“Obviously, I wanted to win, but considering where we’ve come since packing up on Saturday night in Phoenix, we know we’re heading in the right direction,” he said. “If we had said, as we packed up in Phoenix, we’d be runner up in Vegas and leave town with the points lead, we’d have been ecstatic.

“We came to Vegas from Phoenix and spent that Monday testing. Obviously Phil and Todd (Shuler and Okuhara, co-crew chiefs) and the FRAM/Prestone guys figured out what was wrong and corrected it.
“We’re thrilled to be going into the final race of the year in first place with a great chance of winning the championship.”

Coming out of the second-starting spot, Massey opened final eliminations with a round-one victory over Ron August Jr. He then collected Rod Fuller in the quarterfinals before besting Brandon Bernstein in the semifinals.

“I can’t say enough about the guys,” he added about the crew that won the Full Throttle Hard-Working Crew Award for battling back after a DNQ to make it to the final round. “They’re the reason we’re in this position atop the standings; they give me a great race car to drive.”

In the third round of qualifying Peter Russo made a move to the right, headed for the wall and clicked it off. In the other lane Terry Haddock got about 900 feet out, lost a cylinder, and then the engine exploded in the lights. The Safety Safari had to clean up just past the 660-foot mark all the way through the finish line. Haddock lost his ET because of the oil-down penalty and did not qualify.  (James Drew photos)