Allen Johnson Catapults Marathon Petroleum Dart to No. 3 Spot

BRAINERD, Minn. (August 20, 2016) – Allen Johnson will be competing for his first Brainerd win of his career from the No. 3 position – the highest the team has qualified in the 2016 season. The Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing Dodge Dart driver will have lane choice over Mark Hogan in the first round.

In Friday’s first session, Johnson drove his Marathon Petroleum Dart to an energetic 6.644-second pass at 207.56 mph; that run rocketed him to the No. 2 spot and earned him two bonus points. The Adam Hornberger-tuned team came back in the second round and showed their consistency with a 6.642, 208.23.

With unfavorable forecast for the weather on Saturday, it wasn’t certain the four rounds of qualifying would be completed. On Saturday’s first session, Johnson avoided persistent raindrops and crossed the finish line with an improved 6.634, 207.75; that pass secured two more bonus points for Johnson. After many rain delays, Johnson was able to complete qualifying with his fastest pass of the weekend, 6.613, 208.59; once again, Johnson collected one more bonus point to his name.

“Our final pass was really good for the right lane,” Johnson said. “It seems like the left lane is a hundredth and a half faster so we want to stay in the left lane tomorrow. We made four really good runs this weekend and I think this is the best the car has run all season.”

No. 3 Johnson will race No. 14 Mark Hogan in the first round of eliminations tomorrow morning.

“Conditions should be about the same tomorrow but the sun will be out on the track,” he added. “I think we’ve got a great racecar and we’re running the best we have all year so the driver’s just gotta do his job tomorrow.”

Eliminations begin tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. (CST) starting with Top Fuel.