Jason Line Phoenix Saturday report

Line Secures Second Starting Spot in Phoenix

Jason Line, Summit Racing Pontiac GXP

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

NHRA Pro Stock championship points leader Jason Line and his Summit Racing team continued their string of strong qualifying performances on Saturday, capturing the second starting position for Sunday’s final eliminations of the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Arizona. After posting a best time of 6.642-seconds during his opening attempts on Friday, the Mooresville, NC driver took advantage of the improved conditions during the morning session to improve to a 6.620-second elapsed time, second-quickest among the 18 cars attempting to qualify, before completing his qualifying effort with the quickest pass of the fourth and final session to garner a total of nine bonus points, the most of anyone in the class.

Having secured his seventh consecutive Top Two starting position (and 14th in this season’s 20 races), Line then turned his attention to race day, where he will look to score his first win at Firebird Raceway, starting with a first-round encounter with sophomore runner Shane Gray.

“We’re still working on finding our Summit Racing Pontiac’s sweet spot here in Phoenix,” said Line. “Even though we were able to put up a decent number and qualify second, we have yet to make what I would consider a good run, which is something we need to fix if we want to win tomorrow. It’s certainly something we can overcome, and like anything else, we’re going to take it head on, going over our notes and coming up with the right combination for the first round.

“Our top priority for tomorrow is going rounds. After all, if we can string a few round wins together, it could go a long way towards nailing down the championship. Of course, the best way to do it is to win the race, and that’s what we’re looking to make happen tomorrow.”

.