ALLEN JOHNSON
MARATHON PETROLEUM/J&J RACING DODGE DART
QUALIFYING REPORT: 16TH ANNUAL NHRA NATIONALS
THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
OCT. 28-30

Allen Johnson in Unfamiliar Bottom Half, Looking for Long Raceday in Vegas

LAS VEGAS (October 29th, 2016) – Allen Johnson is starting his raceday efforts at the 16th annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals in the No. 11 spot, a qualifying position that the Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing team hasn’t seen in many races. Despite a bottom-half qualifying spot, the Marathon Petroleum team knows they have the equipment to get it done on raceday.

On Friday, Johnson opened up qualifying with a 6.740-second pass at 204.39 mph. Johnson made a small improvement in the second session when he crossed the finish line with a 6.730, 204.51.

In Saturday’s first session, the Marathon Petroleum Dodge Dart showed the consistency it has had all year when he ran an identical elapsed time to the first session on Friday as he clocked in with a 6.740, 204.39. Johnson closed out qualifying with a 6.738, 204.35 putting him in the No. 11 location on the leaderboard.

“We’ve kind of been all over the board this weekend,” Johnson said. “We made some big changes in qualifying and it didn’t seem to help. Not quite sure right now why we’re slow but we’ll figure it out.”

Johnson will have a first round matchup against Jason Line tomorrow morning.

“I’m sure everybody in Pro Stock will be rooting for us tomorrow to beat Jason,” he added. “If we can find what’s wrong with our tune-up, we’ve got something for him.”

ALLEN JOHNSON, MARATHON PETROLEUM/J&J RACING DODGE DART
Qualified: No. 11
ELIMINATIONS
JOHNSON vs. Jason Line
QUALIFYING
Friday: 6.740-seconds, 204.39 mph (Session 1); 6.730, 204.51 (Session 2)
Saturday: 6.740, 204.39 (Session 3); 6.738, 204.35 (Session 4)

Race Schedule at NHRA Nationals
Sunday, Oct. 30: eliminations begin at 11:00 am