Line Grabs Pole in Atlanta, Claims Third Consecutive No. 1
COMMERCE, Ga., May 16, 2015 – With qualifying in the books at the 35th annual Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals, Jason Line and the Summit Racing Pro Stock team are sure of one thing: they have a pair of very fast hot rods. Line proved as much during qualifying at Atlanta Dragway by consistently holding the upper hand over his opponents and harnessing the KB Racing horsepower under the hood of his blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro to claim the 41st No. 1 qualifier award of his career.
The first round of qualifying at the Summit Racing-sponsored event put three bonus points in his pocket as Line clocked a gigantic 6.546-second pass at 211.23 mph that was a stunning two-hundredths of a second quicker than even his closest competitor, Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson. Line picked up two more bonus points as second quickest of session two with a 6.549 at 211.06, and he went to bed on Friday provisionally in possession of the pole.
With warmer conditions on the second day of the event, not even Line could beat his best time – however, that wasn’t exactly what he was aiming for.
“We felt like [the pole] was pretty safe, to be honest, so we took the opportunity today to test a few things,” said Line, who has been either first or second in the final qualifying order at all but one race of the first seven this season. “Considering that we were testing, I think we ran reasonably well. We did learn a couple of things, and all in all, it was a pretty good day.”
His 6.552 at 211.59 in the first round on Saturday was followed by a 6.566, 211.03, both of which were the quickest times in their respective sessions. A total of six more bonus points fell into Line’s hands as reward for his extraordinary passes. In all, Line had the best-performing racecar in three of the four qualifying sessions in Atlanta. The top honors marked the third consecutive race in which Line qualified in the No. 1 spot.
In the first round on Sunday, the Mooresville, N.C.-based Line will race Pro Stock part-timer Alan Prusiensky, the driver he halted in the Gainesville first round en route to his second final of the 2015 season. He and teammate Anderson are on opposite sides of the ladder, just as they were in Gainesville where the Summit Racing duo raced in the final. Anderson won the trophy in their 23rd final-round meeting.
“Tomorrow will come down to whoever does the best job driving,” said Line. “That’s what it’s going to take to walk out of here with the Wally. Obviously, I want to do that for Summit Racing at the Summit Racing Southern Nationals. No matter how it works out, it’s pretty cool to qualify No. 1 here.”