Jason Line Aims For 4th Englishtown Victory

Line Focused on Scoring Fourth Englishtown Win

Mooresville, N.C.– Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Jason Line has had his share of highlights in his seven previous appearances at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, site of this weekend’s NHRA SummerNationals in Englishtown, N.J.. For example, in each of his first three appearances at the historic quarter-mile, the Mooresville, NC resident ended the weekend in the winner’s circle, which is the second most at any single track in his career.

Therefore, it is somewhat ironic that in recalling his favorite memory from racing in the Garden State, he would choose an event that preceded his climbing behind the wheel, dating back to when he attended the event as part of the crew for his KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson.

Jason Line

Photo by: Ted Rossino

“I like going to Englishtown – after all, I won the first three times I went there,” said Line. “But one of my favorite racing memories at Raceway Park comes from 2003, my first year at KB Racing, when Greg set both ends of the national record. It was back when they held our all-star race there, and he had lost to KJ (veteran Kurt Johnson) in the final on Saturday, so he was really motivated going into eliminations, and we ended up dominating, which is a hard thing to do.

“He beat (Greg) Stanfield in the first round, and then ran 6.670, 207.18 against T.A. (current Mike Edwards crew chief Terry Adams) in the quarters, which at the time was the quickest and fastest run ever to set the record. He then beat KJ the semis before taking out Darrell (former champion Alderman) in the final to win the race. It was just a fun day of racing, and one that I was glad to be a part of.”

A review of the season’s first seven races shows that Line is currently making his own fun, having already scored three wins and leading the Pro Stock championship standings. Despite this impressive showing, he admits there is always room for improvement, and, with another tightly-packed field expected this weekend, both he and his team will need to be at the top of their game in order to contend for their fourth win of the season.

“We are running better right now than we have in some time,” said Line. “We’ve qualified in the top four at the last six races, and won three of the first seven races, which is the best start of my career. It certainly makes it fun going to the races when you feel like you have a chance to win every time out.

“Even so, as we saw in Topeka, where we probably had the best car on race day and lost, you can’t let up, not even for a second. You have to be mistake-free 100% of the time, or else someone else will go home with the trophy. That’s the bottom line, and our focus for this weekend and every other race weekend – to be error-free. This Summit Racing team is doing a really good job right now, and I think it’s going to get better.”

Should Line require added incentive heading into this weekend’s event, he might look at his recent struggles at Raceway Park. Not surprisingly, he prefers to focus on the challenge that lies ahead, where, despite the many factors in his favor, he knows both he and his team will have to fight for every advantage, an assignment they are more than willing to accept.

“Although I definitely haven’t done as well as I would have liked in Englishtown the last few years, I’m cautiously optimistic about our chances for this weekend,” said Line. “The weather is supposed to be cool, it’s a decent track, and our Summit Racing Pontiac is running well, so I expect us to go up there and be ready to duke it out with our competitors. There’s no reason why we can’t leave there with the win – we just have to make it happen.”

-source: kb racing