Greg Anderson and the Summit Racing team completed a solid qualifying effort on Saturday, earning the No. 1 qualifying position for Sunday’s final eliminations of the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash.. After posting the quickest time in the second session on Friday, Anderson came back to better his time in the third round, powering through the quarter-mile in 6.536-seconds with a top speed of 211.26 mph, resetting the Pacific Raceways elapsed time track record and edging his teammate Jason Line by two thousandths of a second.
This marks the 75th No. 1 qualifying performance of Anderson’s career, second of 2011 and second at Pacific Raceways, as well as the 26th time the KB Racing teammates have captured the top two positions in their respective careers. The potentially greatest benefit, however, could be the first-round bye the defending Pro Stock champion will receive for the first time in his career.
“Yesterday was a fantastic day for the Summit Racing team, and today was even better,” said Anderson. “The crew chiefs and all the guys on the crew are just doing a tremendous job right now. Our cars are becoming fun and easy to drive, and they’re consistently fast - you couldn’t ask for anything better than that.
“These are definitely our type of conditions. Jason and I seem to excel when it’s cool out, so we’re always excited to come out here and race, because we know we’ll have a great chance of doing well. Of course, with only two races left before the Countdown, we need to be operating at full song, and I think we’re close. We did well last week, taking home the trophy, and we need to do the same tomorrow, doing whatever’s necessary to put both Summit cars in the final.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a blast, especially if it stays cloudy like it was for the last two days. I don’t know who the weatherman is out here, but he’s been wrong because we weren’t supposed to see a cloud for the last two days, and we have yet to see the sun.
“Of course, that could all change tomorrow, and we could be racing in blazing sunshine. If that happens, the crew chiefs will have to dig thru their notes and come up with a tune-up, which is where that first-round bye will really pay off, because we would have an extra shot in which to figure out the tune-up, so I thank my lucky stars that my guys got the job done. I’m not going to wish for it, because I’m having fun running as fast as we are, but it would be a nice bonus for us. In any case, we’re going to go out there tomorrow with all guns loaded and see what happens.”
This marks the 75th No. 1 qualifying performance of Anderson’s career, second of 2011 and second at Pacific Raceways, as well as the 26th time the KB Racing teammates have captured the top two positions in their respective careers. The potentially greatest benefit, however, could be the first-round bye the defending Pro Stock champion will receive for the first time in his career.
“Yesterday was a fantastic day for the Summit Racing team, and today was even better,” said Anderson. “The crew chiefs and all the guys on the crew are just doing a tremendous job right now. Our cars are becoming fun and easy to drive, and they’re consistently fast - you couldn’t ask for anything better than that.
“These are definitely our type of conditions. Jason and I seem to excel when it’s cool out, so we’re always excited to come out here and race, because we know we’ll have a great chance of doing well. Of course, with only two races left before the Countdown, we need to be operating at full song, and I think we’re close. We did well last week, taking home the trophy, and we need to do the same tomorrow, doing whatever’s necessary to put both Summit cars in the final.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a blast, especially if it stays cloudy like it was for the last two days. I don’t know who the weatherman is out here, but he’s been wrong because we weren’t supposed to see a cloud for the last two days, and we have yet to see the sun.
“Of course, that could all change tomorrow, and we could be racing in blazing sunshine. If that happens, the crew chiefs will have to dig thru their notes and come up with a tune-up, which is where that first-round bye will really pay off, because we would have an extra shot in which to figure out the tune-up, so I thank my lucky stars that my guys got the job done. I’m not going to wish for it, because I’m having fun running as fast as we are, but it would be a nice bonus for us. In any case, we’re going to go out there tomorrow with all guns loaded and see what happens.”
