Line Wins E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals

Jason Line won his first race of the season at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. This is the 17th consecutive season Line has had at least one Pro Stock win. It’s the longest winning streak of any active Pro driver.

Line, who also qualified Number One, defeated Alan Prusiensky in Round One of eliminations on a 6.615 second/206.83 MPH pass to Prusiensky’s 7.062/159.21. In Round Two, Line faced Alex Laughlin, taking the win with a 6.609/207.59 to Laughlin’s 6.674/206.20.

Line was up against teammate Greg Anderson in the all-Summit Racing semifinal round. Anderson launched first, but it was Line who took the win with a 6.622/207.34 pass to Anderson’s 6.683/208.14.

In the final round, Line defeated Jeg Coughlin 6.647/207.21 to 6.658/206.76.The win makes this Line’s 51st career win and his 104th final round appearance.
 
“This win is special,” said Line. “Every win means a lot, but since this is my last year, I wanted to keep the streak going. My dad is big on stats, and he likes streaks. He’s been keeping track since I started racing full time in 2004. No matter what happens the rest of this year, I’m pretty happy.”

“We had a lot of time off, and I can tell you that Greg Anderson led the charge in making sure that we came back with good stuff,” added Line. “Greg worked his tail off the past few months and it showed with what we accomplished this weekend.”

Line is currently second in the Pro Stock points standings.

Greg Anderson set Top Speed of qualifying and Low ET of the weekend and made it to the semifinal round.

In Round One of eliminations, Anderson defeated Troy Coughlin Jr., 6.603/207.43 to 6.648/206.10. Anderson faced Matt Hartford in Round two. Anderson took the win on his 6.620/207.75 pass to Hartford’s 6.648/206.76.

In the semifinals, Anderson was up against teammate and friendly rival, Jason Line, with Line advancing to the final round.

“I have a really good car. It worked great, we just made a mistake in the semifinal,” said Anderson. “We’re competitive again, and I’m happy. It looks like I’ll have something to say about how the remainder of this year goes.”

Anderson is currently eighth in the Pro Stock points standings.

The next Pro Stock event is the NHRA Heartland Nationals in Topeka, Kansas, August 20-23.

Tim Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang Nitro Funny Car, made it to the semifinal round despite having car issues during qualifying.

In Round One of eliminations, Wilkerson defeated Cruz Pedregon with a 4.005/319.82 pass to Pedregon’s 4.096/280.31. In Round Two against Jonnie Lindberg, Wilk took the win 3.982/321.19 to 3.990/318.99.

In the semifinals, Wilkerson smoked the tires, giving Matt Hagan the win, 3.959/322.34 Wilk’s 4.349/211.43.

“I’m pretty happy with our performance today,” said Wilkerson. “We won some rounds, and I’m optimistic. We’re going to keep working on it—we should have a pretty good race car next week.”

Wilkerson is currently fourth in the Funny Car Points Standings.

Final Round Results
Top Fuel—Billy Torrence (3.802/322.34) defeated Doug Kalitta (3.852/307.86)

Funny Car—Matt Hagan (4.328/215.00)) defeated Tommy Johnson Jr. (5.854/117.84)

Pro Stock Motorcycle­—Ryan Oehler (6.974/194.16) Matt Smith (10.126/83.38)

Pro Stock—Jason Line (6.647/207.21) defeated Jeg Coughlin (6.658/206.76)

Low ET: Greg Anderson, 6.603 seconds
Top Speed: Kyle Koretsky, 208.17 MPH (KB Racing Team car)

What’s Next
The next Nitro event on the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour is the Lucas Oil NHRA Summernationals at Indianapolis, Indiana, July 18-19.

Due to COVID-19, the Mello Yellow Drag Race Series event schedule is subject to change. Go to NHRA.com/schedule/2020 to view the current schedule.

For more information and complete race results visit DragRaceCentral.com.