Greg Anderson and the Summit Racing team entered Sunday’s final eliminations of the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz. looking to find the right tune-up to maximize their race car’s performance on a tricky Firebird Raceway surface.
Any questions as to how well they fared were quickly answered in the opening stanza, when, facing veteran Kurt Johnson, the four-time champion clicked off a 6.555-second (second only to his teammate), 210.83 mph lap to gain the round win.
After Vincent Nobile’s red-light start in the second round sent him to the semifinals, Anderson used another solid 6.590-second, 210.21-mph pass to eliminate Rodger Brogdon and advance to the 105th final round of his stellar career, where he would meet teammate Jason Line.
Although he made his fourth strong run of the day at 6.570-seconds, 211.06 mph, it was not enough, as Line pulled out the close win, crossing the finish line first in 6.558-seconds, with a top speed of 211.69 mph.
Despite the disappointment at not gaining the victory, Anderson was pleased with his team’s performance, and leaves Arizona with a one-point lead over his KB Racing stable mate in the Full Throttle Championship points standings.
“I was actually happy going into the left lane for the final, because my car was happier on that side,” said Anderson.
“But even though we made a pretty good run, it wasn’t enough to catch Jason and his rocket ship. Still, my Summit Racing Pontiac ran well all day, and I made it to the final against my teammate, which is our goal at every race, so I had a very good day.
“This was the first time in about ten years that we actually ran well here in Phoenix. There were a lot of cars having a heck of a time getting a handle on the racetrack today, but our guys did a tremendous job of adjusting our race cars and we went right on down, so my hat’s off to them – they’re the reason we won the race. It’s been a great two weeks, and we’re looking forward to keeping it going.”
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