Qualifying for the Ninth annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals was completed today at Bristol
Dragway, and ACDelco's Kurt Johnson finished two days of time trials with his Pro Stock Chevrolet
in the No. 9 position.
Johnson's elapsed time of 6.726 seconds at 204.79 mph, which came during Friday's second session,
will line up the ACDelco driver against Rodger Brogdon in round one of eliminations on Sunday.
This is the first race since the ACDelco Gatornationals in mid-March that four rounds of qualifying
have been completed for the Pro categories.
"Having four qualifying runs this weekend is something we haven't had in awhile," Johnson said.
"Even if you make a poor run you at least have information on what not to do, and you don't make
that mistake again."
Johnson came into today's final two sessions looking to improve his position in the 16-car field,
but facing some of the hottest and most humid conditions the racers have seen this year, most of
last night's top qualifiers, including Johnson, ended the day right where they started.
"The racetrack was a little tricky for us," Johnson said. "It's a little hotter than what we've
been on and I think we're overpowering the track, to be honest with you. We're going to have to
de-tune this thing to go A to B, and I think we can run with the pack. We thought we had done that
for this last run, but obviously the car isn't going straight. It's spinning, it's going right-
it's a handful right now. We're going to have to really get after it tomorrow - and it's going to
be a different day tomorrow. It's going to be cool tomorrow - the track's actually going to come to
us for our setup. It aggravates me, though, that we didn't perform as well as we could have today."
Johnson was a winner at the Thunder Valley Nationals in 2003. He enters tomorrow's eliminator in
eighth place in the Pro Stock standings with the potential of advancing far up the points ladder.
Johnson sits less than three round wins out of the top five.
Mike Edwards was the No. 1 Pro Stock qualifier in a Pontiac. Edwards took the pole with a 6.698
e.t. at 205.72 mph. Jeg Coughlin was No. 2 in a Chevrolet (6.712ET/205.85MPH), Greg Anderson was
No. 3 in a Pontiac (6.716ET/205.29MPH) and Greg Stanfield was No. 4 in a Pontiac
(6.721ET/204.76MPH).
The Ninth annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., on May 15 - 17
is the eighth race on the 24-event NHRA Full Throttle schedule. A two-hour telecast of qualifying
coverage can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, May 16, beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern. Coverage on ESPN2
on Sunday, May 17, begins with NHRA Race Day which gets underway at 11 a.m. followed by a
three-and-a-half hours of eliminator coverage starting at 7 p.m. (ET).
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