6/29/2021
Inside Line Promotions
Kaleb Johnson Caps Solid 410 Sprint Car Debut by Qualifying for Jackson Nationals A Main
(Photo by Tylan Porath Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – JACKSON, Minn. (June 29, 2021) – Kaleb Johnson wrapped up his first competition in a 410ci sprint car by qualifying for Sunday’s A Main at the prestigious 43rd annual AGCO Jackson Nationals featuring the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
“We had fun and learned a lot,” he said. “We got to race with some of the best drivers in the country and ended the week by making the feature, which was pretty cool. To me, the best way to improve is to race against the best, which is what we did.
“I wasn’t expecting to make it out of the B Main any of the nights due to high level of competition, so to make the A Main on the last night exceeded my expectations.”
While Johnson showed consistency throughout his three days of competition at Jackson Motorplex, his week got off to a disappointing start when a scheduled two days of racing at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D., fell to an early evening engine failure on the first night of competition. It placed the remainder of his racing week in jeopardy.
“We broke a valve two laps into hot laps at Huset’s on Monday,” he said. “It was just one of those unfortunate racing deals which left us wondering if we’d be able to race the rest of the week. But the DeWall racing clan was nice enough to let us use another one of their motors for Jackson so that was pretty special of them.”
Johnson spent most of Thursday and Friday at Jackson Motorplex gaining racing experience in the 410, adjusting to the increase in power as well as a difference in the car’s handling. He finished 14th in the Last Chance Showdown on Thursday and 10th in the Last Chance Showdown on Friday.
“The increase in speed wasn’t that difficult to adjust to, but I wasn’t able to get really comfortable with the car the first two nights,” he said. “We tried some new shocks Thursday and Friday. We felt it was a good time to try something new, since we didn’t have much to lose. We switched back to our old shocks for Sunday and the car felt much better to me. Looking back, we should’ve stayed with our old shocks. But you don’t know if something will work better until you try it.”
Johnson’s key move of the week came at the start of Sunday’s Last Chance Showdown, a race in which the top-five finishers filled the remaining starting positions in the night’s $50,000-to-win main event.
“I started sixth and I knew to have any chance of making the A Main I needed to get into fifth right away since the track still had quite a bit of moisture, making it kind of tough to pass,” he said. “Lynton Jeffrey started alongside me and I was able to pull ahead of him at the start and then get down in front of him. I held the fifth spot the rest of the race.”
Johnson then started 24th and finished 19th in one of the top-five paying 410 sprint car races in the country in just his third night of competition.
“I knew I would get lapped since the cars who were in clean air would be much faster than those of us who weren’t,” he said. “But I was able to get by Brock Zearfoss and Jack Dover early in the race and then just kind of ran the bottom and held my own the rest of the way.
“It turned out to be a good week for us and I’m looking forward to seeing if it helps me improve driving a 360.”
Johnson will return to 360 sprint car competition this Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 24 – Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn. – Qualifying 33; Heat race: 8 (9); B Main: 14 (11).
June 25 – Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn. – Qualifying: 33; Heat race: 9 (9); B Main: 10 (13).
June 27 – Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn. – Qualifier: 7 (8); B Main: 5 (6); Feature: 19 (24).
SEASON STATS –
18 races, 0 wins, 3 top fives, 8 top 10s, 10 top 15s, 14 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.kalebjohnsonracing.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaleb___Johnson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KalebJohnsonRacing22
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Hepfner Racing Products
Hepfner Racing Products offers a large variety of items for virtually every form of motorsports. HRP is proud to design, manufacture, package, and ship all of their products from their Hartford, Wis., facility. For more information, visit http://www.hrpracing.com/.
“We’ve been running HRP wings for the last four years and we’re also buying other products from them now,” Johnson said. “They treat us really well and I wouldn’t use any other wing.”
Johnson would also like to thank Merle Johnson Farm Toys, Oddson Underground, GRP Motorsports, Innovative Design/Sletten Properties, Sea Foam, Snyder Tree Service, Guaranteed Rate-Mike Brudigan Home Loans, The Ron Weber Team, State Bank of Fairmont, Big Al’s Diecast, Dave’s Lawn Care & Landscaping, JF Capital, Last Deck, Schaeffer’s Oil and TL Racing 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
