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Johnson Charges to First Podium of Season at Petaluma Speedway

(Photo by Tear-Off Heaven Fotos)

Inside Line Promotions – PETALUMA, Calif. (May 5, 2014) – Momentum continues to build for Chase Johnson, who powered to his first podium finish of the season and his third consecutive top five last Saturday at Petaluma Speedway.

Johnson opened the event by qualifying eighth quickest.

“The track was a little weird at the beginning,” he said. “We didn’t really know where it was going. We just missed it by a little and ended up eighth, but it wasn’t too dramatic.”

That started him on the pole of a heat race.

“It was kind of a weird start,” he said. “The fourth-place driver was in front of me before we even got to the start-finish line. We fell back to second and just cruised around in second.”

Johnson locked himself into the main event by placing second in his heat race. He also narrowly missed the feature inversion, which included the top six drivers in qualifying who advanced through their heat race.

By virtue of his qualifying result, Johnson lined up on the inside of the fourth row for the 25-lap main event.

“We picked off one or two cars quickly,” he said. “I was really pushing to get higher into the top five. The car was really good. I rolled the wing back a tiny bit and we were rocket fast after that.”

After advancing into the top five within the first handful of laps, Johnson drove into fourth place just past the midpoint of the main event. He then took over the third spot with approximately a half dozen laps remaining.

“The top three cars were pretty even,” he said. “I thought I could make something happen on the restarts. We were really close a couple of times for second.”

Johnson finished with a third-place result, which continues to build his confidence going into his 410ci sprint car debut this Saturday at Petaluma Speedway with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series.

“I’m more than happy with where we’re sitting and I think we have a good chance going into this weekend for my 410 debut,” he said. “Shawn and Cindy Thomas have great equipment and I’m very grateful of the opportunity to drive for them.”

QUICK RESULTS –

May 3 – Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif. – Qualifying: 8; Heat race: 2 (1); Feature: 3 (7).

SEASON STATS –

9 races, 0 wins, 3 top fives, 4 top 10s, 4 top 15s, 7 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Saturday at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.ChaseJohnsonRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChaseJohnson24

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chase.Johnson.Racing1

APPAREL –

Johnson has new red, black or gray t-shirts and hoodies for sale at his race trailer at every race he competes in this season. T-shirts are $20 each and hoodies are $35 apiece.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Newman Freeman Racing

During the 1976 auto racing season, actor Paul Newman became interested in forming a professional auto racing team and contacted Bill Freeman from Santa Barbara. Freeman is credited as the man who introduced Newman to professional auto racing management and their company specialized in Can-Am, Indy Cars and other high performance racing automobiles.

“The reason Paul Newman got into racing was because of a guy named Bill Freeman,” Johnson said. “Bill hasn’t really been involved in racing since Paul’s death so we really appreciate his support and partnership.”

Johnson would also like to thank Johnny Franklin’s Mufflers, PitStopUSA.com, Napa Auto Parts, Shifty Illusions, Flowmaster, Don’s Truck Repair, VSR, Fast Lube Plus, K&N Filters, Oroville Cycle and I-Wear Graphix 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 and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.

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