NHRA

Memphis: Kurt Johnson preview

MEMPHIS, Oct. 1, 2009 -- The 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals on Oct. 2 -- 4 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tenn., is the next stop for the NHRA Full Throttle Series tour, and the third of four contests held on consecutive ...

Edited: Oct 8, 2009, 2:27 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

MEMPHIS, Oct. 1, 2009 -- The 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals on Oct. 2 -- 4 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tenn., is the next stop for the NHRA Full Throttle Series tour, and the third of four contests held on consecutive weekends. Kurt Johnson enters this weekend's race in eighth place in the Pro Stock points standings and is looking for his first victory at this venue since 2006.

"We're not worried about championships or anything like that," Johnson said. "Our focus is on round wins and race wins."

During the first two contests of the NHRA Countdown to 1, Johnson's team has rediscovered the consistency in their race car that had been lacking most of the season, and in these last pair of national events the ACDelco Chevrolet has qualified No. 3 at Charlotte and No. 6 at the series' last race in Dallas. Even with Johnson's early exit from eliminations last Sunday at the Texas Motorplex, the veteran pro Stock driver feels confident that his car's steady performance will continue at Memphis.

"We have the ACDelco Chevrolet back to where it used to be," Johnson said. "We can take four qualifying rounds, make only minor tweaks and adjustments and it's still going to go straight down the racetrack. That's something that was missing during the beginning of the year. We're also running good speed and our incremental numbers look good. We have a good race car with a good race team capable of winning and that's what we're planning to do in Memphis."

Johnson won the rain-soaked Mid-South Nationals in 2006 when he defeated Richie Stevens in round one on Sunday, and he then came back on Monday to beat Larry Morgan in round two, Allen Johnson in the semifinals and Jason Line in the finals on a holeshot.

"That was a good weekend for us," Johnson said. "Everyone on the crew stuck in there, made the right calls, and then I did my job in the finals. We need another race just like that one."

In addition to the '06 race win, the ACDelco driver was runner-up to Warren Johnson in 1998 and Greg Anderson in 2005. He has also been No. 1 qualifier twice at Memphis Motorsports Park (1997, 2005), and a victory on Sunday would mark his 40th career trip to the winner's circle.

"We're excited about the fact that we have a consistent race car -- one that can qualify toward the top of the page and go rounds," Johnson said. "It's not the fastest horse, but it's one we can ride all the way to the winner's circle and we just need to take advantage of it."

-credit: jjr

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Alonso hopes to leave F1 after Ferrari tenure

Next article Japanese GP: Kimi Raikkonen preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

7 h

Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors

Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

8 h

Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss

IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 8 h

IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing

Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

8 h

Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts