Line Hopes to Pocket Very Personal Win in Brainerd
Mooresville, N.C., August 13, 2013 – This weekend will afford NHRA Pro Stock driver Jason Line the opportunity to do something he has been meaning to do for a long time – race to victory in his Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro at the facility where he cut his teeth as a drag racer, Brainerd International Raceway.
The arrival of NHRA’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in the North Star state for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals will signify a return to their roots for both Line and his Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson. Line hails from Wright, and Anderson is a native of Duluth. Although a win for either driver would be a homerun for the team, Anderson already possesses three Brainerd trophies, while Line is still after the taste of victory there as a professional competitor.
“It’s pretty great to get to go back and race at the track where this all started for me,” said Line, who scored his first national event win in 1992 at the Brainerd facility in Stock Eliminator and then earned another Brainerd trophy in the sportsman category in 1997. “It’s a lot of fun to see all of our friends and family, and this is certainly a race that would be special to win. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t pretty high up there on the list – and I’ve come pretty close, but I haven’t been able to win this one yet. The Summit Racing team has been putting in a lot of hours towards getting our program in the best shape possible, and we’ve made some good progress. Maybe this weekend will be the weekend to do it.”
Mooresville, N.C.-transplant Line has come achingly close to victory at home twice; his first brush with Brainerd bliss was in 2006 when he narrowly forfeited the title to Dave Connolly, and Line’s most recent trip to the BIR final round was in 2009, when he and Anderson squared off in an all-Summit Racing trophy match.
Line was competing in his fifth consecutive final round and had the car to beat at the 2009 event, and Anderson knew good and well that he had his work cut out for him if he was going to snare the hardware. In a real nail-biter, Line was first to leave the starting line but soon saw Anderson inch ahead with his quickest pass of the weekend to wrench the trophy out of his hands by just two-thousandths of a second.
“We’re always happy when we can put a Team Summit car in the winner’s circle, but yeah, that one stung a little,” admitted Line. “That’s racing, though. Now we’re on our way back up there and if we do our jobs right, the opportunity will present itself again.”
For Line, this weekend’s event in Brainerd and the following race, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, will be utilized to gain as much information and as many points as possible before NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship begins in Charlotte. Already locked into the playoffs and currently in the No. 6 position, Line is hoping to climb closer to the top before the field is set in order to optimize his chance at a third series championship.
“Of course the immediate goal is to go to Brainerd and get a win for KB Racing with one of our Summit Racing Chevy Camaros, but in the bigger picture, we’ll also be working on getting our cars completely dialed in over the next couple of races for the Countdown,” said Line. “This weekend is important to Team Summit in more ways than one.”