{"id":44926,"date":"2020-10-26T01:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=44926"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:12","slug":"johnson-jr-earns-win-at-mopar-express-lane-nhra-springnationals-presented-by-pennzoil-to-keep-md-anderson-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-in-fight-for-funny-car-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2020\/10\/johnson-jr-earns-win-at-mopar-express-lane-nhra-springnationals-presented-by-pennzoil-to-keep-md-anderson-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-in-fight-for-funny-car-championship.html","title":{"rendered":"Johnson Jr. Earns Win at \u201cMopar®<\/sub> Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil\u201d to Keep MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT®<\/sup> Hellcat in Fight for Funny Car Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A clutch performance by Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. at the Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil not only gave the MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat driver his third Wally trophy of the year, but it kept him firmly in contention and fighting for his first Funny Car world championship with just one race left in the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From his sixth place seeding, Johnson began his run through eliminations with a first round win over Jim Campbell, followed by a close battle with J.R. Todd in the quarterfinals that advanced him into the semifinals to meet top-ranked Matt Hagan and his No. 2 seeded Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for a match-up with critical championship implications. Johnson\u2019s 3.941-second run to beat Hagan\u2019s 3.981-second lap lessen the points margin between them in the standings and sent the MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver to his fourth final of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson continued to show his mettle against Ron Capps in a head-to-head battle for a Wally, marking the sixth time this season that DSR teammates would meet in a final elimination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson\ndouble-bulbed his opponent, then by posted a 3.929-second pass at 321.04 mph to\nbeat Capps\u2019 3.9520-second run at 325.14 mph for a three-thousandths-of-a-second\nmargin of victory at the finish line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a must-win,\u201d said Johnson who moved up into the second place in the standings just 42 points behind Hagan and one point ahead of Jack Beckman heading into the Dodge NHRA Finals next weekend in Las Vegas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we’ve been\na thorn in their side a little bit because we just keep coming back every time.\nIt\u2019s like a heavyweight battle. We get back up and here we come again and keep\nswinging. Just really proud of these guys. They don’t quit. You can’t quit.\nIt’s been a weird year and it’s been a good year for us. Three wins this year.\nJust super happy to see the fight in these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Johnson\nfinished third in the championship on three occasions (2014, 2015 and 2018) and\nrunner-up in the 2016, this is the first time he has had a viable chance to win\na championship with just one race remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis has got drama\nwritten all over it when we go to Vegas,\u201d said Johnson of the three-way battle\nwith his teammates thanks to a points-and-a half format that will likely only\nsee a winner determined in the final round. \u201cIt’s probably our best shot. In\nthe years past we have been third three times and been second once and we\nweren’t expected to be. We’re kind of like, \u2018oh where they come from\u2019 and this\ntime we’re there and wanting to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory at\nHouston Raceway Park has also kept DSR\u2019s quad of Funny Cars undefeated this\nseason, extending the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat win streak to 13 national\nevents that dates back to October 2019. The DSR Dodge foursome continue to\ndominate the Funny Car championship rankings, occupying the top four spots with\nHagan, Johnson, Beckman and Capps respectively heading into the season finale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capps for his part\ncame into the penultimate race weekend fourth in the standings, and the\nPennzoil\/NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver did everything he\ncould to do to remain in the fight. He upset the No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman\nin the opening round, dropping his teammate to third in the standings with the\nloss. He then used a holeshot win to defeat Cruz Pedregon and advance to the\nsemis where he crossed the finish line ahead of Alexis DeJoria but on fire\nafter the engine expired, necessitating a swap to the backup car for the final\nagainst Johnson. While finishing runner-up doesn\u2019t completely mathematically\neliminate Capps from the battle for the crown, the Vegas odds are not on his\nside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From her third place spot in the Top Fuel standings, Leah Pruett was looking to keep championship hopes alive for her black and yellow Pennzoil dragster after qualifying in the top half of the eliminations ladder. A win over Lee Callaway meant a second round pairing with Billy Torrence with important points on the line. Both posted identical 3.708 second elapsed time runs, but her opponent\u2019s quicker start brought Pruett\u2019s day and championship hopes to end as it allowed category leader Steve Torrence to further his lead to an insurmountable 198-point margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Factory Stock\nShowdown (FSS) championship was determined by a semifinal match-up that pitted\nthe top-ranked competitors in the category. No. 2 qualifier Mark Pawuk and his\nEmpaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak lined-up against points leader Aaron Stanfield\nbut unfortunately saw a quick end to his race and title chase with a rare\nred-light start, thus handing Stanfield the round win and allowing him to also\nclaim the FSS championship. While the title chase might be over for Pawuk, he\nwill work to secure his No. 2 ranking with four more rounds of racing left to\ncontest in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile Pawuk\u2019s teammate Pruett qualified her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag\nPak 11th in a quest to post a win this season, but unfortunately saw an early\nend to her day after hitting the throttle in the opening round only to lose\ntraction and watch her opponent turn on the win lights.\n\nThe 2020 NHRA season\nwill conclude next weekend at the Dodge NHRA Finals in Las Vegas with\ntelevision coverage to be broadcast on FS1 on Sunday, Nov. 1, from 4- 7 p.m. ET\nfeaturing live coverage of the final rounds.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A clutch performance by Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. at the Mopar\u00ae Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil not only gave the MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae Hellcat driver his third Wally trophy of the year, but it kept him firmly in contention and fighting for his first Funny Car world championship with just one race left in the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series season. From his sixth place seeding, Johnson began his run through eliminations with a first round win over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":44934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[528,849,615],"class_list":["post-44926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-drag-racing","tag-dsr","tag-nhra"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/springnationalsfeaturesized.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44926"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59049,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44926\/revisions\/59049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}