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(Photo by Collin Markle Photography)

Inside Line Promotions – CALISTOGA, Calif. (June 30, 2015) – Although there have been many frustrations throughout the first half of the 2015 season Chase Johnson is remaining positive.

He endured another night of heartbreak last weekend with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series, which held events on Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., for the Pombo/Sargent Classic and Saturday at Calistoga Speedway for the Wine Country Classic.

“I think we’re starting to see our improvements in the results,” he said. “We’re starting to see it on paper more than just the performance. If the bad luck didn’t happen in Calistoga we were on our way to a really good night. That stuff happens and it’s just a bummer.”

Johnson opened the doubleheader on Friday by qualifying 11th quickest in the Shawn and Cyndi Thomas owned No. 68 sprint car. He then finished second in a heat race to lock into the 11th starting position for the main event.

“We charged our way up to eighth and the track slicked off a little more than we expected and we ended up getting involved in a spin,” he said. “We went to the work area and threw a lot of changes at the car. We then advanced from last up to eighth or ninth again and then with five laps to go there was a long red flag. On that red the tires lost some air pressure. On the restart we went into the first corner on the cushion and the car biked up. I saved it, but we got over the cushion and lost a couple of positions. It was a good, solid finish and nothing to hang our heads about.”

Johnson ended the night with a 12th-place result.

The team headed to Calistoga Speedway on Saturday with Johnson kicking off the event by qualifying ninth quickest.

“I’m starting to feel a little more confident in qualifying and we’ve been qualifying inside the heat race inversion, which is what we need to do,” he said. “Calistoga started off really well.”

That lined Johnson up on the outside of the front row of a heat race.

“I didn’t get the best start in the heat race and settled into the second position,” he said. “Then the motor started losing quite a bit of power. It sounded like we dropped a cylinder or two. We fell back to fourth, but it was still good enough to transfer into the main and ended up putting us into the dash. Then we discovered that a valve spring retainer broke so that was the end to our night. We didn’t want to push it and cause more damage.”

Johnson, who was scheduled to start third in the dash, scratched following the heat race.

He is hopeful to return to action this Friday at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., in his family owned sprint car.

QUICK RESULTS –

June 26 – Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 2 (1); Feature: 12 (11).

June 27 – Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, Calif. – Qualifying: 9; Heat race: 4 (2); Dash: DNS (3); Feature: DNS (8).

SEASON STATS –

20 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 2 top 10s, 5 top 15s, 8 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Friday at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif.

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.ChaseJohnsonRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChaseJohnson24

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chase.Johnson.Racing1

APPAREL –

Johnson has new red, black or gray t-shirts and hoodies for sale at his race trailer at every race he competes in this season. T-shirts are $20 each and hoodies are $35 apiece.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – PitStopUSA.com

PitStopUSA.com is an online motor sports superstore that offers more than 40,000 different circle track parts, supplies, tools and accessories from more than 400 of the premier brands in the industry. PitStopUSA.com specializes in racing safety equipment and is proud to offer the widest assortment anywhere. For more information, visit http://www.PitStopUSA.com.

“We’ve been partnered together for the last few years and it’s great to have their continued support,” Johnson said. “All that they do really helps out and we couldn’t do what we do without them. Make sure to check out their website and give them a call today. They have great products at great prices. Everyone at PitStopUSA is great and I couldn’t be happier to represent such an amazing company.”

Johnson would also like to thank Johnny Franklin’s Mufflers, Newman Freeman Racing, Napa Auto Parts, Shifty Illusions, Flowmaster, Don’s Truck Repair, VSR, Fast Lube Plus, K&N Filters, Oroville Cycle, I-Wear Graphix, Driven Raceway, Nor-Cal Transmission, Justin Henry Racing and Chevron Pro-Gas 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.