8/15/2017
Inside Line Promotions
Johnson Makes Knoxville Nationals Preliminary Night A Main
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 15, 2017) – Chase Johnson produced his best-ever result at the Knoxville Nationals last weekend when Knoxville Raceway showcased the 57th annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Store.
Johnson, who was driving for Shawn and Cyndi Thomas, opened his second career start at the biggest event in sprint car racing by qualifying 13th quickest on Wednesday out of nearly 50 competitors.
“We were lucky enough that the pill draw was on our side,” he said. “We put down a good lap time and it stayed solid as the rest of the field went. I passed a couple of cars in the heat and then got passed back. That forced us to run the B Main.”
Johnson finished sixth in a heat race before he maneuvered from sixth to third place in the B Main to transfer into the back of the main event.
“In the past we struggled racing with cars because Knoxville is so different when you’re around cars versus by yourself,” he said. “It was a great feeling to be fast while you’re racing.”
Johnson then advanced from 23rd to 18th in the main event.
“We picked off cars here and there as we could,” he said. “It’s tough to be a big mover because of how spread out everyone gets and how tough the competition is. Our team was really happy to make the show and move forward in the main event.”
Once preliminary points were calculated Johnson ranked just shy of one of the 26 lock-in positions to Saturday’s show.
“We missed the 26th spot by two points, which was the equivalent to passing one car,” he said. “We would have been locked into the B Main on Saturday with one more pass.”
The team was forced to run on Friday during the Hard Knox Night, when an electrical problem hampered them all night. Johnson qualified 22nd quickest in his group before placing eighth in a heat race and ninth in a B Main.
“We had an electrical issue with the ground wire starting to break off,” he said. “We thought it was fuel issues, but found the problem on Saturday morning during maintenance.”
The event concluded on Saturday when Johnson placed fourth in the D Main to transfer into the back of the C Main. He then advanced from 23rd to 19th to close the event.
“It went green to checkered and the track was still pretty narrow,” he said. “Everyone got spread out after the start. We were able to make some good moves, but it was tough to move too far forward.
“I think the Knoxville Nationals went well. I think we impressed a lot of people with how our qualifying night went and on Saturday as well. We didn’t necessarily have a goal of making a certain main event. Our goal was to do better than the year past and we did.”
Johnson will be off this weekend before resuming competition on Aug. 26 at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 9 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 13; Heat race: 6 (6); B Main: 3 (6); Feature: 18 (23).
Aug. 11 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 22; Heat race: 8 (8); B Main: 9 (12).
Aug. 12 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – D Main: 4 (2); C Main: 19 (23).
UP NEXT –
Aug. 26 at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.ChaseJohnsonRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChaseJohnson24
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chase.Johnson.Racing1
APPAREL –
Johnson has No. 68 t-shirts and sweatshirts as well as Chase Johnson shirts for sale at his race trailer at every race he competes in this season. T-shirts are $25 each and hoodies are $35 apiece.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Flowmaster
Flowmaster manufactures performance mufflers and exhaust systems for street performance, race, truck and RV applications. For more information, visit http://www.FlowmasterMufflers.com.
“Flowmaster makes our race cars sound great as well as giving us the performance we need to win races,” Johnson said. “To be a part of Team Flowmaster is an honor. As their history comes from a racing background in California, Flowmaster is now one of the leaders in exhaust technology today. When you’re looking to make your street car sound like a race car make sure you choose Flowmaster. We look forward to our future with such an established company.”
Johnson would also like to thank Newman Freeman Racing, Johnny Franklin’s Mufflers, PitStopUSA.com, Safecraft Safety Equipment, Woodland NAPA Auto Parts, VanLare Steering Repair, Wesmar Racing Engines, Bell Helmets, Champion Machine, Swift Metal Finishing, Shifty Illusions, Oroville Cycle and Chevron Pro-Gas for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
