It’s safe to say that Kurt Johnson’s weekend at the 22nd annual O’Reilly Spring Nationals is off to a solid start after the driver of the ACDelco Chevrolet took provisional pole honors tonight in the Pro Stock category with a run of 6.678 seconds at 206.64 mph. During an extremely humid day in Southeast Texas, it was KJ’s best Friday effort so far this season, and he’ll return to Houston Raceway Park tomorrow to see if he can capture his first No.1 qualifying award of the 2009 campaign.
“Mike Dunn came by this morning and asked what we were going to do today,” Johnson said. “And knowing the contrast in the weather we’re expecting between today and tomorrow, I said that we were probably going to learn how to get down this track if it’s like this next year. Today’s run, you may as well throw it out the window, because we’re going to be a tenth (of a second) better tomorrow when we come out here and run.”
It was a qualifying afternoon characterized by the unpredictable stops and starts of constant rain delays, but that didn’t stop Johnson and his ACDelco crew, who were looking to see if an afternoon testing last week at Atlanta Dragway would pay dividends.
“Testing last week for us was a big hit. We went into Gainesville and ran really well on Saturday. We were the second quickest car on Saturday, and we just left a lot on the table on Sunday. We were too conservative on Sunday and that bit us in the butt. We went to Atlanta on Wednesday and made seven runs in six hours, and we were fast. We made good runs there and we came in here pumped up. The crew did a good job, everybody stuck together, we put our heads together, made a good run today and that’s what it’s all about.”
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