After an opening-round loss to Jason Line at today's 28th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Kurt
Johnson has decided to take a different approach before next weekend's race in Pennsylvania, and
that means comprehensive changes on his Chevy Cobalt.
"We came back to the pits after round one and started ripping everything off the car," Johnson
said. "We're changing everything - from the rear bumper to the front. We're leaving no stone
unturned."
Johnson came into today's race with his ACDelco Chevrolet qualified in the No. 13 position, and
even though he struggled in qualifying, he was confident of a strong showing on race day. In
Johnson's round-one matchup with Line, the ACDelco driver got a slight jump on the former Full
Throttle champion, but the two-thousandths-of-a-second advantage wasn't nearly enough. Line's
Summit Racing Pontiac crossed the finish stripe with a 6.689 second e.t. at 206.26 mph. Johnson's
Chevrolet followed with a 6.757 run at 205.29 mph.
"We have the chassis figured out - it's been pretty smooth but we're not running like we should,"
Johnson said. "This team is too good to not be winning races and we're going to fix it."
Johnson will remain in 8th place heading into next week's race in Reading, Pa. Only Warren Johnson,
who is currently in 10th place, cut the points difference in the standings on his son today. The
rest of the competitors below the younger Johnson (other than Warren Johnson), also lost in round
one.
With two events remaining before the Countdown to 1 for the top 10 in the standings, the ACDelco
driver is getting closer to clinching a spot in the three-year-old playoff format, and he could do
so with a strong performance next week at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.
"Our focus right now is moving up in the points -we're not looking back," Johnson said. "The first
thing we need to do, though, is get this car back on track and show that we can win some races."
Today's Pro Stock eliminator was won by Greg Anderson who captured his first win of the season and
the 58th of his career.
The 25th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals on Aug. 20 - 23 at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.,
is the 17th race on the 24-event NHRA Full Throttle Series tour. Kurt Johnson is a three-time
winner of the event scoring victories in 1993, '98 and 2000.
