Line Qualifies Number One, Anderson Still Third in Points in Las Vegas

Jason Line earned the 39th Number One qualifier award of his career and first of 2015 at this weekend’s SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada. His 6.642 second, 208.62 MPH pass earned nine bonus qualifying points that helped him retain his points lead in the Pro Stock rankings.

Line started eliminations with a 6.672/207.75 win over a red-lighting Joey Grose. In the second round matchup with Allen Johnson, it was Line’s turn to light the red bulb, fouling with a -.009-second start.

“This was not the kind of day we were looking for,” said Line. “We ran well, and Greg’s Chevrolet Camaro ran exceptionally well. We’re going to go back and keep working on things. We have a great group of folks behind us and on this Summit Racing team. We’ll work hard and keep digging. That’s what makes us, us.”

Anderson Still Third in Pro Stock Points
Greg Anderson continued to drive home the point that he’s back at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals. Anderson qualified third with a 6.621/208.81, his best start since 2013’s Northwest Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota. 

In Round One of eliminations, Anderson wheeled his Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro to win over a tire-shaking Jonathan Gray, 6.650/208.49 mph to 21.940/25.94. Anderson repeated in Round Two, running a 6.655/208.17 to halt V. Gaines, who also had bad tire shake.

But Anderson’s day came to an end in the semi-final round against Erica Enders-Stevens. Anderson clocked an uncharacteristically slow .055 second reaction time to Enders-Stevens’ near-perfect .001 light. That .054 second starting line advantage gave Enders-Stevens the win with a 6.673/207.53 to Anderson’s quicker and faster 6.671/208.71.

“Everything was going along swimmingly,” said Anderson. “I was confident and felt great, but something happened and the tree just wouldn’t come on. It just took forever and subconsciously, I just shut down and completely missed the light.”

“That is very disappointing because we had great race cars today and we really wanted Summit Racing to be proud of us,” Anderson continued. “The good news is that we leave Las Vegas with two really good Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros. We will go to the next race feeling very positive, and we’ll put this one behind us.”

Team Summit Results: Pro Stock
Jimmy Alund qualified 10th (6.647/208.07). He defeated Larry Morgan in Round One of eliminations, but lost to Erica Enders-Stevens in Round Two. Alund is currently 11th in the point standings.

Team Summit Results: Top Fuel
Doug Kalitta qualified sixth (3.793/317.94) but lost to Spencer Massey in Round One. He is currently seventh in the points standings.
J.R. Todd qualified Number One (3.758/324.83). He defeated Steve Faria and Dom Lagana in the first two rounds of eliminations, but lost to Richie Crampton in the semi-finals. Todd is currently ninth in the points standings.

Team Summit Results: Funny Car
Tim Wilkerson qualified sixth (4.065/314.31). He defeated John Hale in Round One, but lost to Tommy Johnson Jr. in Round Two. Wilkerson is currently 11th in the points standings.
Del Worsham qualified fifth (4.048/316.52). He defeated Tony Pedregon in Round One, but lost to Alexis DeJoria in Round Two. Worsham is currently second in the points standings.
Alexis DeJoria qualified fourth (4.037/308.78). She defeated Courtney Force and Del Worsham in the first two rounds of eliminations, but lost to John Force in the semi-finals. DeJoria is currently seventh in the points standings.

Final Round Results
Top Fuel: Richie Crampton defeated Larry Dixon, 3.902/301.33 to 4.466/201.73.
Funny Car: John Force defeated Robert Hight 4.148/312.35 to 4.154/306.05.
Pro Stock: Erica Enders-Stevens defeated Vincent Nobile, 6.674/207.24 to 6.674/207.91.

Next Race
The next event is the O' Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals, April 24-26 in Houston, Texas. Visit Drag Race Central for more news and in-depth results from the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.