At Sunday's Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, defending Pro Stock
champion Kurt Johnson will be looking to win on consecutive years at a national event for the first
time since he went back-to-back at the U.S. Nationals in 1996-97. But first the ACDelco Chevy
driver will have to get by opening-round opponent, and No. 4 qualifier, Jason Line.
After three rounds of time trials Johnson ended a rain-abbreviated qualifying format in the No. 13
spot after running 6.764 seconds at 204.01 mph.
"We haven't showed them everything yet," Johnson said. "We were struggling with the motor tune-up,
trying some new parts and new carburetors and it just didn't quite want to go. We got it put back a
little bit better this morning. The car made a decent run but didn't want to get up on the tire. We
have the core that we need to go fast, we just need to get the right parts in the right places.
Slowly we're putting this ACDelco Chevrolet back to the way it used to win races, believe it or
not, so I think we'll be in pretty good shape for tomorrow."
With the lessons learned, and adjustments made to the car after Saturday's first session of time
trials, Johnson was confident that he could improve his starting spot in the fourth and final
qualifying round. Unfortunately, rain began to fall in the early afternoon and continued to fall
into the evening, forcing NHRA officials to cancel the remainder of the day's on-track activities.
"I made a good looking run by the seat of my pants this morning, but the number didn't come up that
we expected - the tune-up wasn't quite right," Jonson said. "I felt we could have gone out in this
last session and stepped it up to a top-four car. I really wasn't too worried about picking up and
making a good run. It cooled off, and we made the gearing changes we needed to make for the better
weather."
This is Johnson's 17th appearance as a Pro Stock competitor at Brainerd International Raceway. He
has won more races at this event (1997, 2000, 2005, 2008) than any other on the circuit, and he was
runner-up and No. 1 qualifier at BIR in 2003.
"We kind of got off course a little bit but now it's time to get on it."
The No. 1 qualifier in Pro Stock was Mike Edwards who ran 6.694 seconds at 205.35 mph in a Pontiac.
The 28th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway on Aug. 13 - 16 is the
16th race on the 24-event NHRA Full Throttle Series schedule. Qualifying will be broadcast on ESPN2
and ESPN2HD on Saturday, Aug. 15, beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern. NHRA Race Day will kick off
eliminator coverage on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 11 a.m. on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD, followed by a three-hour
program of eliminations starting at 10 p.m. Eastern.
