On the strength of a 6.586-second, 208.97 mph pass made on his second attempt on Friday evening, Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson earned the No. 1 qualifying position for the Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill., edging his teammate Jason Line by just over one hundredth of a second. It was the 74th No. 1 qualifying performance of Anderson’s career (in 279 races), fifth at Route 66 Raceway and first since the 2009 Sonoma race, a period spanning almost two years and 43 races.
Although Saturday’s warmer temperatures prevented any changes among the top twelve from the day before, Anderson continued to be among the top performers among the 24 cars attempting to qualify, posting the second-quickest time in the second session (behind his teammate), before closing out his qualifying effort with the quickest time of the fourth and final session at 6.617-seconds. This marks the 25th time the KB Racing teammates have captured the top two positions in qualifying, with Anderson leading the field 17 times.
“The drought is over, thank the Lord,” said Anderson. “I haven’t had a hot rod like this in a couple years, and it just feels great. I am so proud of every member of this Summit Racing team who have worked so hard trying to get us back to this point. They’re doing a fantastic job, and I just can’t thank them enough.
“This is the best car I have had in quite some time, and the best part is that it has yet to make a perfect run. It’s been good, but not perfect, and it’s still running at the top of the class. That’s a feeling I haven’t had in a long time. For the last year and a half, for my car to run at the top of the page, it would have to make a flawless run. I haven’t done that yet this weekend, and we’re still in the top spot. The good news is the car is fast, the even better news is that it has yet to make that perfect run, which we think we can do tomorrow, so the best is yet to come.
“It’s now up to me to take advantage of this horse and get my first win here at Route 66 Raceway. It’s the only track on the Full Throttle Circuit where I have yet to win, and qualifying No. 1 is a great start to hopefully fixing that. I’m going to bed tonight with a lot of confidence knowing that I have a great shot of winning the race, and if I should falter for some reason, we have an equally strong Summit Racing Pontiac with my teammate Jason Line, giving us a great 1-2 punch.
“I have a great feeling going into eliminations, but I still need to have that mental toughness, that eye of the tiger, driving as if my car was a few hundredths slower than everyone else. If I can do that, hopefully I can finally break my Route 66 Raceway jinx.”
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