Marathon Petroleum’s Allen Johnson No. 6 Headed into Raceday at NHRA Southern Nationals

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 14, 2016) – Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson qualified No. 6 at the 36th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. Johnson will have lane choice over Vincent Nobile in the first round of eliminations on Sunday morning.

On Friday’s first session, Johnson started the weekend off with a solid 6.670-second pass at 207.11 mph. Johnson returned for Friday’s night session and improved his qualifying effort with a 6.649, 208.46, putting him in the No. 6 spot and the top half of the field.

Saturday’s hot weather made track conditions tricky but Johnson and the Marathon team were able to get down Atlanta Dragway with a conservative 6.725, 205.76. He came back for the final round of qualifying and crossed the finish line with a 6.687, 207.30.

“You know, we started out good,” said Johnson. “The track got a little challenging today and we didn’t make a good run in Q3 at all. Then, I made some mistakes in my driving in Q4 but we’ve got a good car for tomorrow.”

Johnson will enter into raceday with his choice of lane over Vincent Nobile in the first round. Johnson knows how important lane choice will be on his path to the winner circle this weekend in his Dodge Dart.

“If the track remains how it has been all weekend, lane choice is going to be very important,” he stated. “The lanes look pretty even but tomorrow is supposed to be a lot cooler with cloud cover so anytime you get lane choice tomorrow, it has the potential to be very significant.”