Three races left to go and the Mopar team is feeling the crunch …

Allen Johnson knows his championship odds are stacked to the point that he’s going to need a few final round appearances just to stay in the hunt.

The Mopar-sponsored Pro Stock racer from Greeneville, Tenn., believes this weekend’s NHRA Virginia Nationals provides the best starting point given there are just three races left in the season. Three races left to go and the Mopar team is feeling the crunch …

Allen Johnson knows his championship odds are stacked to the point that he’s going to need a few final round appearances just to stay in the hunt.

The Mopar-sponsored Pro Stock racer from Greeneville, Tenn., believes this weekend’s NHRA Virginia Nationals provides the best starting point given there are just three races left in the season.

Johnson hasn’t reached the finals since Seattle in July, one of two times he’s reached the money round in 2008. But that isn’t for a lack of effort.

He has advanced to at least the semifinals in five of his last nine events, including two runner-up outings, and has claimed three No. 1 Qualifier Awards on the year.

Maybe history can repeat itself considering he won his first of five career national events in 1999, at this weekend’s stop, Virginia Motorsports Park.

“We’ve done pretty good at Richmond. Richmond is the first place I ever won a Pro Stock race,” said Johnson. “It’s usually cool and fast there, and we perform well on a cool and fast track. Our goal is to make ground up and come out of there maybe sixty points behind the top guy and have a really good chance going to Vegas.”

Johnson ranks seventh in the championship standings.

“We have to go to the final round,” surmised Johnson. “We almost met that goal last week at Memphis. We’re making lots of horsepower with our Mopar HEMI engine and the car is running great. By the top guys getting knocked out early last week, it worked out pretty good. We’re about five rounds out of first, so we must go to the final round at Richmond.”