Line Heavy in the Hunt as Raceday in Vegas Draws Near
Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 26, 2013 – Jason Line has kept calm and remained focused on the objective this weekend during qualifying for the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and expects to continue the trend on raceday. Driving the white Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro for the first time this year following a testing incident that took his silver car out of the picture, Line qualified in the No. 5 position and will race Rodger Brogdon in the first round of eliminations. Along the way, he accumulated bonus points that are oh-so valuable in the championship chase.
With just two races left in 2013, Line entered the event in the No. 3 position in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock standings, just 50 points outside of first place.
While KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson was regaining a definite level of comfort in the red Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro this weekend in Las Vegas, Line was finding comfort of his own behind the wheel of the car that was previously driven by his counterpart.
In the first session, Line made a statement with a solid 6.658 at 207.37 mph that moved him into the No. 2 spot for the round – an impressive feat and an important accomplishment because it came with two bonus qualifying points. A 6.673 at 207.18 showed no improvement, but Line was a pleasing 6.653, 207.82 in the first round on Saturday morning and closed out qualifying with a 6.650, 207.69 that was again second quickest and brought in two more marks.
“That’s great, but to be honest, I’m not thinking about that right now,” said Line. “I’m thinking that we have to go win tomorrow. Now isn’t the time to be excited; we can be excited after it’s all over. Right now, we have a lot of work to do. The Summit Racing crew has worked very hard all season long, and right now is no time to slack. We have to stay focused so that we can accomplish the goal.”
Brogdon is an opponent Line has raced four times so far this year with a 3-1 advantage. Line was the winner in their first-round meetings in Gainesville, Denver, and most recently in Dallas where he went on to win the event.
“We are all focused, but we’re certainly looking forward to tomorrow,” said Line. “It’s a great opportunity for us, and both of the Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros are running pretty decent at the moment. Tomorrow should be a good day for us. It needs to be.”
