MADISON, Ill.  - T.J. Zizzo made the best of his qualifying effort, taking his 11th position into a first round showdown with the number 6 qualifier, Shawn Langdon. Zizzo was anxious to make a good showing in his first outing of the season with his PEAK / O'Reilly Top Fuel Dragster. Maybe a little too anxious.

"I just wanted to bring my reaction time average down a little," Zizzo joked about his red light start in round one action at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals. "Honestly, I know Langdon is good on the tree and I know he has a good car. So, I knew if we were going to have a chance at beating him I needed to take a shot at it [the tree]."

MADISON, Ill.  - T.J. Zizzo piloted the PEAK / O'Reilly Top Fuel Dragster to the 11th spot for tomorrow's elimination rounds at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals. Zizzo Racing secured their position during the Saturday afternoon qualifying session when they recorded a 3.969 second elapsed time at 297.16 mph. Friday's qualifying sessions were canceled for weather.

If the shortened qualifying session worried Zizzo, it didn't show. "On the first pass we went out there pretty aggressive," Zizzo said. "We had tire shake and then it shook some more and then it just went into [tire] smoke. I probably should have peddled it - I think it would have went down the track."

The second and final attempt to make the field is where Zizzo posted his best numbers of the weekend. "We just backed the tune-up down to get it down the track," Zizzo continued. "We'll try it again tomorrow."