He had some help, but Greeneville's Allen Johnson said that was just fine in that he is now just one of four drivers with a shot at the 2007 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock championship.

After his teammate Richie Stevens Jr. knocked out Kurt Johnson in the second round of eliminations at the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, this past weekend, Johnson was locked in No. 4 in the Countdown to Four point standings. He and three others now go for the title in the Countdown to One and the final two events of the season.

"It was great that Richie could do it for me," Johnson said. "That's why God made teammates. That might get him a little bit out of his driving slump, give him a little confidence."

Johnson, who qualified No. 6, was defeated by Kurt Johnson in the opening round when K.J. ran him down despite a .020 reaction time by A.J. (.000 is perfect) to K.J.'s .029. K.J. took the win with a 6.645/207.50 to A.J.'s losing 6.658/206.51.

With his loss to Stevens, K.J. was relegated to No. 5 and out of the Countdown points.

"What a weekend," said Johnson "We did everything we were supposed to do on our side of the ladder. We qualified well; we made a really really good run first round. We would have beaten anybody else of the whole 16. Kurt just laid down the run of the century, as so often people do against me for some reason. Can't take nothing away from Kurt. He was flying today; he didn't qualify well. But we'll take this and it will make that trip to Vegas a lot better. I was looking pretty alone there for a minute.

"We'll go to Vegas hot as a firecracker and see if we can't get him to take out some of our competition for this Countdown."

(Re-written from reports on NHRA.com)