{"id":7409,"date":"2017-02-25T23:47:29","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T05:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=7409"},"modified":"2017-02-26T08:57:54","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T14:57:54","slug":"johnson-jr-pritchett-and-line-are-no-1-qualifiers-saturday-at-nhra-arizona-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/25\/johnson-jr-pritchett-and-line-are-no-1-qualifiers-saturday-at-nhra-arizona-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnson Jr., Pritchett and Line are No. 1 qualifiers Saturday at NHRA Arizona Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHANDLER, Ariz. \u2013 Tommy Johnson Jr.<\/strong> set the Funny Car track elapsed-time record to secure the No. 1 qualifier position at the 33rd annual NHRA Arizona Nationals<\/a> on Saturday at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Leah Pritchett (Top Fuel) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) were also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the second of 24 events on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.<\/p>\n

Johnson Jr. powered his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R\/T to a 3.837-second pass at 329.10 mph during the final qualifying session for the 15th No. 1 qualifier of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did some things on that run that we wouldn\u2019t normally do,\u201d Johnson Jr. said. \u201cIt definitely worked. We knew the conditions were good. I could tell during the run that the car was a bunch better. You could feel it in there that it pulled really well early in the run so I knew it was a good one. We went up with no expectations but I felt pretty confident going in there. (Crew chief John Collins) saw something in there that he wanted to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Johnson Jr. will race Phil Burkhart Jr. in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday. Courtney Force qualified second with a 3.838 at 332.67 in her Advanced Auto Parts Chevy Camaro and will line up against Jim Campbell and reigning world champion Ron Capps is third in the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R\/T.<\/p>\n

Pritchett held onto the top spot in Top Fuel with her national record run on Friday. The 3.658 pass at 329.34 in her Papa John\u2019s Pizza dragster is her third career No. 1 qualifying pass, second this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still figuring this race car out,\u201d Pritchett said. \u201cIt seems like we have it under control from the numbers that we lay down. But we\u2019re starting to get outside that box a little bit to see how big our window is. My main focus as a driver has been to be 100% dead straight, dead square because if this car washes out I\u2019m not going to be able to steer it or get it down the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Three-time and defending world champion Antron Brown is qualified second with a 3.667 run at 328.78 in his Matco Tools dragster and will face Steve Chrisman in the first round and eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher is third with the U.S. Army dragster.<\/p>\n

In Pro Stock, Line earned the 51st No. 1 qualifier of his career with a 6.509 pass at 212.19 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro during qualifying on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good time Friday and we didn\u2019t feel like anyone was going to go faster than that,\u201d Line said. \u201cIt was a time to try to learn some new stuff and try to get ready for tomorrow (Sunday). The track is good when it is cold, and you will see some really good racing tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Line will match up against Val Smeland in the first round of eliminations. Summit Racing Equipment teammate Greg Anderson is in second and will face Kenny Delco and rookie Tanner Gray remained third in his Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevy Camaro.<\/p>\n

Eliminations at the 33rd annual NHRA Arizona Nationals begin Sunday at 11 a.m. Catch the action on FOX Sports 1 at 6 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Sunday’s first-round pairings for eliminations for the 33rd annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, the second of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.  Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.<\/p>\n

Top Fuel — 1. Leah Pritchett, 3.658 seconds, 329.91 mph  vs. Bye; 2. Antron Brown, 3.667, 328.78  vs. 15. Steven Chrisman, 4.771, 162.96; 3. Tony Schumacher, 3.667, 328.30  vs. 14. Terry Haddock, 4.292, 190.43; 4. Steve Torrence, 3.684, 327.59  vs. 13. Steve Faria, 3.905, 311.56; 5. Doug Kalitta, 3.695, 328.78  vs. 12. Shawn Reed, 3.836, 307.72; 6. Troy Coughlin Jr., 3.696, 326.48  vs. 11. Scott Palmer, 3.834, 307.79; 7. Brittany Force, 3.703, 329.42  vs. 10. Terry McMillen, 3.768, 322.11; 8. Clay Millican, 3.710, 320.74  vs. 9. Troy Buff, 3.764, 321.96.<\/p>\n

Funny Car — 1. Tommy Johnson Jr., Dodge Charger, 3.837, 329.10  vs. 16. Phil Burkart, Charger, 5.352, 165.94; 2. Courtney Force, Chevy Camaro, 3.838, 332.84  vs. 15. Jim Campbell, Charger, 4.950, 167.57; 3. Ron Capps, Charger, 3.839, 333.58  vs. 14. Jeff Arend, Chevrolet Impala, 4.479, 202.91; 4. Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.839, 333.33  vs. 13. Cruz Pedregon, Toyota Camry, 4.007, 294.95; 5. Tim Wilkerson, Ford Mustang, 3.852, 329.42  vs. 12. John Force, Camaro, 3.941, 320.36; 6. Jack Beckman, Charger, 3.869, 329.18  vs. 11. Gary Densham, Mustang, 3.938, 320.36; 7. J.R. Todd, Camry, 3.889, 328.22  vs. 10. Alexis DeJoria, Camry, 3.920, 328.14; 8. Del Worsham, Camry, 3.896, 328.22  vs. 9. Robert Hight, Camaro, 3.897, 327.74.<\/p>\n

Did Not Qualify: 17. Jeff Diehl, 7.257, 93.50.<\/p>\n

Pro Stock — 1. Jason Line, Chevy Camaro, 6.509, 212.19  vs. 16. Val Smeland, Camaro, 8.530, 111.55; 2. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.522, 211.73  vs. 15. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.600, 209.56; 3. Tanner Gray, Camaro, 6.538, 211.79  vs. 14. Alan Prusiensky, Dodge Dart, 6.599, 209.23; 4. Vincent Nobile, Camaro, 6.540, 211.43  vs. 13. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.583, 210.21; 5. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.541, 211.73  vs. 12. Allen Johnson, Dart, 6.583, 209.62; 6. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.542, 211.23  vs. 11. Deric Kramer, Dart, 6.581, 209.88; 7. Shane Gray, Camaro, 6.548, 211.26  vs. 10. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.558, 211.59; 8. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.553, 210.70  vs. 9. Drew Skillman, Camaro, 6.554, 210.60.<\/p>\n

Story and photos courtesy of the NHRA<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHANDLER, Ariz. \u2013 Tommy Johnson Jr. set the Funny Car track elapsed-time record to secure the No. 1 qualifier position at the 33rd annual NHRA Arizona Nationals on Saturday at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Leah Pritchett (Top Fuel) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) were also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,378],"class_list":["post-7409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-nhra","tag-nhra-arizona-nationals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/022-TommyJohnsonJr-Saturday-Phoenix.jpg?fit=2200%2C1522","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-1Vv","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7409"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7415,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions\/7415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}