Line moves in the right direction with semifinals finish at NHRA New England Nationals
EPPING, N.H., June 14, 2015 – The last couple of races on the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour have been unkind to Jason Line. But this weekend, at the 3rd annual NHRA New England Nationals, the driver of the blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro saw a big improvement as he qualified well and drove his way to the semifinals. The only person in Line’s way of the final round was teammate Greg Anderson, who went on to win the Epping event for the KB Racing team.
“We had a chance today, we had a chance for sure,” said Line, the No. 3 qualifier. “But to win, you have to do everything perfect, and we weren’t perfect. That’s all. It was still a great day no matter what. Any time you’re in the winner’s circle whether it’s your own or your teammate’s, it’s a great day. I’m still very happy. It was a good day for Summit Racing and for the KB Racing team.”
Line drew Alan Prusiensky in the first round on Sunday. In his winning pass, the three-time 2015 finalist with two wins so far this season recorded one of the quickest runs of the round, a 6.531-second journey down the quarter-mile dragstrip at 213.50 mph to his challenger’s 6.664, 210.31. Round two was Line’s lucky round as he ran into trouble and slowed to a 6.615, 210.44. Fortunately for Line, Jonathan Gray lost traction and made a hard turn right out of the gate and had to shut off.
“That was 100% luck, no question about it,” said Line. “I knew after I did the burnout that something was wrong, so we were very lucky. Somedays you have good luck, and somedays you have bad luck. That round I had some good fortune.”
Line and the Summit Racing crew changed the engine before the semifinals and were simply unable to match what Anderson had to offer. In their meeting, Anderson recorded 6.516, 214.42 to Line’s 6.533, 212.39.
“It was still a good day,” said Line, who is currently No. 3 in the Pro Stock points. “We work hard, and we have a pretty good level of intensity. I don’t know that anybody else out here is more intense than the KB Racing team when it comes to trying to win races. A lot of effort goes into doing that at the shop and at the racetrack, seven days a week, and we have a great group of folks and a great sponsor behind us with Summit Racing. We all feel a big responsibility to make sure that we’re winning all the time, and these next few days we’ll be preparing for the race in Bristol next weekend so that we can do it again.”