Johnson Jr. Drives to No. 3 Spot Friday at Brainerd

BRAINERD, Minn. (8/11/06) -- Tommy Johnson, Jr. powered his special edition Skoal RacingSM Funny Car to the No. 3 qualifying position Friday at Brainerd International Raceway after clocking a run of 4.796 seconds.

The seven-time NHRA winner opened qualifying at the 25th running of the Lucas Oil Nationals by powering his Mike Green-tuned silver-and-blue Monte Carlo to a performance of 4.908 seconds at 309.42 mph to record the fifth quickest elapsed time of Friday's first qualifying session. Johnson carded the second quickest run in the right lane during that session. As the sun set over the Minnesota quarter mile, Johnson blistered the B.I.R. strip in 4.796 at 321.19 to claim the third quickest pass of the day. Johnson qualified second at Brainerd last August.

"It always helps to make a good run out of the box," Johnson said. "That sets the tone when you make a nice pass on your first run. That let Mike (Green) and the guys tune it up. They went for it and we ran a 4.79. We had been struggling in qualifying the past two races and it looks like we picked it up. I'm glad to be back on track."

The Iowa native looks to move higher in the 16-car Funny Car order when qualifying continues with sessions scheduled for Noon and 3 p.m. (CT) Saturday afternoon at B.I.R. Johnson grabbed the top spot at the Joliet, Ill. event in June.

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