Allen Johnson bit into the apple -- ate the whole thing, actually.
 
Then he puckered up his face and shook his head. "Whew -- that was sour!" he declared.
 
What a shame that a sour moment followed such a sweet one Saturday for the Greeneville, Tenn., NHRA racer who held onto his No. 1 qualifying position for Sundays' elimination in the FRAM-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.
 
And how distasteful for Johnson that in the opening round he'll have to put his Team Mopar / J & J Racing Dodge Avenger against No. 16 qualifier Vinnie Deceglie, his engine customer.
 
He'll slough off both annoyances, surely, armed with security from his track-record elapsed time (6.545 seconds) and speed (210.77 mph) and a decent idea of what the track can hold.
 
"I think the conditions this afternoon are going to be what they start off with tomorrow," Johnson said. "I think it's going to get even a little warmer tomorrow."

Allen Johnson bit into the apple -- ate the whole thing, actually.
 
Then he puckered up his face and shook his head. "Whew -- that was sour!" he declared.
 
What a shame that a sour moment followed such a sweet one Saturday for the Greeneville, Tenn., NHRA racer who held onto his No. 1 qualifying position for Sundays' elimination in the FRAM-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.
 
And how distasteful for Johnson that in the opening round he'll have to put his Team Mopar / J & J Racing Dodge Avenger against No. 16 qualifier Vinnie Deceglie, his engine customer.
 
He'll slough off both annoyances, surely, armed with security from his track-record elapsed time (6.545 seconds) and speed (210.77 mph) and a decent idea of what the track can hold.
 
"I think the conditions this afternoon are going to be what they start off with tomorrow," Johnson said. "I think it's going to get even a little warmer tomorrow."
 
His Saturday runs didn't produce the same excitement of his Friday performance, but he said he's ready to go for his first victory of the season. He has had three final-round appearances, and he said he's ready to get that monkey off his back.
 
"We didn't do too good a job that last run, doin' it for tomorrow," he said, referring to his aborted run because of tire shake." But we got a good car. We've got a veteran team.
 
"Unfortunately, somebody moved around and we've got to run our other motor in Vinny's car first round. But for the most part, we've had a good weekend up to this point."
 
Johnson withstood a Saturday charge by Mike Edwards, for whom Infineon Raceway must be an Achilles' heel. Edwards improved from an uncharacteristic fifth place Friday to second Saturday with a 6.549. With that he missed his 11th top spot in 15 events this season. Infineon Raceway was the track at which he last qualified lower than No. 2, so he continued that streak.
 
Jeg Coughlin and Ron Krisher remained in the top five, which Jason Line anchored by jumping Saturday morning from 12th place to fifth.

Johnson indicated he was secure in his Friday showing enough to experiment a little Saturday. And he tried a race-day tune-up in his fourth and final run.
 
"The final run we did. This morning we just didn't make a good run," he said.
 
"But the last run, we were really just trying to see how far we can push the envelope for tomorrow, and we pushed it a little too far," Johnson said. "We had just a little bit too much wheel speed and shook the tires when I pulled second gear."
 
But the low-key Johnson was just that Saturday evening, confident in his tune-up and preparation for Sunday's rounds.
 
"We feel like we'll hit it right on the head tomorrow," he said. "We'll go out there and try to get a win this race."
 
This is the 10th time in his career that he will lead the Pro Stock field.