ACDelco's Kurt Johnson heads into the post-Memorial Day, traditional beginning of summer eighth in the Pro Stock standings, but only 45 points, or a little more than a pair of round wins out of the top five. The ACDelco Chevrolet driver is still looking for his first win of the season, but he also knows that a strong performance at Heartland Park Topeka this weekend could inch him closer to a position in the top five of the Full Throttle standings.

"The bottom line is the we come out here to win, and we want to do that more than anything," Johnson said. "We feel we have, probably a top-five car, not a number one or two car, but a top five. We need to pick up the pace a little bit and make better runs, especially on a hot race track.

The Pro Stock class got its first taste of those hot track and weather conditions during two days of qualifying at the series' last event at Bristol Dragway (Tenn.), and Johnson expects they'll be seeing more of the same at Heartland Park, and in the days to come.

"We'll need to be more prepared for that, especially in Topeka," Johnson said. "Our focus will be on getting our hot-weather tune-up dialed in because for the next four months, especially this stretch of races coming up, that's what we're going to see and we're going to have to be ready.

"It showed in St. Louis, when we qualified well there, and in Houston when we were No. 2, that we can run at the front of the pack. Then we got into the Bristol situation; we think the tracks are better than what they are, but they're not and that's been throwing us a curve. Instead of going out there and attacking the racetrack, we may have to play it more conservative, and I think it will show in our e.t."

To get ready for the upcoming string of races, Johnson and the ACDelco crew spent the Wednesday following the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals testing a number of items on their Pro Stock Chevrolet at Atlanta Dragway.

"We were testing a little bit of everything," Johnson said. "We tapped on a couple of different items that needed to be addressed, but focused on chassis setup more than anything. We feel that over the last couple of races that unless the track is real good, we haven't performed where we needed to be."

Although he's run well there over the years at Heartland Park Topeka, including runners-up finishes in 2003, '04 and '06, a No. 1 qualifying award at the Fall race in 1995, and a semi-final appearance at last year's contest, this venue is one of the few on the NHRA circuit where Johnson has not won a race. That is a statistic he is hoping to change this weekend as he takes aim at his 40th career victory.

"We want that win at Topeka," Johnson said. "That's what we need to do on Sunday, go out there and make four good hits and find the winner's circle. We've changed some things around here during the last few days, and we made some advances during testing, but we won't know until we get on a really hot racing surface how everything pans out, but I feel confident."

The 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on May 29 - 31 is the ninth race on the 24-event NHRA Full Throttle Series tour, and after a weekend hiatus from on-track action, the ACDelco team is ready to return to competition.

"It seems like it's been forever - we're ready to go racing. We're going to be prepared for these next three races, and we're working hard for that first win. I'm confident that either one of our cars can get the job done."

ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 8 p.m. (ET) on Saturday May 30. NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute pre-race show, will air at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, May 31 also on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will feature three hours of eliminations coverage at 4 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, May 31.

Kurt Johnson/ACDelco stats and facts 2009 NHRA Summer Nationals
* The 500 Club - Johnson's 510 career round wins (.630) ranks third among active full-time professional drivers behind John Force (1,021) and Warren Johnson (854), and Kurt's career round wins rank him sixth all-time among NHRA professional drivers.
* KJ has advanced to three finals rounds at Heartland Park Topeka. He was runner-up in 2003 and '04 to Greg Anderson, and in '06 to Dave Connolly.
* The NHRA Summer nationals will be Kurt's 358th race as an NHRA Pro Stock competitor.
* KJ's best season was in 2003 when he captured 49 round wins. Among Pro Stock drivers, Johnson's 49 round wins in '03 is the seventh-best single-season total since 2000.
* KJ has 29 career No. 1 qualifying awards including one at the Topeka fall event in 1995.
* Johnson was NHRA Rookie of the Year in 1993.

Courtesy of Jeff Romack