Through all of the trials and tribulations he and the RaceRedi Motorsports Pontiac GXP Pro Stock team faced this season, Justin Humphreys has been able to flash a smile and say, “Things will get better.”
And they did . . . all at once. Even as he continues savoring his first Pro Stock victory Sunday at Charlotte, the second-year driver from Monrovia, Md., is plotting ways to return to the winner’s circle as soon as possible. Maybe even as early as this weekend.
Humphreys and the team spent the first part of the week working with the team’s new engine suppliers, fellow Pro Stock drivers Warren and Kurt Johnson, trying to figure out how to tune his car to the new power curve. They will begin testing their theories Friday when qualifying begins for Sunday’s O’Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.
This is the second time Humphreys faced this situation since the season began in February. His original supplier left after the first 10 races and he teamed up with Mopar’s Allen and Roy Johnson to drive a Dodge for 10 races before returning to his Pontiac – with assistance from the General Motors Johnsons – at Charlotte.
“I’m excited to get back to the track,” said Humphreys, whose win came over Kurt Johnson. “We’ve been trying to figure out what the car wants and how to run their motors. Now we want to go to the Motorplex and follow the same path we took last week.
“We fixed a few things and we are looking forward to seeing how they work. We’ve learned that everybody runs their cars differently. Warren and Kurt worked with us and I know we’ll get things figured out soon.
“Frank (Gugliotta, team crew chief) has a good handle on the car,” Humphreys continued, “so we aren’t worried about that.”
Good luck, which had eluded Humphreys all year, was with him in the finals at Charlotte, but his expert driving in the first three rounds got him that far. He won the opening round with a holeshot win over Rob Mansfield. Humphreys had a .010-second reaction and his 6.754-second time beat a 6.722 by eight- thousandths of a second.
Against reigning POWERade Series champion Jeg Coughlin in the semifinals, Humphreys left first again and lit the win light in 6.707 seconds to a 6.708.
A broken starter prevented Kurt Johnson’s car from starting and Humphreys’ car shook the tires hard off the starting line, forcing him to shut off and coast to the win in 19.849 seconds.
As he said later, “A win is a win.”
There should be more on the way, too.
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