Line a frontrunner in St. Louis qualifying on Day 1

Madison, Ill., September 26, 2014 – Summit Racing NHRA Pro Stock driver Jason Line has a history of having a fast racecar at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis, and this weekend at the third annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, the driver of the blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro is continuing his quick pace. At the conclusion of the first day of qualifying at the event, Line was the No. 3 qualifier.

Line, who holds the track record for elapsed time and speed set in 2012, clocked a 6.549-second pass at 211.69 mph and initially found himself in the No. 4 position. In the second session at Gateway Motorsports Park, Line improved to a 6.529, 212.19 and moved up one spot to third.

“That first run we made was just a really conservative run. But we stepped it up a little bit for the second run and it wasn’t bad. The Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro made a good run, and I think we can go faster tomorrow,” said Line, the incoming points leader in NHRA’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship with just four racedays left before the season title is decided.

In the first session, a single competitor clocked a 6.51, while the next four quickest cars in the field were tightly packed with just .008-second separating them. For Line and the Summit Racing team, the car at the top wasn’t discouraging; rather, it was a motivator.

“It gave us all something to shoot for and it showed us what the track could take. That wasn’t a bad thing,” said Line, who has qualified fourth or better twelve times in the past 20 races and has twice in 2014 been the No. 1 qualifier. “The big key is first having a happy car and the power to go fast. We improved in the second session today, and there is potential for us to go real fast tomorrow. We’ll see what the new day brings for Team Summit.”