Charlotte: Kurt Johnson Friday notes

KJ kicks off Carolinas Nationals
Qualified in the No. 7 spot

CONCORD, N.C., Sept. 18, 2009 -- ACDelco's Kurt Johnson kicked off the NHRA Countdown to 1 race-off for the Full Throttle championship with two solid rounds of qualifying today at the 2nd annual Carolinas Nationals at zMax Dragway. Johnson's first shot out the blocks was good for a 6.668 e.t. at 207.69 mph, and he followed that up tonight with a 6.662-second run at 207.66 mph. That places the veteran competitor No. 7 on the qualifying ladder heading into Saturday's final two sessions.

"Looking at the sheet tonight we were No. 2 in speed to the eighth-mile," Johnson said, "and that wasn't even a good run. Like I've said before, I don't think we have a No. 1 car but we can have a No. 2 car pretty easily. The clutch was a little soft and threw us a curve there -- the track got really good, but I'm confident we can pick it up tomorrow.

"When you can take what we had in Indy and move up about eight spots on the page at the eighth mile, that makes a big difference because we know we have the power under the hood -- at least enough to run decent."

The No. 1 qualifier is Mike Edwards in the Young Life Pontiac. Edwards posted a 6.614 e.t. at 208.36 mph.

-credit: j2r