Kurt Johnson's strong qualifying start at the 12th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals has the ACDelco
Chevrolet driver slotted in the No. 5 position tonight after he posted the fourth-quickest elapsed
time of the second Pro Stock session with a run of 6.625 seconds at 208.62 mph.
"This race track is so good right now," Johnson said. "The motor was pulling, it was charging, it
didn't really bog, but you could really feel it - it was solid. We went back to some old parts on
this ACDelco Cobalt and it really showed off right there.
"It was a step in the right direction. We've been fighting this hot race track issue for awhile,
and we finally had to back up and change some parts to get our program moving ahead. We knew what
we wanted to do, but we it was a matter of changing some components and getting this car to run a
little bit better. It's all about learning out there and that run tonight was huge."
Johnson's run in Q2 was an improvement of nearly nine-hundredths of a second over his initial
qualifying pass today of 6.716 seconds, and it places the defending event champion toward the front
of the Pro Stock ladder.
"Sometimes you go in there scratching you're head wondering if it could be something else. You're
off that far and the quick cars are that much farther ahead of you. The best way to learn is to
change one thing at a time, but when you have a limited amount of runs you really have to get after
it and probably change a couple of different components. It's also good to be able to pick up two
mph over our first run. It came together and we're headed in the right direction now."
Mike Edwards is the No. 1 qualifier in a Pontiac with a 6.587 e.t. at 210.08 mph.
ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 10:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday,
June 6. NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute pre-race show, will air at 11 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, June 7 on
ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will feature three hours of eliminations coverage at 4 p.m.
(ET) on Sunday, June 7.
