A tough stretch of early exits by 2022 NHRA Rookie of the Year Camrie Caruso was corrected at the final installment of the famed NHRA Mile-High Nationals as the rising star of Pro Stock raced the Tequila Comisario Chevrolet Camaro to a semifinal finish at Bandimere Speedway. Through four rounds of qualifying Caruso and her KB Titan Racing Pro Stock team steadily improved advancing into race day as the No. 7 qualifier. In the first round she drew a tough opponent in veteran driver Bo Butner III.
Caruso was able to put previous race frustrations behind her and raced around Butner to advance to the quarterfinals. Her winning time of 6.969 seconds at 196.24 mph was enough to get the win over Butner’s 6.998 second, 196.33 mph run.
“I was super nervous this race in the first round because the last couple of races haven’t gone our way for one reason or another,” said Caruso, who picked up her first career win at the Arizona Nationals in March. “We knew we couldn’t continue like we were and we needed to do something about it. Once we made it past first round I felt really good about our chances to get another win.”
In the second round Caruso had to battle one of her KB Titan Racing teammate Matt Hartford. The second-year pro gave up a little on the starting line but quickly reeled in Hartford at the finish line to advance to her third semifinal of the season. Caruso’s winning time was another strong 6.962 second run against Hartford’s 6.989 second pass. The win also locked her into her second Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge which will be contested at the NHRA Topeka Nationals, August 12.
“It was a big weekend for us to kind of pull it together and know that we could win first round again,” said Caruso. “I’m happy about that. We worked well all weekend as a team and we didn’t really make any mistakes. I am excited to be back in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. I haven’t won one yet. I think it’s time to get one of those wins and we’ll be back to sea level in Topeka. We lost in the semis against Dallas which was tough, but it was a great weekend overall.”
With two round wins to her credit Caruso was looking to advance to her third career final round. Teammate and Pro Stock point leader Dallas Glenn stood between the 25-year-old and the chance at a second win. Track temperatures had been heating but throughout the day, but both KB Titan Racing teams knew they could create horsepower on the mountain. Glenn was first off the line and Caruso was right with him until half-track when he began to stretch out his lead. He reached the finish line first with a winning time of 6.958 seconds against Caruso’s 6.930 second pass. Caruso was proud of her team’s effort and thrilled to put on a good show for new sponsors Racehub and Gallegos Family Racing who joined her marketing team this weekend. The coverage on the FOX broadcast was another welcome bonus to racing three rounds on Sunday.
“Going as many rounds as we did today was huge,” said Caruso, who also gets support from VP Racing, Big Jeff Audio and Powerbuilt Tools. “We have a little break before Topeka and this gives the guys time to go back to the shop, work hard, get it all cleaned up, and ready to go. I think it’ll be good for everybody to kind of get a refresh.”
The Tequila Comisario Chevrolet Camaro will be back on track for the Topeka Nationals, August 11-13. Caruso will head to Kansas sitting No. 8 in the Pro Stock points.
