Rolling Off Fifth, Line is Ready for a New Approach in Denver
Event: 33rd annual Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Location: Bandimere Speedway, Morrison, Colorado
Day/Date: Saturday, July 21, 2012
Reigning NHRA Pro Stock champion Jason Line completed a solid qualifying effort on Saturday, capturing the fifth starting position for Sunday’s final eliminations of the Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Morrison, Colo. Although the Summit Racing driver’s 6.988-second, 196.93 mph pass from Friday evening remained his run of record, he posted two respectable runs on Saturday, covering the quarter-mile in 6.994 and 7.018 seconds.
Even so, Line was not totally pleased with his showing, and enters his first-round encounter with Colorado racer Deric Kramer looking to better his race car’s performance, while also admitting that a new approach, focusing on the man behind the wheel, might be needed to challenge for his first win at Bandimere Speedway.
“We just seemed to take one step forward and two steps back in qualifying this weekend, so we know there is room for improvement tomorrow,” said Line. “The good news is that I think we learned a couple things about our Summit Racing Camaros today that we should be able to apply to tomorrow, which hopefully will give us a better car for race day.
“Still, this might be one of those weekends where we might have to figure out how to win the race with our left (clutch) foot instead of our right (gas) one. It’s just one of those things that you have to deal with from time to time in racing, especially in these unique conditions. We know we’re going to have our work cut out for us, so we’ll just have to stay focused and do our jobs as well as we can, doing whatever we can to try and go rounds, making the best of the situation. Fortunately, this is the crew that can do exactly that.”