Allen Johnson Looking for Soaring Sunday Performance at Circle K NHRA Winternationals
POMONA, CA – Allen Johnson and his Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing Dodge Dart GT came to Auto Club 
Raceway at Pomona with a positive outlook on the new fuel injection setups for the entire Pro Stock category. Johnson powered his red, white and blue Pro Stock Dart through all four rounds of qualifying and began the process of gaining data to put towards his raceday tuneup. On Sunday, Johnson will be running his own race and focusing on turning on the win light in his lane each round and find his way in the winner circle at the 56th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals.
In the first round of qualifying, Johnson clocked in with a 6.653-second pass at 208.33 mph, putting him in the top half of the field. In Friday’s afternoon session, Johnson crossed the finish line with a 6.663, 206.80 and remained in the top half of the field in the No. 7 spot.
On Saturday, Johnson came back with his Dart and gained more data for their raceday setup. In Saturday’s early session, Johnson continued his consistency with a 6.669, 207.02. In the final qualifying round, Johnson experienced mechanical issues which caused his car to slow to a 6.764, 185.26.
“It went pretty good on the first run,” said Johnson. “That last run, we really went back and studied the first run we made, made some corrections and the car was on a good run in the last qualifying until about the 330-foot mark where we had our mechanical issue.”
The Marathon Petroleum team did not hurt the motor on the last run but discovered the clear issue and developed a plan that would improve their raceday setup.
“We found the problem that’s probably been plaguing us. I think we’ll have something for them tomorrow.”
Johnson concluded qualifying in the No. 10 spot and will race Alex Laughlin in the first round of eliminations. The two drivers have never faced each other in competition before.
“On race day, I just race myself. I don’t pay attention to who is in the other lane. We won this race in the fall so we’ll go in and let the driver do his job.”
