Johnson Takes Provisional Top Spot in Pro Stock Qualifying as NHRA Championship Battle Heats Up
 
·         Mopar drivers and teams racing this weekend at 29th annual Auto-Plus® NHRA Nationals, the 22nd of 24 NHRA events
·         This will be the fourth of six playoff national events in the NHRA “Countdown to the Championship”
·         Defending Pro Stock champ Johnson earns provisional No.1 and five bonus points with his Friday qualifying effort
·         Coughlin fourth after Friday qualifying and sits second in Pro Stock championship standings
·         Defending Funny Car Champ Beckman is top Mopar qualifier with third place run at Maple Grove Raceway
·         Funny Car points leader Hagan is provisionally fourth after two qualifying sessions

 

Reading, Pa (October 04, 2013) – With just three NHRA nationals events left in the 2013 Mello Yello Series season, the intensity of the battle for points and position is heating up and defending NHRA Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson knows now is the time to make some gains. The Mopar Express Lane driver did exactly that by earning the provisional No.1 position and five bonus points for his efforts in Friday qualifying at Maple Grove Raceway for the 29th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals.

 

Johnson paced the Mopars in the first qualifying session with an elapsed time run of 6.597 seconds (209.62 mph) to earn two valuable bonus points for his second place spot on the score sheet. Current Pro Stock points leader Mike Edwards posted a 6.592-second run to grab the top spot and three points. By the time the cars were back in the staging lanes for the second session, track conditions had improved giving everyone the chance to improve their times.

 

“The sun started going off the track for that last run and it got 10 to 12 degrees cooler than the first so everyone loaded up and went for it,” said Johnson who set the low e.t. with a 6.579-second (210.34mph) run to end the day as provisional No. 1 qualifier. “My Mopar Express Lane crew knows that we have to gobble up as many of those little [bonus] points as we can get. We’re putting it on ‘kill’ about every run now. Hopefully we can gain six or eight points on the leader before eliminations and have a good day on Sunday.”

 

Johnson, who was the No. 1 qualifier last weekend in St. Louis, came into this weekend sixth in points but within 69 points of the leader, which is less than four rounds. As close as the competition has been this season, he plans to put everything on the line to have a chance to defend his 2012 championship through to the end.

 

“We’ve got to. We’ve got to make perfect runs on every run and not leave anything on the table. If we can leave here a couple of more runs caught up we’ll feel pretty good going into the last two, but we definitely need to got to get a little closer than we are. “

 

Johnson’s Mopar teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. came into this fourth of sixth “Countdown to the Championship” events sitting second in the standings, only 10 points behind Edwards. Coughlin has won three races in seven final-round appearances this season and is working for a chance to earn a fifth NHRA Pro Stock world championship title. After two qualifying session, the Jegs.com Mopar sits fourth behind Johnson, Jason Line and Edwards, with an elapsed time run of 6.588 second (209.30mph). The HEMI-powered Mopars of V. Gaines and Vincent Nobile are seventh and 11th respectively.

 

In Funny Car action, defending world champion Jack Beckman put his Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger R/T in third spot with a run of 4.034 seconds (318.99mph) just ahead of his Mopar teammate Matt Hagan. The driver of the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” machine came into Maple Grove Raceway as the points leader and is provisionally qualified fourth with a pass of  4.035 sec at 319.45 mph. Fellow DSR teammates Johnny Gray and Ron Capps are fifth and 12th respectively.

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·         Mopar drivers and teams racing this weekend at 29th annual Auto-Plus® NHRA Nationals, the 22nd of 24 NHRA events
·         This will be the fourth of six playoff national events in the NHRA “Countdown to the Championship”
·         Defending Pro Stock champ Johnson earns provisional No.1 and five bonus points with his Friday qualifying effort
·         Coughlin fourth after Friday qualifying and sits second in Pro Stock championship standings
·         Defending Funny Car Champ Beckman is top Mopar qualifier with third place run at Maple Grove Raceway
·         Funny Car points leader Hagan is provisionally fourth after two qualifying sessions

 

Reading, Pa (October 04, 2013) – With just three NHRA nationals events left in the 2013 Mello Yello Series season, the intensity of the battle for points and position is heating up and defending NHRA Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson knows now is the time to make some gains. The Mopar Express Lane driver did exactly that by earning the provisional No.1 position and five bonus points for his efforts in Friday qualifying at Maple Grove Raceway for the 29th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals.

 

Johnson paced the Mopars in the first qualifying session with an elapsed time run of 6.597 seconds (209.62 mph) to earn two valuable bonus points for his second place spot on the score sheet. Current Pro Stock points leader Mike Edwards posted a 6.592-second run to grab the top spot and three points. By the time the cars were back in the staging lanes for the second session, track conditions had improved giving everyone the chance to improve their times.

 

“The sun started going off the track for that last run and it got 10 to 12 degrees cooler than the first so everyone loaded up and went for it,” said Johnson who set the low e.t. with a 6.579-second (210.34mph) run to end the day as provisional No. 1 qualifier. “My Mopar Express Lane crew knows that we have to gobble up as many of those little [bonus] points as we can get. We’re putting it on ‘kill’ about every run now. Hopefully we can gain six or eight points on the leader before eliminations and have a good day on Sunday.”

 

Johnson, who was the No. 1 qualifier last weekend in St. Louis, came into this weekend sixth in points but within 69 points of the leader, which is less than four rounds. As close as the competition has been this season, he plans to put everything on the line to have a chance to defend his 2012 championship through to the end.

 

“We’ve got to. We’ve got to make perfect runs on every run and not leave anything on the table. If we can leave here a couple of more runs caught up we’ll feel pretty good going into the last two, but we definitely need to got to get a little closer than we are. “

 

Johnson’s Mopar teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. came into this fourth of sixth “Countdown to the Championship” events sitting second in the standings, only 10 points behind Edwards. Coughlin has won three races in seven final-round appearances this season and is working for a chance to earn a fifth NHRA Pro Stock world championship title. After two qualifying session, the Jegs.com Mopar sits fourth behind Johnson, Jason Line and Edwards, with an elapsed time run of 6.588 second (209.30mph). The HEMI-powered Mopars of V. Gaines and Vincent Nobile are seventh and 11th respectively.

 

In Funny Car action, defending world cha
mpion Jack Beckman put his Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger R/T in third spot with a run of 4.034 seconds (318.99mph) just ahead of his Mopar teammate Matt Hagan. The driver of the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” machine came into Maple Grove Raceway as the points leader and is provisionally qualified fourth with a pass of  4.035 sec at 319.45 mph. Fellow DSR teammates Johnny Gray and Ron Capps are fifth and 12th respectively.