Gainesville: Kurt Johnson Friday summary

KJ Sits 10th at Gatornationals Qualifying Midpoint

The first day of qualifying for the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals found Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt crew working to match their race car to the Gainesville Raceway surface. In each session, the team made representative runs, improving to a 6.708-second, 206.70 mph effort in the second session. Although this slotted Johnson in the provisional 10th spot, he was already making plans to improve his standing during Saturday's final two qualifying sessions.

"We're still working on finding the right tune-up to take advantage of the power we're making with this ACDelco Cobalt. We did some extensive testing before coming to Gainesville with promising results, but we're still working to adapt that information to this track.

"Our first run wasn't what we were looking for, so we made a few changes for the second session. Although it was certainly better, we're not happy unless we're on top. Basically, we need to make a few more adjustments and pick it up even further. The challenge will be determining what the right changes are.

"With the power we're making, we should be capable of running at the top of the pack. Tomorrow morning's run will be a challenge, because we'll be shooting for the pole while simultaneously trying to make sure and cement our spot in the field for Sunday. It's going to be interesting."

-j2r