Marathon Petroleum’s Allen Johnson Finds Gremlins, Encouraged After SpringNationals

HOUSTON, Tex. (April 23, 2017) – Allen Johnson and the Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing Dodge Dart Pro Stock team may have not turned on the win light in the first round of eliminations, but perhaps they found something a little more important: the gremlin that has been plaguing their performance so far this season.

Johnson came into raceday as the No. 13 seed with his fastest pass during qualifying being a 6.645, 207.94. That granted him a first-round matchup against Bo Butner.

In the first round, Johnson bettered his best pass of the weekend by an outstanding eight-thousandths of a second. He crossed the finish line at Royal Purple Raceway with a 6.567, 211.16 but Butner’s 6.523, 213.33 advanced to the second round.

Despite being a first-round runner-up, Johnson left the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals extremely optimistic and encouraged.

“We traded out everything electrical and fuel-related in the car,” Johnson said. “The win light might’ve not turned on in our lane but I feel really positive about the performance of my Marathon Petroleum Dodge Dart in the first round. I think we found our gremlin!”