Line Earns 39th Pole of His Career at SummitRacing.com Nationals
LAS VEGAS, Nev., April 11, 2015 – The 16th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals are off to a strong start for Jason Line, driver of the blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Line, of Mooresville, N.C., officially staked claim for his steady Chevrolet as the quickest Pro Stocker on the property and scored top bonus qualifying points in three of the four rounds. He will start from the No. 1 position for the 39th time in his career and race Joey Grose in the first round on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Qualifying was top notch for the KB Racing team; the only other driver to stand out as quickest of a session was Line’s teammate Greg Anderson, who piloted the red Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro to a quick-of-the-round 6.629, 208.84 that was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
In the first session of qualifying, Line flew to a 6.627-second pass at 208.52 mph. The later session brought about his best run of the weekend so far in terms of elapsed time, a 6.606 at 208.75.
“We came into Saturday knowing that we probably weren’t going to see anyone go faster than that because even though the air really wasn’t that much different, the racetrack was hotter,” said Line, who earned the first low qualifier award of his career in 2004 – his debut season as a Pro Stock driver – and is now just a single No. 1 away from a milestone 40 poles. “That was a nice run. My Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro is really good right now, and today gave us a chance to learn some things, no question.”
As expected, Line’s two runs on Saturday did not eclipse the time he already had on the board, but his 6.698-second pass at 208.17 mph in the first session of the day was good enough to put Jonathan Gray on the trailer – it counted as the first round of the K&N Horsepower Challenge.
Line advanced to round two – also the final round of qualifying – in the shootout-style bonus race and narrowly missed making the final with a strong 6.648 that was just .012-second short of halting Erica Enders-Stevens. Although the three-time K&N Horsepower Challenge finalist did not get a shot at the K&N Horsepower Challenge trophy, he made the quickest run of the round and kept hold of the top spot on the qualifying sheets heading into raceday.
“We made a good run. It was a good, safe run, but it wasn’t good enough because the win light didn’t come on,” said Line. “That was my fault. I should have been better. But there is no crying in racing. It is what it is, and you move on. You can’t drag it up there tomorrow; you start over. Tonight, we’re going to go to Ken and Judy’s [Black, team owners] and have supper, be with friends and family, and have a nice evening. Tomorrow, we’ll have a fresh start and a chance to win the big trophy for Ken and Judy Black and Summit Racing.”