA teams and drivers who qualified for eliminations at Epping.
“We appreciate all of the tremendous fans that came out to the track and packed New England Dragway this weekend despite all of the various weather conditions,” NHRA President Glen Cromwell said. “This certainly wasn’t the end result we were hoping for, but we are thankful for the support from the passionate fanbase in the New England area and we look forward to returning to Epping next year.”
As it turns out, drivers alive in the eliminations from Epping will be making 2-for-1 runs at Bristol. Their times from the elimination-round passes will also count as their qualifying runs for Bristol.
Straight from the NHRA, here's the game plan for this weekend:
The first round of eliminations from Epping in Top Fuel and Funny Car will now take place during the second qualifying round in Bristol at 8 p.m. ET on Friday.
The second round of eliminations will run during the third qualifying session at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Bristol.
The Epping semifinals will run between qualifying sessions on Saturday, with the finals of the NHRA New England Nationals in Top Fuel and Funny Car slated to run during the final qualifying session at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Bristol Dragway.
In both nitro categories, the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge will run concurrent with the semifinals and finals on Saturday in Bristol, as a driver in each class will win twice on Saturday. The fields in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle have already been set for the challenge in Bristol.
