Baytown: Tommy Johnson Jr Friday summary

Johnson Jr. Qualifies Fourth at Houston on Friday

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 16, 2004) -- Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Skoal RacingSM Funny Car crew rebounded from a qualifying setback two weeks ago in Las Vegas and raced to the No. 4 qualifying position at Houston Raceway Park on Friday.

Johnson, a five-time NHRA winner, cruised to a run of 5.045 seconds at 275.11 mph on Friday's first qualifying effort, before blasting his Mike Green-tuned Chevy Monte Carlo to a performance of 4.896 at 311.20. Johnson sits fourth best with two qualifying attempts scheduled for Saturday.

"The first run was a get back on track run to get in the show," Johnson said. "I know Mike (Green) and the guys would have liked to have stepped on it harder on the second run, but they're still a bit conservative after Vegas. So, we just wanted to get in the show.

"It was a nice, easy run with a pretty solid speed. It was a clean run all the way down the quarter mile. We learned a lot during testing after Vegas. Friday night gets you qualified and on Saturday's you work on the race-day tune-up."

Johnson aims to claim his first No. 1 qualifying position in more than three years when Funny Car qualifying continues Saturday at noon and 3 p.m. (CT).

ESPN2 will televise two hours of qualifying highlights from the O'Reilly Spring Nationals beginning at 10 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, April 17 and show two hours of final eliminations at 5 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, April 18.

-www.snakeracing.com