Winning In Sonoma Remains A High Priority For Enders

Before each season, Erica Enders writes down a list of goals she wants to accomplish during the upcoming year.

One of the constants is picking up a victory at Sonoma Raceway, the site of this weekend’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

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The scenic facility in the heart of wine country represents one of the few facilities where the two-time Pro Stock world champion hasn’t won, something she hopes to rectify this weekend as the Pro Stock season kicks into high gear at the second race on the NHRA’s Western Swing.

“I write down my goals every year and one of them is to win Sonoma. I’ve written that down for the past 10 years,” said Enders, who is currently eighth in Pro Stock points. “It’s one of my favorite places to race and I look forward to it every year, but we have never won there. Hopefully we can win it one of these years and it would be nice if we can get it done this year.”

The stop in Sonoma is the ninth of 18 races during the 2019 season and Enders, who is currently eighth in points, is ready to start making her move to the top.

She advanced to the second round last weekend in Denver in her Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, falling to teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr., but Enders remains confident her team can get on track this weekend.

“The mountain comes with plenty of challenges, but it was really cool to see (team owner) Richard (Freeman) qualify No. 1 and Jeg advance to the semifinals,” Enders said. “We’ll take what we learned and move to Sonoma.”

Enders has advanced to one final round this season and celebrated with Coughlin in the winner’s circle at Sonoma a year ago.

This time, though, Enders wants to be the one with the Wally in her hand come Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

“Hopefully we’ll be celebrating a win,” Enders said. “I really love coming to this track. It’s a Bruton Smith track and all of his facilities are always so nice. It’s just cool to be in that area and I’m excited to see what we can do this weekend.”

Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 3:15 and 6:15 p.m. on Friday and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday at 1:20 and 4:20 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Television coverage starts Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on Friday on FS1, and live finals action at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1 on Sunday before a live, two-hour broadcast on FOX starting at 5 p.m. There will also be a special hour-long Pro Stock episode at 10 p.m. ET on FS1 on Sunday.

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