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Kaleb Johnson Qualifies for Preliminary Night A Main During 360 Knoxville Nationals Debut

(Photo by Paul Arch)

Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 6, 2019) – Kaleb Johnson made the A Main during his preliminary night and he gained valuable experience throughout his My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals debut last weekend.

“Overall, it went pretty well,” he said. “We didn’t get the finish we would’ve liked, but I thought we didn’t do too bad considering the competition and the little amount of experience we have there. We just went to have some fun and gain some experience.”

Johnson’s 360 Knoxville Nationals didn’t appear to get off to a promising start on his preliminary night last Friday. He drew the 46th qualifying spot out of 54 cars. Typically the track slows down during qualifying so going out late isn’t preferable.

“I was worried a bit after I learned we were going out late in qualifying,” he said. “I messed up going into turn one on my first lap and I knew I had to correct that on my second lap to have a decent time, which I was able to do. We timed 24th and I was really happy with that.”

Johnson’s qualifying effort was quick enough to place him in the heat race inversion, slotting him in the outside front row starting spot.

“I knew our heat race would be tough, especially with the guys we were racing against,” he said. “Our goal was to make it to the A Feature, which meant to finish in the top four. We ran second for a couple of laps before Paul McMahan got by me. After that I was able to maintain third and that’s where we finished. Even though I went back a spot, I was pretty happy to make the preliminary night A Main.”

Johnson started 15th in the night’s main event.

“The feature didn’t go as well as we’d hoped,” he said. “We tried something that we hadn’t tried before with our 360 car. My lack of experience at Knoxville didn’t help either. I just wasn’t very good and got lapped about halfway through the race. I eventually just pulled in to get out of the leaders’ way.”

Johnson’s point total positioned him in the fifth starting spot in Saturday night’s C Main.

“I knew it would be a tough race,” he said. “There were a lot of good drivers in the race and I think all of them had more experience in a 360 than me.

“I thought I got a decent start, although I got passed by a couple of cars early in the race. It took me a long time to get around a car. While I was trying to do that a number of cars got by me. After that I just kind of rode around toward the back.

“We’re a really young team and we’re all learning together. I was satisfied with how our weekend went and I think we learned a lot.”

Johnson will spend this week as a spectator at the 410 Knoxville Nationals before returning to action in his 305 and 360 sprint cars on Aug. 17 at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn.

QUICK RESULTS –

Aug. 2 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 24; Heat race: 3 (2); Feature: DNF (15).

Aug. 3 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – C Main: 18 (5).

SEASON STATS –

26 races, 0 wins, 10 top fives, 14 top 10s, 16 top 15s, 18 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Aug. 17 at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., with the Midwest Power Series and MSTS 360 Sprint Cars and Heartland Steel IMCA 305 Sprint Cars

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.kalebjohnsonracing.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaleb___Johnson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KalebJohnsonRacing22

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – GRP Motorsports

GRP Motorsports, owned and managed by Greg Parent, supports and sponsors cars, drivers and auto racing events throughout the Upper Midwest.

“Greg is a huge supporter of racing and I feel very fortunate to have his name on our cars again this year,” Johnson said. “We appreciate what he does for racing and especially for the support he gives us.”

Johnson would also like to thank Medical Machining Specialists, Merle Johnson Farm Toys, Oddson Underground, Kat’s Hog Heaven, DeBerg Concrete, Snyder Logging and Tree Service, Sea Foam Products, The Ron Weber Team, TL Racing, Big Al’s Diecast, Guaranteed Rate – Mike Brudigan Home Loans, Dave’s Lawn Care and Landscaping and Last Deck 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.

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