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Phoenix: Kurt Johnson final report

KJ Gets Shaken Out in Phoenix Second Round Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team seemed to have a good handle on things heading into the second round of Sunday's final eliminations at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals in ...

Published: Feb 28, 2008, 6:46 AM

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KJ Gets Shaken Out in Phoenix Second Round

Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team seemed to have a good handle on things heading into the second round of Sunday's final eliminations at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals in Phoenix, AZ. Starting from the fourth position, Johnson had put together a solid effort in the opening stanza, combining a quick .030 reaction time with a quick 6.640-second, 208.17 mph run to trailer Matt Hartford in the first round.

Squaring off against former Pro Stock champion Jason Line in the quarterfinals, Johnson posted a strong .023 reaction time, but any chance of advancing was quickly erased when his mount suffered extreme tire shake, shooting him off to the right and towards the wall, forcing him to lift, allowing his opponent to go on for the win.

"We came back after the first round believing we had a car capable of winning the race, but now we're one of several teams scratching our heads. Up until the second round, our ACDelco Cobalt had been making good runs, but there was something on the racetrack that a few of us in the right hand lane must have missed. As a result, we spun and shook at the hit of the throttle, cutting our day short. It's of little consolation to us, but the same thing happened to the guy who was the No. 1 qualifier and ran low e.t. of eliminations.

"Still, we're not totally unhappy leaving Phoenix. We know everything we have is good -- now we just have to find a way to win. The car has been strong, and I'm driving pretty well, but in these two races we were just tripped up by something crazy. We'll just take what we learned and move on, trying to do even better next time."

-credit: j2r

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