Johnson Makes Third Final Round Appearance of the Season
LAS VEGAS - Tommy Johnson Jr. has been talking about how good his Skoal Racingsm Monte Carlo really is. He backed up the talk Sunday with a final round appearance at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.
It was his third final round appearance of the season. He now has one runner-up finish to go with two previous wins.
"It really proves just how good our car is," Johnson said. "We narrowly missed the win, but this car is capable of being in the final round every weekend. I have that much confidence in what (crew chief) Mike Green and the crew are doing."
Johnson beat Phil Burkart in the first round, turning in a 4.813-second pass at 323.66 mph to beat Burkart's 4.837 at 318.62. Johnson's 4.809 at 320.89 topped John Force's 8.238 at 105.65 in the second round.
Johnson beat another John Force Racing car in the semifinal, topping Eric Medlen. Johnson went 4.810 at 322.04 to take the win over Medlen's 4.808 at 320.89.
"We won some very close races (Sunday)," Johnson said. "I think we did a great job racing each lane and each race. We didn't get too crazy with the setup and get away from what has made this car so good. The car's consistency really made the difference today.
"Mike and the crew did their job and I made sure to do my job and the results were very good."
The only time Johnson didn't have a consistent car was in the final round of the eliminations.
"We were so consistent until that last round," Johnson said. "We just weren't aggressive enough in that last pass. But we had three consistent passes, three win lights and we came real close to earning another win."
Johnson has earned two wins and two No. 1 qualifying awards this season but said the confidence he had on Sunday came from his previous experience in Las Vegas. Johnson has one win in two runner-up appearance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"It really helped knowing that I had won here before because it just made me comfortable in the car before we even started," Johnson said. "Now we're looking forward to going to Pomona because we have done so well and we want to finish on a high note.
"We have a chance to earn one more win this season and I'm excited about being in Pomona (Calif.) for the season finale."
