SONOMA, Calif. (July 30th, 2016) – Bo Butner is sitting pretty in the number 1 qualifying position leading into the Toyota Sonoma Nationals set to take place on Sunday. Butner found himself in the same position earlier this year in Phoenix at the Car Quest Auto Parts Nationals. The driver of the third car in the Ken Black Racing stable has yet to see the winner’s circle. Despite consistently being qualified in the top half of the field and making 4 career Pro Stock finals.
Butner feels as though his breakthrough first victory is close. “I definitely have the fastest car without a doubt. I’m making subpar runs and I’m still low [elapsed time] for the round. If I could just get past my teammates (Jason Line and Greg Anderson) they’re the one’s who beat up on me. It felt good coming in here and especially when we make four runs like that.”
As expected, having the fastest car of the field helps solidify the trust and confidence has has in the people he’s working with. “The team I’m with are mistake free, they don’t make them on race day. I feel good; if I could just leave with everybody I should have the fastest car. It’s a lot easier to say than it is to do so we’ll work on that tomorrow.”
The unforgivingly thin air of the prior race in Denver seemed to get the best of the KB Racing team. Nearly parallel with the sea level in Sonoma, Bo offers his explanation of the altitude ordeal. “We had zero testing time up there, whereas most teams went. By race day, we were still the fastest cars. So we made four test runs in qualifying but it hurt for one of us to not be in the final and get the win. But you know, it should happen before the year is out. It’s unheard of to go that many races and somebody else not win. We’ve been blessed with a great year and we can’t be upset for Allen Johnson.
Final Eliminations for the NHRA Mello Yello Toyota Sonoma Nationals begin Sunday at 11:00 A.M. PST. Live TV coverage begins at 1:00 P.M. PST on Fox.
