Indianpolis: Kurt Johnson Friday summary

KJ Drives to the Second Spot on Friday in Indy

Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team had mixed feelings following their first qualifying run at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. On one hand, they were not overly satisfied with the quality of their run, during which Johnson had displayed his driving skills to keep the car heading forward as it moved towards the wall. However, they were certainly pleased with their 6.728-second elapsed time and track record top speed of 205.35 mph, which placed them in the second position entering Saturday's second day of qualifying, especially considering the potential for improvement.

"We're both pleased and not pleased at the same time. It didn't go straight, and it spun (the tires) in third (gear). However, our ACDelco Cobalt still ran a 6.72, which was within a hundredth of the current low qualifier. Therefore, we know if we can straighten this thing out and make another run under these conditions, we have a good chance of putting it on the pole. There's definitely a little left on the table.

"But now that we know we're in the show, we're really more focused on Monday. We know it's supposed to be hot, so we'll take advantage of the three qualifying runs we have in the heat of the day to work on our tune-up for race day. If we can put it on the pole, it would be icing on the cake, but we're more concerned about what's going to happen during eliminations."

-j2r-