Funny Car points leader Austin Prock won for the fifth straight time in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday at Sonoma Raceway, defeating Blake Alexander in the final of the bonus race at this weekend’s 36th annual Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals.
Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Troy Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the 12th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
After failing to make it down the track during Friday’s two qualifying sessions, Prock and his John Force Racing team turned it around on Saturday, capped off by a run of 3.897s at 332.10mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS in the final round of the bonus race against Alexander. It’s the fifth straight bonus race win for Prock, the Funny Car points leader, and the sixth overall this season, giving him an extra 20 points in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
“We definitely struggled yesterday but we turned it around today,” said Prock, who went 3.872s at 335.07mph earlier in the day. “Six wins, that’s 20 points which is a whole round, and as we’ve seen, every point matters.
“We backed off on Q3 but that was a nice run (in the finals). That’s the run we wanted. I know I’m happy and I hope [my crew] is also happy. To win these bonus races is a big confidence booster. It’s more money for our crew and more points for the team. Both are important.”
In a wild Top Fuel final round in the bonus race, Shawn Langdon defeated his Kalitta Motorsports teammate, reigning world champion Doug Kalitta, to win his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the 2024 campaign. Langdon went 4.660s at 160.94mph in his Kalitta Air Careers/Toyota dragster, defeating Kalitta’s 7.028s at 113.52mph as both cars ran into trouble. Kalitta suffered tire smoke almost immediately and Langdon coasted to the win.
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It wasn’t the way he envisioned it, but Langdon will gladly take the bonus purse and championship points, hoping to turn it into a double-up weekend at one of his favorite tracks.
“This is the first win this season for me in this bonus race and it’s nice to get it out of the way and to race Doug in the final is even more special,” Langdon said. “We’ve got two Kalitta dragsters that are competitive and in the final we made a good run. In Seattle last week, we didn’t qualify where we wanted to, so it was nice to come here and make some nice runs to get some confidence for Sunday. Every little point matters and it’s nice for our crew to win these deals. It’s a nice reward for all they do.”
Troy Coughlin Jr. enjoyed his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty win of the year, defeating his uncle, Jeg Coughlin Jr., on a holeshot with a run of 6.529s at 211.63mph in his JEGS.com/White Castle car. It’s the first bonus race win of the year for the younger Coughlin and the difference was his 0.024s reaction time, which proved to be enough to beat Jeg’s run of 6.522s at 211.26mph. It was enjoyable moment for Troy to race – and then beat – the five-time world champ, who also won last weekend in Seattle.
“This was tons of fun. It’s fantastic facing uncle Jeg especially at this majestic facility in front of these awesome fans,” Coughlin said. “Our team has worked their tails off to make these cars competitive. We’ve struggled a bit on race day but it’s coming together.
“I didn’t think that [0.024s reaction time] would be enough but it was, this time. I’ve thought about racing with [Jeg] for about 28 years. It doesn’t matter if it’s a local race or a big bracket race or NHRA Pro Stock. It is great to race against him. To do this is a dream fulfilled.”
Eliminations for the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals begin at 10:30 a.m. PT on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.