(Ron Lewis photo)

“I haven’t heard the fat lady start singing,” said Schumacher. “We have a deficit to make up, but we’re also still very much in the fight. We’re not going to give up, I will guarantee you that. Our Army Strong Soldiers expect us to put forth a 110 percent effort and that’s exactly what we’ll continue to do.”

Schumacher and his U.S. Army team were impressive from the time they unloaded their car on Friday. Starting from the number one position, they reeled off four flawless passes, one of which produced a national record speed of 325.61 mph.

“Mike Green (crew chief) and the guys gave me one terrific race car,” said Schumacher. “We tested after the Reading (Pa.) race a couple of weeks ago and were able to find some things that helped us this weekend. Hopefully, we can stay on a roll two weeks from now. It would be great to bag another win.”

David Grubnic  (Tim Marshall photo)

On the way to his 67th career win, Schumacher had to slide by Bob Vandergriff, Jr., Shawn Langdon, David Grubnic and Lagana, respectively.

“There are no easy draws in this sport,” he said. “We had to stay focused with each passing round. You can never let your guard down on race day or else you will be going home pretty early.”

Schumacher will stay in Las Vegas to test on Monday. He’s hoping the test at The Strip will produce the same kind of results that were produced at Maple Grove Raceway. “We want to go to Pomona with an ultra-competitive car,” he offered. “We want to put ourselves in a position to win another title.”