The first time Steve Johnson qualified on the pole he could never have envisioned the scenario he would face the second time around fifteen years later.

Johnson, a three-time finalist thus far in 2010, fended off a flurry of challenges for his provisional pole spot to head into Sunday’s eliminations at the NHRA Summit Nationals as the No. 1 seed for the first time since the 1995 NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

The difference between then and now is this time he didn’t even fire his bike outside of his pits on Saturday. For Johnson, his survival from week to week is dependent on being conservative during qualifying. In this case, it was better to sit in the pits then it was to put two more runs on his bike.

The first time Steve Johnson qualified on the pole he could never have envisioned the scenario he would face the second time around fifteen years later.

Johnson, a three-time finalist thus far in 2010, fended off a flurry of challenges for his provisional pole spot to head into Sunday’s eliminations at the NHRA Summit Nationals as the No. 1 seed for the first time since the 1995 NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

The difference between then and now is this time he didn’t even fire his bike outside of his pits on Saturday. For Johnson, his survival from week to week is dependent on being conservative during qualifying. In this case, it was better to sit in the pits then it was to put two more runs on his bike.

“The reality is that we look at each run against our competitors,” said Johnson. “We have a budget to deal with and we want to save parts. We have a Vance & Hines engine that is extremely strong, it’s the best you can buy, but the reality is – at the end of the day we only have one. The big focus for us at this moment is getting into the Countdown to 1. I hate leaving those six qualifying points on the table today.”

“We’ve never had a hot rod capable of doing that before. Having said that, it all comes down to budget and having a strong engine to survive those last five races. That’s why we sat out.”

Saving budget has a downside, as Johnson will attest, when the practice affects the ticket purchasing race fans.

“I had two fans walk over to my trailer to let me know they were bummed that I wasn’t running on Saturday,” said Johnson. “I’m getting them tickets to come tomorrow. I felt bad. I figured maybe they might be the only two fans we have.”  

Sunday he hopes to bank heavily on what he learned on Friday.

“Friday afternoon’s session is about where we will be at on Sunday. But, every day you start from scratch.”