Bristol: Tommy Johnson Jr Saturday summary

Johnson Jr. Qualifies Eighth at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 1, 2004) -- Tommy Johnson Jr. drove his Skoal RacingSM Chevy Funny Car to the No. 8 qualifying position Saturday at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

The five-time NHRA winner blasted his Mike Green-tuned Monte Carlo to a weekend-best effort of 4.856 seconds at 321.58 to claim the eighth qualifying position and lane choice in the first round of Funny Car eliminations. Johnson's flopper slowed to a pass of 7.265 at 117.58 on Saturday's first qualifying attempt, marking the only run during qualifying that the Iowa native failed to make a full pass on the Bristol Dragway quarter mile.

"We've made it down the race track on eight of our last nine runs," Johnson said. "On Saturday's first run, we were testing to see how far we could push it. Consistency is what we needed to work on and that's what we're getting. You can be consistent, but you need to be consistently quick, and each run the car has gone a little quicker. That allows you to be more optimistic heading into race day."

Johnson looks to win his first career event at Bristol Dragway on Sunday. He'll meet Gary Scelzi in the first round of Funny Car eliminations at 11 a.m. (ET).

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