AMERICUS, Ga. - The upcoming National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Ind., may prove to be the most important race of the season for the Sovereign-Star Racing Team and their rookie drivers, Scotty Pollacheck and John Hall, as they try to secure their places in the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship.

The long Labor Day weekend at Indy is always the final race in the NHRA regular season before the Countdown to the Championship begins. The Countdown only advances the top 10 drivers in each class and resets their points to within 10 of one another, except for the points leader's 30-point advantage over second place. These 10 drivers then compete for the Full Throttle World Championship during the season's final six races.

With Pollacheck sitting comfortably in the No. 6 spot in the points standings and Hall in the No. 11 spot, the Sovereign-Star Racing team is focusing on good tuneups, clear minds and clean passes this weekend in the hopes that the points will follow.

"Typically, Indy has been good to us in the past," Star Racing owner George Bryce said. "The fans, the media and the racers try to make it a really, really big deal. The points are the same as the previous races. In order to get points, you've got to tune good and you've got to drive good. And even though we've been doing it for 30 years, we can still only make one run at a time."

"I just hope to carry over the momentum from Brainerd and keep the forward progress going," Hall said. "And if we get the same results, then we'll hopefully be in the Countdown. I'm not putting too much thought into it because we can only control what we do and there are others looking to get in just like us."

"I feel like the team is on an upswing and that we keep progressing and doing better at every race," Pollacheck said. "So, I think we're going to continue that. I'm really upbeat about this weekend at Indy."

In the midst of the biggest NHRA race weekend of the year, Bryce will continue to focus his drivers on making each pass count.

"What I'll endeavor to do with my rookies at their first Indy race is to continue to remind them that the only run that counts is the next one. We try to turn the volume down, turn the pressure down and just concentrate on the run at hand. We try to tune the bikes well, drive well and learn from each run. The team that does all of this the best by the end of the weekend will have the most points," Bryce said.  

"You just have to concentrate on what you know how to do and then go out there with a clear head, stay relaxed and get it done," Hall said. "Now I go out there with the same mentality as when we're testing in Valdosta. George drove it into my head to just act like we're testing - no one in the stands, no one to compete against and all I'm concentrating on is getting a good time slip that I can be proud of."

No matter how the weekend goes, the teammates both feel that they've accomplished a great deal so far during their rookie seasons.