Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson has a simple mission for his spring visit to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend: qualify well, go rounds in his Mopar Dodge Avenger Pro Stock car and put himself in position to vie for the win at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.

Johnson is prepared for a rebound after early exits in the first two events on the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series calendar. The J&J Racing team owner and driver and Greeneville, Tenn. native can find encouragement in his most recent outing at Vegas in fall 2010, where Johnson seized the top spot on the qualifying charts.

“I’ve had success in the past at Vegas, recent success with our No. 1 spot in the fall, so we’re hoping we can tap into that come this weekend,” said Johnson. “We’ve got a long year ahead, so we’re not going to put any undue pressure on ourselves this early in the season, but I do feel we need to come out and flex our muscles a little bit, which we didn’t do in the first two events. It’s important to perfect our setup right out of the gate. This car is a little different, a little more friendly, and we’re still getting used to it.”

Johnson tested at Charlotte last week, working hard on his Mopar Dodge Avenger’s setup in preparation for the Vegas event.

“We mostly just worked on the clutch setup, which has been a bit iffy, so hopefully we will see an improvement in the consistency of the clutch at Vegas,” said Johnson. “More or less it’s just trying to refine what we’ve got. We’re getting closer, and our testing at Charlotte definitely helped out.”