In Final Race of Career, Allen Johnson Qualifies for 399th Raceday Start at Auto Club NHRA Finals

POMONA, Calif. (November 11, 2017) – In his 504th race in Pro Stock, Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing Dodge Dart driver Allen Johnson is competing in his 399th raceday this weekend at the 53rd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals.

On Friday, Johnson built a foundation for his race weekend with a solid 6.595-seconds pass at 209.95 mph. The Adam Hornberger and Roy Johnson-led team came back in the second session and produced an extremely consistent 6.596, 209.56.

Saturday, Johnson picked up over a thousandth of a second in his Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing Dart when he crossed the finish line at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona with a stout 6.583, 209.46 in the opening session. Wanting to test some things in the final qualifying round before raceday, Johnson slowed to a 6.618, 208.14 but it provided the team with the direction for what will work best for Sunday’s eliminations.

“I feel like the first three runs were great,” Johnson said. “We gained on every run and then in the final session, we tried some out of the box stuff and it caused me to hit the limiter bad in second gear so boo on me. We really stepped it up in Q3 [third qualifying session] and if we can go back to Q3’s stature, we’ve got a good chance on winning in the first round tomorrow.”

Ending his professional Pro Stock career with 399 starts leaves fans questioning what it would take to get him to come back and hit the 400 raceday start milestone.

“The only way I’ll come back and get my 400th raceday start in my setup is if someone brings me a check for two million dollars tomorrow,” he laughed.

Johnson closed out qualifying in the No. 10 spot and will have a first round matchup against long-time friend Erica Enders.