After posting the quickest time in each of the last three sessions en route to the No. 1 qualifying position, Summit Racing driver Jason Line entered Sunday’s final eliminations of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, Ga. cautiously optimistic about his chances of successfully defending his win at this event from a year ago. In the first round against Warren Johnson, Line picked up where he left off on Saturday, powering through the quarter-mile in 6.599-seconds with a top speed of 209.95 mph to gain the round win.
In the second round against sophomore sensation Vincent Nobile, who had won the last race in Houston just a week ago, Line combined a quick .012 reaction time and a 6.605-second, 209.49 mph pass to eliminate his young opponent and advance to the semifinals, where he would meet Ronnie Humphrey, whose Genuine Hotrod Hardware Pontiac is run out of the KB Racing shops.
Once again, Line proved to be too much, with his 6.634-second, 209.26 mph run easily defeating Humphrey, who was forced to shut off early due to tire shake. This set the stage for an all-Summit final round, as Line would face teammate Greg Anderson. Although he was able to deliver another strong run, covering the quarter-mile in 6.618 seconds with a top speed of 209.62 mph, it unfortunately fell one hundredth of a second shy of overcoming his partner’s starting line advantage and 6.649-second, 208.26 mph run.
Although naturally disappointed by the outcome, the reigning Pro Stock champion was still able to find some positives in his team’s performance, and looked forward to earning some redemption in two weeks at the next NHRA Full Throttle Series’ race in Topeka, KS.
“For some reason, I just didn’t have a good rhythm in my staging procedure in the final, which naturally affected my reaction time,” said Line. “You can’t do that against someone as good as Greg. As I have often said, he is a four-time champion for a reason, and to beat him, you have to be at your very best. Unfortunately, in the final today, I was a bit off, and it cost us.
“Still, things could have been a lot worse. My team gave me another great Summit Racing Pontiac to drive and we made it all the way to the final against our teammate, which is the perfect scenario at your sponsor’s race, allowing us to gain points on all our competition. Naturally, I would have preferred to be the one holding the Wally, but I’ll just have to wait to do that until the next race. I owe it to my guys, and will do everything possible to finally get it done in Kansas.”
Established in 1968, Summit Racing Equipment is the leading high performance parts and accessories company. Summit Racing offers the largest selection, lowest prices, and best customer service in the high performance industry via catalogs, Internet, and Retail Super Stores. The company is headquartered in Tallmadge, Ohio with retail locations in Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; and McDonough, Georgia. For more information, please visit www.summitracing.com.
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