BEAR LAKE, PA – Chub Frank just wants to put his assault on the 2008 North-South 100 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., behind him.

The winner of the crown-jewel dirt Late Model event in 2002 failed to make the cut for last Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series A-Main, falling victim to a qualifying format that didn’t sit well with him.

“We went down there thinking that the time trials would be straight-up like they’ve been in the past for the North-South,” said Chub. “They decided to change it to group qualifying (drivers time-trialed only against the 15-16 rivals in their respective groups) once we got there, and I don’t agree with that. I’ve never been a fan of group qualifying because it’s too much luck of the draw, so if I knew that’s what they were gonna do I wouldn’t even have gone down.”

The veteran standout from Bear Lake, Pa., ended up drawing the most stacked of Friday night’s six heat-race qualifying groups. His group – the fifth of the night – included four other former North-South 100 winners (Jimmy Owens, Bart Hartman, Steve Shaver and Donnie Moran); Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champ Earl Pearson Jr.; current World of Outlaws Late Model Series points leader Darrell Lanigan; eventual 2008 North-South 100 winner Darren Miller; and rising young stars Justin Rattliff and Brian Shirley.

“We had the fastest group of the night,” Chub said of his group’s combined qualifying times. “We were 17^th-fastest overall (17.962 seconds), which would’ve put us on the pole for a heat race if it was a straight-up format. Instead, we started sixth (in a Saturday-night heat) because we were in the fastest group.”

Chub finished sixth in his heat race (missing a transfer spot by three positions) and placed fifth in the third B-Main, which sent just its winner to the North-South 100. He also fell one spot short of the fast-time provisional, which went to Lanigan as the fastest qualifier who failed to make the North-South 100 through a heat or B-Main.

“If they’re gonna do things the way they did them this year,” Chub said of Florence Speedway, “then that was my last time there for that race.”

With a disappointing North-South 100 experience now in his rearview mirror, Chub is focused on preparing his Lester Buildings/Corry Rubber/All Star Performance/Corry Laser/Slavic Corporation/Farr MotorSports/Lake Shore Paving/Custom Race Engines Chevrolet Impala SS Rocket Chassis No. 1* for the homestretch of the WoO LMS campaign. He sits fourth in the tour’s points standings following a two-and-a-half-week break from WoO LMS competition.

Chub returns to action on the WoO LMS this weekend with events on Friday night (Aug. 15) at Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Saturday night (Aug. 16) at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga. Chub owns a 2001 Hav-A-Tampa/Xtreme DirtCar Series victory at Fayetteville in his only career visit to the track, but he’s never before raced at Screven.