Jason Line Wins Arizona Nationals in All-Summit Final
Jason Line continued his strong start to the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season by capturing the Pro Stock title at the 28th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals. Line qualified second with a 6.539 second/211.10 mph pass, and defeated Jeg Coughlin Jr., Erica Enders, and Greg Stanfield in the early rounds before squaring off against his teammate Greg Anderson in the final.
Any race between the two Team Summit drivers is hotly contested, and the final round in Phoenix was no exception. Line and Anderson left the starting line within a thousandth of a second of each other and rocketed down the quarter-mile as if welded together. Line’s 6.558/211.69 pass gave him a narrow victory over Anderson’s 6.570/211.06 run. The victory is the 28th win of Line’s career (tying Darrell Alderman for 7th on the all-time Pro Stock wins list), the first of the 2012 season, and his first at Firebird Raceway. It also moved Line into second place in the Pro Stock points standings.
“It feels good to get my first win here in Phoenix,” said Line. “We’ve had one of the best cars in the class for the first two races, but weren’t able to close the deal in Pomona, so it’s great to get the job done today.”
“Of course, going into the final we knew a Summit car was going to win, which took some of the pressure off,” Line continued. “Still, anytime you go up against Greg, you have to be your best if you hope to beat him. Fortunately, we were able to make a good run and get the win.”
“All in all, today was a really good day, but we only have a couple weeks before the Gatornationals and we’re going to be spending some long hours looking to make these cars run even better. We’ve gotten off to a good start, and we want to keep it going.”
Anderson Maintains Points Lead with Runner-Up Finish
After qualifying fifth (6.556/210.64), Greg Anderson entered Sunday’s eliminations looking for the right tune-up to maximize his performance on the tricky Firebird Raceway track surface. He found it quickly as he defeated Summit All-Star Kurt Johnson in Round One with a 6.555/210.83 pass.
Vincent Nobile’s red-light start gave Anderson the win in the second round. A solid 6.590/210.21 pass gave Anderson the win over Rodger Brogdon in the semi-finals, setting up the final round matchup with Jason Line. Anderson’s 6.570/211.06 run was strong, but not enough to give him the win over his teammate. Still, Anderson leaves Arizona with a one-point lead over Line in the points standings.
“Even though we made a pretty good run, it wasn’t enough to catch Jason and his rocket ship,” said Anderson. “Still, my Summit Racing Pontiac ran well all day, and I made it to the final against my teammate, which is our goal at every race.
“This was the first time in about ten years that we actually ran well here in Phoenix,” Anderson explained. “A lot of guys had a heck of a time getting a handle on the racetrack today, but our guys did a tremendous job of adjusting the race car and we went right on down each time, so my hat’s off to them. We don’t want it to stop, so we have to get to work.”
Team Summit Results: Pro Stock
• Ronnie Humphrey qualified third (6.543/211.16) but the Genuine Hotrod Hardware driver lost to Greg Stanfield in Round One of eliminations. He is currently 12th in the points standings.
• Warren Johnson qualified 16th (6.626/207.50) and lost to Mike Edwards in Round One of eliminations. He is in a three-way tie with V. Gaines and Grace Howell for 15th place in the points standings.
• Kurt Johnson qualified 12th (6.602/209.49) and lost to Greg Anderson in Round One of eliminations. He is 14th in the points standings.
• Larry Morgan qualified 11th (6.597/210.01). He defeated Allen Johnson in Round One of eliminations, then lost to Greg Stanfield in Round Two. He is in a three-way tie with Erica Enders and Shane Gray for ninth place in the points standings.
FINAL ROUND RESULTS: Jason Line defeated Greg Anderson, 6.558/211.69 to 6.570/211.06.
Team Summit Results: Funny Car
• Tim Wilkerson failed to qualify. He is currently 15th in the points standings.
FINAL ROUND RESULTS: Robert Hight defeated Mike Neff, 4.139/307.02 to 4.168/309.91.
Top Fuel Final Round Results
• Antron Brown defeated Tony Schumacher, 3.793/319.82 to 3.813/318.17.
Next Race
The next event is the NHRA Gatornationals, March 8-11 in Gainesville, FL. For more news and in-depth results from the NHRA Arizona Nationals, go to DragRaceCentral.com
