Commerce: Kurt Johnson Saturday summary

KJ Will Start Second in Atlanta

Qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals was completed on Saturday at Atlanta Dragway under conditions completely unlike those experienced on Friday. With clear blue skies, increased ambient temperatures and a racing surface that was 20 degrees warmer, there were no serious challenges for the top starting positions in Sunday's Pro Stock starting field.

Nestled comfortably in the second position with his 6.714-second, 205.19 mph pass from Friday evening, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team took advantage of their final two qualifying attempts to experiment with new combinations, adding valuable tuning data to their extensive race notes. Through it all, their primary focus remaining on winning their second NHRA national event at the Georgia quarter-mile.

"We used today as a test day. With the warmer temperatures on Saturday, we knew we would neither get bumped back nor have a realistic shot at taking over the No. 1 position, so we decided to try a few things out.

"Although I wouldn't say we were pleased with the results, we know what not to do on race day. We will put our ACDelco Cobalt back to the way we set it up on Friday. It wants to go down the track on every run, which is really good. I feel confident we can go some rounds and do some damage here."

-j2r-