JOHNSON LANDS THE PRIORITY AVIATION ENTRY SAFELY WITH AN ELEVENTH PLACE FINISH AT ELDORA SPEEDWAY IN THE WORLD OF OUTLAW PORTION OF THE PRESTIGIOUS FOUR CROWN NATIONALS

ROSSBURG, OHIO (September 23, 2016) – From the “Wicked Fast Half Mile” of Hartford Speedway on Wednesday evening to the “Badass Half Mile that Earl Baltes Built” at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway on Friday night, Jason and the JJR #41 team were one of 42 cars lining the pit area as part of the prestigious 35th Annual Four Crown Nationals weekend at the famous half mile oval.

Jason was the fifteenth car to push off for time trials as his engine fired entering the speedway in turn one. He powered his Priority Aviation Services, LLC/FK Rod Ends #41 Maxim up to speed and took the green as he challenged the high banks of Eldora Speedway. These powerful machines motor around this place and Jason was no exception. He concluded his first lap in a prompt 13.369 seconds. Keeping all of the horsepower flowing through his Kistler Engines power plant, he picked up the pace even more and improved his time the second lap around the oval stopping the clock at 13.198 seconds. The quicker of his two laps was sixth quick in Flight A and eighth quick overall on the night. A good start to the evening of competition.

Lining up third in the second of four 8-lap heat races, the Eunice, Louisiana born native was ready to get rolling in his Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)/Waco Metal #41. He pulled his Crow Enterprizes safety belts tight and headed for the track. Logan Schuchart and Ian Madsen made up row one as Jason Sides shared row two with the Cajun Sensation. When the green lights illuminated around the half mile, Schuchart jumped into the lead as Madsen, Sides and Johnson fell in line. The speeds were fast, but passing at this point of the night was minimal. The top four would finish in that order with Paige Polyak collecting a fifth place finish to round out the transfer positions for this heat event.

All that remained was the 30-lap feature event. Jason locked into the JJR #41 into his 77th feature event of the 2016 season, a 93.90% success rate, where he would start from the 15th starting position beside Jac Haudenschild. Daryn Pittman and Donny Schatz were poised to run in row one with Ian Madsen and Logan Schuchart in row two. The racing is always fast and always treacherous at this high speed joint, but the fans and drivers alike love it. The early racing action was stalled when Tim Shaffer and Jacob Allen flipped down the backstretch on the opening lap. When they got restarted, Jason would get up on the wheel to start his drive forward from his row eight starting position when the red was displayed again, this time for Sheldon Haudenschild who flipped hard in turn one. When racing resumed, Schatz and Pittman were waging a war for the lead, but it was Shane Stewart who raced his way into the leader picture with a slide job on Schatz to grab the second spot. Jason was relentless and continued to work hard as he drove forward into the twelfth position by the halfway point of the race. The Cajun racer stayed hammer down as he was making tracks but the red flag was again displayed, this time for Gary Taylor who flipped with six laps to go. Jason was trying everything he could to move the Fischer Body Shop/BMRS #41 forward and when they went back to green flag racing he pedaled down and got up to speed. Shane Stewart stretched out his lead and took the win over Schuchart as Jason brought the forty-one home safely with a respectable eleventh place finish.