Anderson Encouraged After First Day on the Mountain in Denver
Denver, Colo., July 19, 2013 – The mile-high conditions at Bandimere Speedway in Denver regularly pose quite a challenge for the naturally aspirated Pro Stock cars, and based on a test session that the Summit Racing Pro Stock team participated in at the scenic facility last week, drivers Greg Anderson and Jason Line had realistic expectations entering the Mile-High NHRA Nationals. After the first two runs of the weekend, however, the veteran drivers were pleasantly surprised and looking forward to the second day of the event.
Anderson started the day with a 7.009 at 196.36 and Line, just a tick ahead, clocked a 7.008 at 196.53 mph. The Summit Racing drivers came back in the second session to improved conditions and even better performance for their Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros in the thin air: Anderson’s improved 6.983, 196.19 settled him into the No. 6 position, and Line protected the No. 7 spot with a 6.986, 196.70.
“The first run out was as good as we expected, and it was just about what we were able to do last week when we tested here,” said Anderson. “We started with what we thought would work best, and it ran exactly like it did last week. The racetrack is a little bit different than it was, though, so we made some adjustments for it tonight in the later session, got a little bit more aggressive with the racecars, and it picked up some.
“We’ll try and do the same tomorrow – the racetrack was very good tonight, but it should get even better on Saturday. We know from past history here at Bandimere Speedway that the track does improve with each session and each day, and it’s the best on Sundays. We have to pay attention to that and tune our cars up for that. We made a step forward tonight, and quite honestly, we ran better than we thought we would based on how we tested last week. I think that happened because we went home, did our homework, and tried to add up what really made a difference.
“I think we have a better package this week than what we had testing, and we’re going to see if we can improve on that tomorrow. If the KB Racing team can continue to make progress throughout the weekend, we’ll have a shot on Sunday.”