In the first round Dillard faced former IHRA World Champ Kenny Lang. Dillard put a .020+ holeshot on his opponent and then drove to the win when Lang lost traction early. (Chris Haverly photo)

The rookie Pro Mod driver’s quest for a victory didn’t get any easier when he was matched up against former U.S, Nationals winner Rickie Smith. Dillard once again left first with a .057 RT to Smith’s .067 and then blistered the Indy pavement with a stellar 5.845/252.90 effort that easily dispatched Smith’s tire churning 8.380/109.24. Dillard’s 5.845 lap was a new track ET record.

The semi-finals in Pro Mod matched up teammate and R2B2 team manager, Melanie Troxel, and Dillard on one side of the ladder and Mike Castellana racing Jay Payne on the other.

Donnie Martin (near lane) and Burton Auxier  (Chris Haverly photo)

Castellana had a 5.982/236.71 that easily handled Payne’s 8.507/107.94. Dillard had much tougher job in his race. He and Troxel had identical 5.847 ET’s with Dillard going slightly faster at 252.90 mph to Troxel’s 252.47. Again Dillard’s much quicker RT made the difference as he had a .026 to Troxel’s .064!

That set up a classic nitrous versus turbocharger final between Dillard and Castellana. The finals proved to be slightly anti-climatic as Dillard and Petty reset the track record again with the pair’s quickest and fastest pass of the weekend -- a 5.830 at 253.99 mph -- in his final-round victory over Castellana, who slowed to a 6.004 at 239.65.

It is worth noting that in all but one pairing the left lane delivered the winner.