NHRA (DALLAS) - KURT JOHNSON FACES CHALLENGES...

Entering the first day of qualifying at the O'Reilly Fall Nationals in Dallas, TX Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team knew they would have to deal with two distinct challenges. Not only would they have to compensate for the sweltering temperatures and high humidity that robbed the naturally-aspirated Pro Stock Cars of valuable horsepower, but they would also have to find the right set-up to conquer the unique all-concrete surface at the Texas Motorplex.

After completing two of their scheduled four qualifying attempts, the red, white and blue crew was up to the task, with their 6.711 second, 206.04 mph best slotting them in the ninth position. Even so, Johnson looked to further improve his standing during one of Saturday's twin sessions.

"Our run tonight was good enough to pick up from the afternoon session and get us into the field, but we can do better. We feel we should have been able to run a 6.67 out there, and maybe even a 6.66. Even so, we're not going to be too disappointed - we're just going to go out in tomorrow's morning session and make a clean hit with our ACDelco Cobalt, trying to move up a few positions.

"I think we're safe with tonight's time, but we need to score as many points as we can including qualifying, so we're not going to hold anything back in the morning. We're going to try to hit it out of the park."