Allen Johnson Makes On-Track Strides During Qualifying at NHRA Northwest Nationals

KENT, WA – Allen Johnson and the Marathon Petroleum/J&J Racing team made some of their biggest on-track performance strides of the season during qualifying at the 30th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals.

On Friday, Johnson began qualifying with a 6.646-second pass at 207.53 mph. With a good starting point to work off of, the Adam Hornberger-led team came back and made a massive improvement when Johnson blazed down the 1,320-foot race surface with a 6.617, 209.52.

Saturday, Johnson bettered his qualifying effort once again with a 6.601, 209.49 in the Marathon Petroleum Dodge Dart and was third quickest to the 60-foot timing blocks in that session. Johnson closed out qualifying at Pacific Raceways with a troubled 7.262, 143.00 after drifting out of the groove and coasting to the finish. Notably, Johnson was first to the 60-foot mark in the Pro Stock class in the final session and was set to run his best of the weekend before Johnson decided to abort the run to avoid potentially an unfortunate situation.

Johnson ended up in the No. 8 spot and will have a first round matchup against Greg Anderson on Sunday, August 5th.

Allen Johnson’s Northwest Nationals Qualifying Stats:
Q1: 6.646-seconds, 207.53 mph
Q2: 6.617, 209.52
Q3: 6.601, 209.49
Q4: 7.262, 143.00
Qualified: No. 8
First Round Opponent: Greg Anderson

Quotable:

“The car was getting ready to do a doughnut in Q4 [fourth qualifying session],” Johnson admitted. “Looking back at the time slip, we were one-hundredth faster than we’ve been all weekend and we were out of the groove. We were on a run, that’s for sure. I think we can keep that exact setup in it for tomorrow and if we can keep the car going straight, we’ve got something for that team tomorrow.”