Englishtown: Kurt Johnson Saturday summary

Kurt Johnson Will Start Fifth in Englishtown

The conditions for the second and final day of qualifying at the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, New Jersey were fairly similar to those encountered on Friday, with warm temperatures and relatively high humidity, preventing any major changes near the top of the Pro Stock qualifying order. Accordingly, Kurt Johnson's 6.804-second, 202.36 mph effort from Friday night remaining his run of record, earning the ACDelco Cavalier the fifth starting position for Sunday's final eliminations.

Despite the strong performance, Johnson knew he would be facing a stiff challenge on race day in order to record his first career victory at legendary Raceway Park, with three of the five quickest cars on his side of the ladder.

"We have our work cut out for us tomorrow, that's for sure. We have some heavy hitters on our side of the ladder, so we will have to be on our game from the start. We tried a few things today that I believe helped us, because we found our car's boundaries.

"We will work on the tune-up for tomorrow, and see if we can pick up a few hundredths. I think we can run in the 6.79 range, which puts our ACDelco Cavalier up there with the fastest cars, and after that, I'll just have to make sure and do my job on the tree.

"I know it's supposed to cool off tomorrow, but it really doesn't matter to me what the conditions are, because this car seems to like just about any type of race track. However, we have to make sure to make the right decisions. As my wife Kathy says, we need to make wise choices. It is an achievable goal - it's a matter of executing our plan."

-j2r