The POWERade Drag Racing Series heads to the Lone Star State this weekend for the second stop of the NHRA’s Countdown to One playoff season, the O’Reilly Fall Nationals. Although qualifying is scheduled to start less than five days after the conclusion of last week’s race in Charlotte, NC, Pro Stock points leader Kurt Johnson cannot wait to get back on the track. After all, coming off a runner-up performance in Charlotte, and with his ACDelco Cobalt consistently among the very best in this most competitive class, he is looking to claim his fourth win of the season and further cement his position atop the championship standings.
“I’m excited to go racing this weekend in Dallas,” said Johnson. “After all, I feel good, our ACDelco Cobalt is running well, and everyone is working well together. Certainly, we had a little hiccup in the final last week in Charlotte, but it was still a great day. After all, it’s not every day your car doesn’t start and you leave the track with the points lead.
“Even though everything seems to be working right now, we’re looking over every aspect of the car, from the front bumper to the back bumper and from top to bottom, making sure everything is taken care of. We’re not trying to do anything new, we’re just trying to maintain our current level of consistency and performance, fine-tuning wherever necessary. Having said that, our first job is just getting qualified, so we have our sights set on Q1 on Friday afternoon, seeing what the track will hold, and building from there.”
Although others have recently followed suit, for many years, the Texas Motorplex was unique among the facilities on the POWERade tour due to its all-concrete racing surface, which offers competitors in all classes tremendous traction for the length of the course. Armed with a strong performance on a similar surface at the last event, and with a record of consistent success on the Ennis quarter-mile, Johnson and his close-knit blue crew are cautiously optimistic about their chances for this weekend’s race.
“The Motorplex has always been a good track for me,” said Johnson. “We have three wins there, including the first time I went there in 1993, and a couple runners-up. On top of that, we’re coming off a good race on another concrete track. Finally, the weather forecast for Ennis is looking good, so it’s shaping up to be a great weekend.
“Hopefully we can go out there with our ACDelco Cobalt and keep the same pace that we had last weekend, taking care of business and scoring as many points as we can. There are still five races left, and a lot of work to be done. At this point, it’s all about turning on the win light in our lane, which I hope to do four times on Sunday.”
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