For the seventh time in this season’s eleven races Summit Racing driver Jason Line earned one of the top two starting positions, capturing the second spot for Sunday’s final eliminations at the Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.. In three of the four sessions at Route 66 Raceway, Line was among the very best of the 24 cars making an attempt, highlighted by his 6.597-second, 207.66 mph pass on Friday evening, which trailed only his teammate Greg Anderson in the standings.
This marks the 25th time in their careers that the KB Racing team has placed both cars in the top two positions, including earlier this year in Charlotte, when Line captured the pole position ahead of Anderson. With three wins and five final round appearances at the Joliet quarter-mile, the current Pro Stock points leader was cautiously optimistic about his chances for race day, especially as his 6.622-second pass in the heat on Saturday afternoon was the class of the field in conditions which come closest to replicating those expected for tomorrow.
“That first run we made this afternoon was a really good hit, and gives us some valuable information that we hope to use on race day,” said Line. “My Summit Racing Pontiac performed really well throughout the two days of qualifying, making four decent runs, so I really don’t have anything to complain about. As well as both Greg and I are running, it’s important that we capitalize on it tomorrow.
“The last time Greg was the No. 1 qualifier and I was No. 2 was two years ago in Sonoma, and we both ended up going to the final. It’s certainly a result we’d like to duplicate tomorrow, but there are a lot of good cars in the field, so we’ll have our work cut out for us. Even so, I feel very good about our chances. You never know what’s going to happen on race day, but you feel a lot better when your car is performing as well as ours are at the moment, which is a credit to the entire KB Racing crew. They do a tremendous job, and it’s good to see their efforts rewarded.
“But we’re not about to rest on our laurels. What we did today is history, so we’ll have to be on our game again tomorrow. We got the desired result in qualifying – now we need to turn that performance into a win by one of these Summit Racing Pontiacs.”
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