JOHNSON AND MONSTER ENERGY TEAM LOOKING FOR CONSISTENCY AT HOUSTON
BAYTOWN, Texas -- Tommy Johnson Jr. is hoping for sunny skies and a final round showing with the Monster Energy Funny Car at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals March 28-30.
Twice this season, rain has washed out two of the four qualifying sessions at national events.
“Trying to qualify for a race with the competitive field we have really puts a lot of stress on the crew chiefs when you only have two qualifying passes to make the show,” said Johnson. “If you have any mechanical problems or miss the tune-up, you’re in trouble.
“I’ve got all my fingers and toes crossed that the weather will be good for the weekend and we’ll get four good, consistent runs in. Ideally you need to get a good baseline run in the first Friday session, and then refine the tune-up to make a quick run Friday evening. The Friday evening run is probably going to be the key to getting semi-locked into the field. The qualifying procedure has changed somewhat from years past and leaves some spots open for Saturday, but a good Friday night run should definitely help the cause.”
Johnson was in the final four at the second event this season in Phoenix , his best showing to date.
“We’d like to get to the final round sooner rather than later,” continued Johnson. “We had some good fortune at this track in 1994. Houston Raceway Park is where we first went 300 mph to become the 15th member of the prestigious Slick 50 300 mph Club. But we’ve never won here and we’d like to rectify that.
“Our Monster Energy Funny Car team has done a lot of testing this season. In fact we tested the day after Gainesville and it doesn’t look like we have any glaring problems. It just seems that conditions sometimes turn around and bite us. I think we’re looking pretty good going into Houston .”
Nitro (Top Fuel and Funny Car) qualifying begins Friday, March 28 at 3 p.m. with a second session at 6 p.m. There are two qualifying rounds Saturday, noon and 3 p.m. , with final eliminations kicking off Sunday at 11 a.m.
O’REILLY SPRING NATIONALS TELEVISION ADVISORY
Qualifying - March 29 – ESPN2
4:30 -5 p.m. ET
And
10 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET
NHRA Race Day – March 30 – ESPN2
11 –11:30 a.m. ET
Eliminations – March 30 – ESPN2
4:30 – 7 p.m. ET
