After qualifying second at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN, Summit Racing Pro Stock pilot Jason Line entered Monday’s final eliminations determined to reverse his string of untimely exits at drag racing’s biggest race. Things went as planned in the first round, as Line combined a starting line advantage and a quick 6 .659-second, 206.80 mph pass to eliminate Justin Humphreys. It was a similar story in the second round, as Line once again was first off the line, with his 6.671-second, 205.94 mph effort more than enough to defeat veteran Johnny Gray, sending the 2006 champion to the semifinals for the 13th time this season, and first at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
The final obstacle between Line and his ninth final round appearance of the season was noted starting line specialist Greg Stanfield. Although Line put together a solid performance, combining a .035 reaction time and a 6.659-second, 206.48 mph run, it fell nine thousandths of a second shy of overcoming his opponent’s starting line edge, gained through a nearly perfect .013 light.
“Although this was my best showing at Indy, I’m far from satisfied,” said Line. “Our Summit Racing Pontiac was co nsistent and made decent runs throughout the weekend, although it wasn’t necessarily as fast as we would have liked it to be. I also could have done a better job of driving. The bottom line is that we came up nine thousandths short in the semis.
“The easiest way to sum up this year’s U.S. Nationals is that I’ve had better days, but certainly had worse ones, especially here. The good news is that with the Countdown to One starting at the next race in Charlotte, we gained 40 points on the leader and are now just 30 points out. We’re running well, but know we can do better, which is what we’ll be working on between now and Charlotte next week. Best of all, everyone on this KB Racing crew is committed to getting the job done.”
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