Greg Anderson/NHRA Pro Stock/POWERade Englishtown

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., June 20, 2008 -- The first day of qualifying for the Lucas Oil Supernationals got underway today at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, and in Pro Stock Greg Anderson took the provisional pole in the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP with a run of 6.599 seconds at 209.23 mph. "We made two real good runs today in the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP," Anderson said. "We ran low e.t. on the first run and kind of surprised ourselves. We didn't understand that the track was going to be as good as it was and it was fantastic. The sun was baking on the track all day, it was probably 125 degrees and it was still great out there. We knew coming into tonight that it was going to be a special session and it proved to be just that. These Pro Stock cars are so close right now that it all depends on who makes the right call at the right time and we were able to do that." Anderson's Pontiac GXP posted the quickest elapsed time in both qualifying sessions today including a 6.622 second run at 208.52 mph in the first round of time trials. Anderson's most recent No. 1 qualifying effort came at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., in February and he currently has 63 career raceday pole awards. "This is fun," . We, as drivers, love racing in conditions like this. You know it's going to be fast, you know the racetrack is going to be great and you know you can throw everything you have at it. Luckily we got it close on the first run, we got a good tune up off of that, we threw the dice and came up with sevens on the second run as well." POWERade points leader Kurt Johnson has the quickest Chevy Cobalt and is qualified in the No. 2 spot with a 6.600 e.t. at 209.36 mph. The ACDelco Chevrolet driver has 38 career wins and is looking for his first trip to the winner's circle at this venue. "We didn't have a bad day today," Johnson said. "We had some new things on our ACDelco Cobalt that we tested in Chicago. They had shown some promise so we thought we would give them a race to see how they would work, and so far we're pleased with the results. The corrected numbers are good, the track is decent and we were able to get down both lanes under different atmospheric conditions. Now, it's a matter of gathering information to make sure we can use it for the rest of the season. "Tomorrow we're going to try and get after that No. 1 spot. I think we're capable of running a 6.59 with an 8 or 7 in the early session. It'll be close, but we're just going to dig deep and try and have some fun." A one-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Lucas Oil Supernationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, June 21, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern followed by a second one-hour program starting at 7 p.m. NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage on Sunday, June 24, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and three hours of final eliminations will be televised beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. # # #

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