Line Set on Staying No. 1 as Countdown Heats Up in Vegas
Mooresville, N.C., Oct. 28, 2014 – Pro Stock points leader Jason Line has only ever known what it feels like at the top during the 2014 Countdown to the Championship, and he intends to keep it that way as the tour flies in to Sin City for the 14th annual NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Holding a 35-point lead on the competition, Line enters the event with four wins in eight final rounds on his scorecard for the year and a deep yearning for win No. 5.
Line has been a finalist in two of the four Countdown races so far contested this season, and he arrives in Las Vegas as part of an exceptionally successful duo at one of the premier racetracks on the tour. The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been home to eight wins in 14 final rounds for the KB Racing team, and two of the finals were a standoff between teammates Line and Greg Anderson. Line holds one Las Vegas title, earned in 2008, and was most recently a finalist there at the spring race earlier this season. He has earned four low qualifier awards in Las Vegas to Anderson’s five.
In preparation for the final two races of the 24-event 2014 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Line and several crew members traveled west last week to participate in a test session that yielded pleasing results.
“It was a good trip,” said Line. “We had a couple of things we wanted to test in regard to parts for our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros, and all of that went really well. It’s been a very busy time for the KB Racing crew – we’ve been working in the shop nonstop on a lot of things, and we’re going to Las Vegas to win. Anything else isn’t going to be good enough for us. This is an exciting time, and the chase [NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship] is probably the best it’s been in Pro Stock since they began using this format.”
Line made his Pro Stock debut in 2003 and competed in just four races that year, but the following year he was full-bore running for the championship. In his first full season, 2004, he finished No. 2 to Anderson, who won the second of three consecutive big trophies. The next year he was No. 3 as the curtain dropped, and in 2006 he earned the first Pro Stock world title of his career and fourth in a row for KB Racing. Five years later, in 2011, he brought home his second championship trophy for Team Summit. Throughout his entire career as a full-time competitor in one of the most challenging categories in drag racing, Line has never finished lower than fifth. Seven times he has finished third or better.
“The adrenaline is high at this point in the season,” said Line. “Anybody that says it isn’t is probably a little confused. This isn’t my first chase, and this isn’t the first time I’ve been in this position – you hope that experience helps and you learned something from the last few years. But really, some things are out of your control. All you can do is go out there, try to do the best you can, and hopefully you win.”