Allen Johnson Taking East Coast Race Debut As Clean Slate

GREENEVILLE, TN – The debut East Coast race brings Allen Johnson and his Marathon Petroleum Corporation/J&J Racing Dodge Dart GT to Gainesville Raceway this weekend for the 47th annual AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. With early exits at the first two events of the season, the Marathon team is ready to move forward while learning all they can about the new fuel injection systems and translate it into round wins.

“Gainesville is one of my favorite tracks,” said Johnson. “This race is kind of the coming out race for us on the East Coast and there’s a lot of Pro Stock fans out there.”

Johnson and his team plan to spend several days testing at Brandenton Motorsports Park in Florida before they make the trip to Gainesville.

“We’ve still got a learning curve to go through and get the car a little better with driveability but we’re all working on it as hard as we can. I think three days of testing in Bradenton before Gainesville will be really good.”

Johnson explained that although that he has had many highs at Gainesville Raceway, including wins in 2013 and 2014, his favorite memory would be debuting the Dodge Dart at this event.

“Winning the first race out with the Dart has to be my most favorite memory,” reminisced Johnson. “It was pretty awesome.”

Qualifying at the AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals will begin Friday, March 18 at 12:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. (ET).