Anderson’s Consistent Camaro a Weapon for Seattle Eliminations
SEATTLE, Wash., August 8, 2015 – Greg Anderson’s climb through qualifying at the 28th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals proved to the Mooresville, N.C.-based driver and the competition that he has a consistent and reliable racecar with his Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro. With a string of strong passes, Anderson is set to start from the No. 4 position and get past first-round opponent V. Gaines in his quest for a fourth Seattle win.
Anderson’s KB Racing-powered Chevrolet recorded a 6.538-second pass at 212.06 mph in the first round of qualifying and moved him into the No. 3 position, and it also brought in a bonus qualifying point. More points were added to the pile as Anderson raced to a 6.507 at 212.76 that held a new track record for speed overnight. On Saturday, Anderson came out swinging with a 6.506-second pass at 212.49 mph that came with two bonus qualifying points as second-quickest of the round. He ended the day with a solid and improved 6.503, 212.23.
“My Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro is very fast and very consistent, and I’m very happy,” said Anderson. “I just wanted to crack that 6.49. I thought I had it on that last run, but just didn’t quite run in high gear how it’s been running. We were off a little bit on speed, and I lost it. I was actually ahead of Chris McGaha at the 1/8-mile, and it slowed down the last half. Missed it by a whisker, but you treat qualifying like a learning experience. You change things trying to learn, and sometimes you go backwards. We went a little backwards on that run, and we’ll make her faster for tomorrow. We might have lost our chance at the pole, but we still know our car is fast. We had four good qualifying runs and learned a lot of things. We’re ready to race tomorrow and looking forward to it.”
Anderson’s match with Gaines will mark the fifth time the pair have raced this season, with Anderson holding a 3-1 advantage. Gaines has raced Anderson’s Summit Racing teammate Jason Line twice on Sunday in 2015, both times getting the best of Line in the first round.
“I certainly feel like we owe him one. He got me pretty good the last time we raced, and he got Jason [Line, Summit Racing teammate] a few times, so he’s been a thorn in our sides; no question about it,” said Anderson. “I need to bring my A-game tomorrow, focus, and find a way to whoop him. You can’t win a race if you don’t win first round, and it really doesn’t matter who is over there – they gotta go. They have to step aside if we’re going to win. You treat it like a final round, give it your best shot, and hopefully you come up the winner.”