NHRA – Syndication Server

Stewart rockets to first ever NHRA Top Fuel win in Las Vegas

Racing legend Tony Stewart picked up his first career NHRA Top Fuel win on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, defeating a quad that included reigning world champion Antron Brown, Jasmine Salinas and Justin Ashley at the 25th annual …

Austin Prock (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the fourth of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Stewart went 3.870s at 317.42mph in his Rayce Rudeen Foundation Dodge//SRT dragster to hold off Brown at the finish line, claiming his first career victory in the Top Fuel ranks and adding to the Hall of Famer’s long list of accolades. The former world champion in the NASCAR and IndyCar ranks won NHRA Rookie of the Year honors a year ago, and then went to the final round two weeks ago in Pomona before racing to the victory on Sunday in Las Vegas.

The team had performed well early in the season and then added to it in Las Vegas, qualifying fifth and then winning both of the first two quads on holeshots. He quickly tracked down Ashley and then Salinas, getting by Brown just before the finish line to claim a memorable win. He’s now won at every track on the property at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Stewart was certainly thrilled with Sunday’s result.

“It’s unreal. I haven’t been around the NHRA that long and I realize it takes a long time to win a race in this series, but everything in my career, I never had to wait over a year to win a race. I always figured it out in the first year, and multiple ones normally, so I’m just very appreciative of this win,” Stewart said.

“Last year was so stressful after Leah (Pruett, wife) almost won a world championship, and I get in the car last year, and the people in the stands think I’m the reason the car sucks. It wasn’t that we had bad people tuning on it, it was just it was a different combination. There were different variables that change my body weight is different, tubing changes from rules changes but it was still really frustrating we could not get on a path to where we could make gains last year.

“I think probably the one thing that may not sink in as much right now, but when Leah brought [son] Dom up on the stage there, that’s an emotion that you can’t even think about or dream of. When I saw her coming up those steps with him, my heart stopped. That was a feeling I’ve never had in my life before, and I have a feeling when we lay down and put my head on a pillow tonight, that’s going to be the one thing that I want to reflect on the most tonight.”

Brown finished as the runner-up, going 3.912s at 302.35mph in the final round. Stewart moved up to second points with the historic victory, while Shawn Langdon stayed as the leader in the category.

Defending Funny Car world champ Austin Prock returned to championship form on Sunday in Las Vegas, picking up his first win of the season with a run of 4.009s at 316.01mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS to hold off a quad that featured runner-up Paul Lee, Matt Hagan and Dave Richards.

Prock dominated at Las Vegas in the fall to all but clinch his first world championship, but the team made major changes on the car in the off-season. It was a struggle to open the year, falling in the opening round in Gainesville, but the team has slowly gained momentum and it was capped off by a sterling performance in Vegas. He made the quickest run in eliminations, going 3.964s at 322.88mph in an impressive semifinal victory and then finished it off with another terrific run in the championship round.

“We haven’t had the success that we had last year, but we’re still the same team,” Prock said. “We always expect to show up and win. We want to go set low E.T. every round, and we want to win every race, so when we’re not doing that, it’s hard to keep your head up when things aren’t going right, especially when your expectations are so high. So, for all of us to come together is great.

“It feels really good, man. Opening up in Gainesville, it just wasn’t a great weekend and we just struggled in Pomona after a good weekend in Phoenix, but just couldn’t put it all together. You just want to hold one of these Wally [trophies] again because you don’t know how long it’s going to take before you win another one.”

Lee finished as the runner-up thanks to his run of 4.042s at 311.77mph. It his second final round of the year, as he jumped into the points lead as well. Prock moved to third in points after winning for the second time in Las Vegas.

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In Pro Stock, Las Vegas continues to be very good to standout Dallas Glenn, as he won against a final quad that featured points leader Greg Anderson, Matt Hartford and Matt Latino on a holeshot, going 6.649s at 206.83mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to win for the second time this season. It’s also his third victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as Glenn used a strong .030 reaction time to hold off Hartford, who finished second with a 6.638s at 205.85mph.

It’s the 15th career victory for Glenn and his third four-wide win as well, as Glenn finished second in the opening-round quad before winning the second-round quad with a run of 6.636s at 206.32mph. He’s been in every final round this season and continued his hot start to the 2025 campaign, one that is shaping up very well for Glenn, a former NHRA Rookie of the Year who finished second a year ago to Anderson.

“I’m really thrilled. Today was a very interesting day, I almost completely blew it in the first round. I was staging, and when I fired the car up my nose started to bleed, so I was dealing with that inside the car,” Glenn said. “That was an issue.

“I don’t know what I was looking at, but I didn’t see lane two stage, and just didn’t go on to the two-step until right before the tree came down. I was way late, just dead late, and got lucky enough with the horsepower to get the win. I still made a decent run going into second round and then the clutch pedal felt weird on my foot when I went on to the two-step and kind of overcompensated there.

“Then I go into the final and made sure that I held it down, and probably held it down a little too hard. Greg was on his way to earning his next one until the luck streak ended for him. But, you know, it’s a good day. The car is working great. I didn’t do too bad, but, you know, at the end, and you’ve only got to do good enough.”

Hartford recorded his first runner-up of the season, winning his quad during the second round as well. Anderson will remain in the points lead after four races, with Glenn right behind in second.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action April 25-27 with the 15th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.

Kalitta, Lee, Anderson go No. 1 at NHRA Vegas 4-Wide Nationals

The final pass of Saturday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway proved to be a great one for Doug Kalitta, as the former Top Fuel world champion picked up the win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and rolled to the No. 1 position in one …

Spencer Hyde (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge bonus race on Saturday, while Paul Lee (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) qualified No. 1 at the fourth of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Kalitta went 3.730s at 331.04mph in his Mac Tools dragster in a standout quad that featured No. 2 qualifier Brittany Force, Tony Stewart and Clay Millican, handing the former world champion his second No. 1 qualifier of the year and 60th in his remarkable career. Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon won the first two Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenges this year, as Kalitta kept the Top Fuel team perfect this season in the bonus race.

Kalitta will take on Justin Ashley and Clay Millican in the opening round on Sunday, looking to repeat last year’s four-wide win in Las Vegas and sweep the weekend. He was also the No. 1 qualifier last April before rolling to the victory.

“Yeah, I really like the format, being able to race on Saturdays. It’s brought a lot more to the fans,” Kalitta said. “I think they’re all engaged a little more on Saturdays. We ended up winning this race last year. So, for me, coming to these races that you won the previous year, you really want to get it done again.

“Besides Pomona, I think this is the closest track to where Alan [Johnson, crew chief] lives, so he typically has a lot of people that come out. So, I’m going to have to give the love to Alan on this one, because this is like his home track and maybe has something to do with it.” Force’s 3.754s at 333.16mph in that same quad on Saturday put her second, while Antron Brown jumped to third after going 3.787s at 326.08mph.

In Funny Car, Spencer Hyde’s rookie season continues to progress at a rapid rate, as the newcomer picked up the win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge with a run of 3.968s at 318.54mph in his Head Contractors & Engineers Ford Mustang. After not qualifying at the first two races, Hyde has made rapid improvements, advancing to the semifinals at the most recent race in Pomona.

That put him in the bonus race in Las Vegas and Hyde took advantage on Saturday in a major way, winning a quad that featured Cruz Pedregon, Matt Hagan and Chad Green. The car has performed at a consistent clip the past two races and Hyde been on his game. He thrilled with Saturday’s outcome, marking his first major accomplishment in the NHRA ranks.

“It’s pretty cool. Obviously, we had a little rough start to the season — didn’t qualify in Gainesville, didn’t qualify in Phoenix — but we’re putting that behind us,” Hyde said. “We had a great outing in Pomona, going to the semifinals and obviously here with this win. I’m getting more comfortable in the car, getting some good, clean runs in.

“That’s the first time it’s blown up on me at the finish line, so that was exciting. I’ve been waiting for the last couple runs. I knew it dropped a hole [cylinder] in the last run, and it’s not if, it’s when in these things, so I just been kind of waiting for it. It wasn’t too bad it — just popped blower off – but there was no big fireball or anything, so all good.”

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Paul Lee was challenged by Austin Prock on Saturday, but he maintained the No. 1 qualifying spot for the first time this season on the strength of Friday’s 3.940s at 326.08mph in his McLeod/FTI Performance Dodge Charger SRT.

It’s his second career top spot and he finished Saturday with a strong 3.981s, giving him confidence for Sunday. His opening quad includes Daniel Wilkerson, Bob Tasca III and Gainesville winner Chad Green as Lee aims for his second win in three races.

“We feel good about tomorrow. That [3.981 in Q4], was going to be a low 3.90s, but it dropped a hole about half track and slowed up,” Lee said. “This has been our goal, to be a top-five car. We want to be able to roll in the gate and be able to win a race, and we’re getting there.”

Prock is currently second with a 3.948s at 322.58mph and Hyde’s 3.965s at 320.20mph has him third.

Dallas Glenn won a thrilling Pro Stock final in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, winning over KB Titan Racing teammate Greg Anderson on a holeshot with a run of 6.637s at 206.13mph. Anderson was quicker with a 6.614s, but Glenn’s strong 0.022s reaction time handed the young standout his first victory of the season in the specialty race in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro.

“I’m really thrilled, because three of us basically staged at the same time, and then I didn’t feel like I hit the tree,” Glenn said. “I was happy to see I was 0.022s, and then the car made a right turn. I was out in the weeds and it was spinning and bouncing. It was a little more shocking to see the win light come on.

“It was definitely a big confidence boost. You know, I feel like we’re still working on the car. We’re still getting a little bit better, and I feel like I can miss it and still be 0.022s, so I’m definitely feeling more comfortable in the car, too. We have a lot of momentum going into Sunday.”

That run from Anderson gave him the quickest pass in both sessions on Saturday, as he qualified in the No. 1 spot in his HendrickCars.com Camaro for the third time this season and the 135th time in his career. He’ll look for his third straight win on Sunday, starting with an opening-round quad that also features Cristian Cuadra, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Eric Latino.

“I feel fantastic about the car, the loose nut behind the wheel, maybe not so much,” Anderson said. “Just the four-wide is a tricky deal. We both hit the light at the exact same time and every time that seems to happen, it seems like it’s an extra-long light. That’s my kryptonite against me every time and it got me.

“Bottom line is, I’m proud of the guys. I’m proud of the product we’ve got out here. I’m proud of the race cars everybody under this KB Titan banner right now. It’s a hell of a feeling, like I said, a proud papa. We’ll come back tomorrow with a little bit more fire in the belly and hopefully close the deal, because I don’t like to lose.”

Cody Coughlin qualified second with a 6.636s at 205.60mph and Glenn took third. Remarkably, six-time Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, whose 10 wins in Las Vegas are the most in NHRA history at the track, did not qualify. It’s the first time the 49-time event winner hasn’t qualified since the Charlotte fall race in 2016, a span of nearly nine years.

Eliminations for the 25th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals begin at 12 p.m. PT on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Torrence, Lee, Anderson open NHRA Vegas 4-Wide on top

Four-time Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence powered to the provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as he looks for his first top position of the year at the 25th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. Paul Lee …

Paul Lee (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the fourth of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Torrence went 3.840s at 320.81mph in his Capco Contractors dragster, one of just two drivers to reach the 3.80s on a warm day in Las Vegas. If it holds, Torrence, who has five career wins in Las Vegas, would earn his 41st career No. 1 qualifier.

“When you come to Vegas, you come here with expectations and it could be like this, or it could be cold. It could be Candy Land, or it could be tricky and tough to navigate, and this is what we got today,” Torrence said. “It looks like we’ll have that for the rest of the weekend. We had a little bit of luck on the first run, but it went 900 of the 1,000 feet on seven cylinders and it went down through there pretty quick.”

Justin Ashley was the other driver to hit the 3.80s, going to second with a 3.892s at 315.27mph. Tony Stewart is currently qualified third thanks to his 3.904s at 319.45mph.

In Funny Car, Paul Lee showed his team is more than capable of running in the heat, pulling off a strong run of 3.940s at 326.08mph in his McLeod/FTI Performance Dodge Charger SRT. Lee continues to perform at a high level, in line for his second career No. 1 qualifier just two races after winning his first career Funny Car race in Phoenix.

The momentum continues to be with the team and Lee has always enjoyed racing in Vegas. Friday presented plenty of challenges with the heat, but Lee came away impressed with the work of his team.

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“I mean, it’s 135 degrees [on the track] and we were hoping to run like a 3.97s or 3.98s because we saw that it was out there,” Lee said. “Jonnie (Lindberg, crew chief), you know, he’s an aggressive guy and he thought it could hold a little bit more, so he put some extra nuts on the clutch and I went and it held.

“That was close to the limit. It chattered pretty good and tried to break the tires loose, but I just kept going and it held.”

Rookie Spencer Hyde is second with a 3.965s at 320.20mph and J.R. Todd is right behind after going 3.970s at 323.66mph.

No matter the conditions, there appears to be no stopping Pro Stock points leader Greg Anderson, as the defending world champion rolled to the No. 1 position on Friday with a 6.637s at 205.32mph in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. Anderson is after his third No. 1 qualifier in four races and has also won two consecutive races. He’s on track to contend for a third as he’s enjoying one of the best recent stretches in his standout career.

He’s been to five straight final rounds and Las Vegas has always treated the six-time champion well. Anderson has won eight times at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, putting him only behind Erica Enders’ 10 at the facility.

“This is Las Vegas and being the four-wide event we know anything can happen,” Anderson said. “You’ve got a hot racetrack, so you have to give it as much gear as possible to make the motor think it’s got power. You got to trick it with gear ratio, but we went over the edge.

“My guys are doing well, but we went over the edge a little bit on the second run. We spun the tires and it shook and I had to lift. It teaches them hopefully where the line is, where the limit is, and that’s great for us tomorrow because it will be very similar conditions.”

Matt Hartford is currently second with a strong 6.646s at 204.08mph in the second session, while Cory Reed is third after going 6.655s at 205.32mph.

Qualifying continues at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Millican, Beckman and Anderson claim NHRA wins at Pomona

Clay Millican edged out Tony Stewart in an explosive Top Fuel final round on Sunday for Rick Ware Racing, winning for the first time at historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip at the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals. Jack Beckman (Funny Car, pictured) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won at the third race of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Millican went 4.273-seconds at 189.71 mph in his Mighty Fire Breaker/Parts Plus dragster before a wild engine explosion at the finish line, as Stewart drove into tire smoke almost immediately in the finals. It is the eighth career victory for Millican, who defeated Shawn Reed, Jasmine Salinas and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force to reach the final round, and first in 2025.

Millican was also dynamite on the starting line during eliminations, including a lethal .038 against Stewart, denying the racing legend his first career Top Fuel victory and moving to sixth in points.

“My crew chief (Jim Oberhofer) told me he had it loaded up and a couple things were going to happen. He said we’re going to win, we’re going to blow up and if we lose, we’re going to be a footnote in history,” Millican said. “Thank goodness we’re not a footnote in history. Tony Stewart is going to win one of these soon, but all I know is we won the Winternationals.

“But boy, that final round was forever. When you blow it up and – and we blew it up good – and you got a HANS [head restraint] device on, you’re stretching that HANS to its limits, trying to look over like, ‘Is he coming or not?’ I couldn’t get there quick enough. I promise I never let off the throttle, even though it wasn’t running no more. But I had that thing buried. I was stomping on the loud pedal harder than normal. What a day.

“Winning [the Winternationals] is one of the majors. It definitely is. We’ve won Indy and now we’ve won here, and that’s pretty dang cool. But to come out and win the way we did today, it was a total team effort. I pulled us out once, which rarely ever happens, and the team just stuck together.”

Stewart reached the final round for the third time in his career and first this season after defeating reigning world champion Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and points leader Shawn Langdon.

In Funny Car, Beckman handed John Force Racing its 300th Funny Car win after he went 4.015 at 302.88 in his PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS to knock off Daniel Wilkerson in a historic championship round at the legendary facility – and the home track for JFR. It is the 38th career win for Beckman, who replaced Force after his crash last year and has won the last two races in Pomona.

Force also won last year’s Winternationals, making the car a remarkable 12-0 in the last three Pomona races. The weekend belonged to Beckman, who won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for the first time with two standout runs and then made a series of passes in the 3.80s to reach Sunday’s final.

He defeated Jeff Diehl, Chad Green and Matt Hagan to reach the championship round. There wasn’t another 3.80s in the fold, but after Wilkerson had trouble at the starting line, Beckman recovered and rolled to his first victory of the season and 36th in his career. It’s also the first time he has led the points since 2020, as Beckman continues to perform at a high level since replacing Force following his crash in June.

“The car was amazing all weekend. We qualified fourth, but we got qualifying points every single round and ran 3.80s every round of eliminations until the final when the flawless part fell off a couple of hundred feet out and car shook the tires and knocked them loose,” Beckman said. “That’s where, as a driver, you’ve got to be ready to give one back to the team because they’d given me everything all weekend long.

“It felt good to be able to pedal the thing and take it down there and have the car not blow up. It’s pretty cool when they hand you a trophy, your car still intact, and get John Force Racing its 300th Funny car win.”

Wilkerson reached the final round for the second time in his career thanks to round wins against J.R. Todd, Paul Lee and Funny Car rookie Spencer Hyde.

There appears to be no stopping Pro Stock’s Greg Anderson these days, especially at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, as the reigning world champion set the track record in the final round against KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn with a stellar run of 6.476 at 210.90 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. That gives Anderson a remarkable 16 career wins in Pomona – the second-most in NHRA history – including the last two races.

He won the NHRA Finals last November against Glenn, a final-round matchup that has repeated itself the first three races of the 2025 campaign. Glenn won the first in Gainesville, but Anderson has taken the last two. While Phoenix was a wild and wacky final round, this one was much more conventional, as Anderson continued his torrid run this weekend. He was in the 6.40s throughout eliminations, including a 6.477 against Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the second round that initially broke the track record from 2014.

Anderson, the current points leader who also won the GESi Pro Stock No. 1 Qualifier Award for a second straight race, then broke it again in the championship round with a spectacular run, giving the six-time world champion his second victory this season and 108th in his marvelous career.

“We set a [track] record in the final and this is the way you want to do it,” Anderson said. “You want to go out and earn it every single run, and you want to save your best for the final round, and that’s what we did. These are proud days today, and just like three months ago here in the final round, you want to give your best shot in the final round against the toughest competition.

“I love this place. Nine times out of 10 when we come here, you get friendly conditions like this, and I was able to drive better than I normally drive as far as reaction time goes. The slight cloud cover, the cool temperatures just feel good for a driver and that just plays more into my hand. are the conditions I need. I wish we could race here every weekend.”

Glenn continued his impressive season as well, advancing to a third straight final round and 30th in his career after defeating Erica Enders, Matt Hartford and Deric Kramer.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action April 11-13 with the 25th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Prock rockets to No. 1 at NHRA Winternationals in Pomona

Defending world champion Austin Prock and his John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman dominated the Funny Car ranks on Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, as Prock powered to the No. 1 qualifier position at the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA …

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, while Brittany Force (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) qualified No. 1 at the third of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Beckman went 3.831s at 330.72mph in his PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS, defeating Paul Lee in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and claiming his first win in the specialty race.

“Paul Lee’s car is an A-level competitive car and when we went 3.83s in round one, we were feeling pretty spicy and then they go 3.82s and got lane choice, but we knew it didn’t matter,” Beckman said.

“These conditions are A-plus-plus, as good as it gets out there. The issue when the track gets as good as the crew chiefs don’t have much data on this. We know what to do when the track gets good, but when the track gets great, you can count on one hand, typically, the number of runs a year you get when the track is phenomenal. In all likelihood, all the runs tomorrow are going to be in those type of conditions.”

Prock, who clinched the world title in Pomona last season and set a Funny Car record with 15 No. 1 qualifiers in 2024, went a blistering 3.816s at 338.26mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to take the No. 1 position into race day for the 20th time in his career. Prock will open eliminations against Blake Alexander as he looks for his first victory of 2025.

“Our race car hasn’t run bad all year long, it’s just things haven’t been really going our way like they did last year,” Prock said. “We’ve been trying to do that all weekend long and just been tickling the thing. I’m really proud of how diligent everybody’s been working and making progress each run and just getting it A to B.

“The boys were high-fiving before we even got in the water box, like they knew, it was either going to be hero or zero, and we ended up on the good end of it. I’m really proud of John Force Racing and John Force is so proud right now of the whole team.”

Lee is qualified second with a 3.829s at 331.45mph and Ron Capps is third after going 3.830s at 328.94mph.

In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon kept Kalitta Motorsports rolling and continued his recent dominance as well, beating teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round with a run of 3.662s at a near-record 338.68mph in his Kalitta Air Careers dragster. It denied Kalitta a chance at a perfect weekend, but Langdon kept rolling along, capturing his second straight Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory.

Langdon also won the event in Phoenix last weekend as the car continues to perform at an extremely high level. The run in the Challenge final was his best of the weekend and puts him third heading into eliminations, while the speed marked the second-fastest run in Top Fuel history. The points leader will now have a chance to double-up for the second straight race in his red-hot early-season start.

“Honestly, it’s a great feeling to come back from the run and see the smile on Connie’s [Kalitta] face and see the smiles on the team’s faces. All their hard work, everything’s paying off,” Kalitta said. “The cars are running good, which is great. They’re responding well to what the crew chiefs have been doing.

“It’s obviously a great feeling when everything’s clicking, and the biggest thing now is we got a good, fast, consistent race car. Now it’s just a matter of maintaining it and trying to see if we can kick off a couple wins along the way and get ready for the Countdown at the end of the year.”

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Brittany Force earned her first top qualifier of the year on the strength of Friday’s 3.646s at 334.82mph in her Monster Energy dragster. She’ll open eliminations against Steve Chrisman as she looks for her first career Winternationals win. She added a 53rd career No. 1 qualifier to her accomplishments on Saturday, but a victory at her home track – and a chance for JFR double-up – would make the weekend even better.

“We’ve had some really strong performance on track,” Force said. “We earned a No. 1 qualifier. We went 3.64s twice, and then a 3.69s today. We want to turn on four win lights tomorrow. Looking at our ladder, we could have a bye second round, which is awesome for us. I love this place. It’s just home for me. I grew up out of here at this racetrack and in the stands. You just have that good feeling coming out here and we want to do well. My whole family’s out here, I’ve had all my friends this weekend, popping in and out, and it’s just our home race track, so we want to finish strong.”

Kalitta qualified second with a 3.657s at 335.15mph.

In Pro Stock, Matt Hartford defeated Greg Anderson in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, going 6.496s at 210.67mph in his GETTRX/Total Seal Camaro to get his second win in the specialty race. The first came two years in Pomona as the veteran continued his strong performance at the historic facility. Next up on Hartford’s list is an event win, which would be his first since the 2023 campaign.

“This is as good a car as I’ve ever had. It’s hateful,” Hartford said. “Over the winter, we made a very easy decision to make sure that we continued in our older chassis and to try to reinvent the wheel every run or make changes that we don’t know. Let’s use facts and work off data.

“A win is the next thing for us, but you’ve got to get through first round and take it one round at a time. When you look at the qualifying sheet, I can promise you of the 16 cars, none of them you want to race first round because they’re all good. The conditions tomorrow are going to be hateful. If you think the runs that you’ve seen over the last four runs were good, wait until tomorrow. The cars are all going to pick up tomorrow.”

Anderson held on to his second No. 1 spot this season, improving to a 6.490s at 210.77mph on Saturday in his HendrickCars.com Camaro, handing the defending world champion his 134th career top qualifier. Anderson made two more runs in the 6.40s on Saturday, which could bode well as he seeks his second straight win and his 16th overall at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

“Running 6.40s seems to be the price of poker out here this weekend,” Anderson said. “You better run 6.40s or you’re probably going to go home. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of cars that can do it. I think only two of them didn’t today, but there’s a lot of them that can do it and you’re going to see more of it tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a hell of a race.

“You kind of need to have a lot of luck because there’s too many good cars, too many good drivers and too many good race teams. You better not only have a fast race car, but you also better have some luck.”

Hartford qualified second with a 6.490s at 210.67mph and Deric Kramer is third after going 6.511s at 210.80mph.

Eliminations for the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals begin at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Kalitta wins TF All Star Callout at Pomona

Doug Kalitta claimed the victory in Friday’s Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, defeating Brittany Force in the final round of the bonus race as part of the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals. Force (Top Fuel), …

Force (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) are the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the third round of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.

The bonus race was postponed from the NHRA opener in Gainesville and completed Friday in Pomona, as Kalitta went 3.657-seconds at 335.15 mph in his Mac Tools dragster to power past Force in the championship round of the big-money race.

Kalitta, the 2023 world champion, defeated Clay Millican and Antron Brown earlier in the day to reach the finals, adding another special moment at the track where he earned his first world title less than two years ago.

“It’s been a while since we raced on a Friday, so that was pretty cool and we were super excited for what Right Trailers has done for us with this Callout,” Kalitta said. “We tried to do it in Gainesville, and there’s no better place to bring it than here. I love running this place, but I’m just glad to get by Brittany and Antron and Clay. It was a fun day, for sure.

“The guys gave me a great car to be able to run that .65 after watching Brittany run the .64 a couple times. I knew we had that run in us, and I’m glad we were able to do it.”

Force went to the top during the first session with a run of 3.646 at 334.82 in her Monster Energy dragster. On that pass, she made the fastest run to 1/8-mile in NHRA history, going 301.67. If it holds, it would be her 53rd career No. 1 qualifier. Kalitta is currently second and Josh Hart made a big jump to third after going 3.675 at 332.34.

“To come right out of the box and put a [3.]64 on the board, and then back that up with another .64 is very outstanding for this Monster Energy team,” Force said. “It’s tough when you come into an event and go right into a race without any chance to qualify or make some runs. We went right into it and we were looking to win the thing. Unfortunately, we got beat in the final. It felt like it had cylinders out.

“We’re off to a good start. We still have a long weekend ahead of us, but we put some good numbers on the board. Winning, that’s the ultimate goal. That’s why we’re here. This is my home track and I’d love to win here. We’ve been very successful in the past, and with (crew chief) David Grubnic, we come here and we want to win.”

Just days after a massive explosion and crash in Phoenix, Funny Car’s Ron Capps was back in Pomona, making the quickest run of both sessions, including a run of 3.830 at 328.94 in his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra that puts him atop the field as part of a fascinating story. Should that hold, Capps would pick up his first No. 1 qualifier of 2025 and the 38th in his season, but this one would surely be special considering what went down on Sunday in Phoenix.

But Capps and his team showed impressive resilience on Friday, making a run in the 3.80s to open qualifying and then going even lower to close out the day. Capps praised the stellar work of his team to get to this point after what went down at Firebird Motorsports Park, hoping it results in an incredible story on Sunday.

“I’m pretty beat up and sore and bruised up and just wanted to get back in the car,” Capps said. “I just couldn’t wait for today. It could not get here soon enough. No hesitation at all. They pulled me up, and then we fired it and went and before I knew it, I made the run, and they came on the radio and said, ‘You’re the No. 1 qualifier.’

“I’ve done a lot of media this week, and not for the best reason, but we talked about all week in these interviews about how you respond as a driver. How do you respond? But more so our team, and I’ve never, never, ever had any doubt. I’ve bragged about ‘NAPA Know How’ but it’s these guys, man, they’ve hardly slept.”

Defending world champion Austin Prock is second after a run of 3.837 at 333.25 and his John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman is third with a run of 3.855 at 326.40.

In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip continues to treat Pro Stock reigning world champion Greg Anderson very well, as the veteran was the only driver to dip into the 6.40s on Friday with a standout run of 6.495 at 210.01 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. It puts him as the quickest Pro Stock qualifier in Winternationals history, while the qualifying field is also the quickest in the race’s iconic history.

Anderson, who has qualified first and second at the first two races, respectively, is on track for his second No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 134th in his career.

The last time Anderson was in Pomona was the NHRA Finals in November, where he won a winner-take-all final round against KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn. Those two have met in the final round at each of the first two races – with each driver winning a race – and Anderson showed no signs of slowing down on Friday.

“There’s so many cars that can run fast, and I’m so damn proud of this KB Titan team,” Anderson said. “I’ve got eight cars out here this weekend, and quite honestly, any one of those eight cars, if they hit it on the target, any run can go to the pole. I’ve got a small part of that, and probably prouder of that than the fact that my car went to No. 1 because it’s hard to do that to make them all run good.

“I really feel that we can run 6.48, whether we can get below that 6.480 [track record] or into the .47s I don’t know. It’s going to take 100 percent nailing it on the starting line and getting that killer 60-foot [elapsed time].”

Matt Hartford is currently second with a 6.510 at 209.14 and Aaron Stanfield is third after going 6.515 at 210.28.

Qualifying continues at 12pm PT on Saturday.

NHRA podcast: Antron Brown on thriving as an owner-driver

Antron Brown started the NHRA Top Fuel season with a victory in Gainesville and then a second-round loss in Phoenix. It will be that type of season – a hard-fought one, as Brown sees the competition at a new level this year, but he’s up for the …

Antron Brown started the NHRA Top Fuel season with a victory in Gainesville and then a second-round loss in Phoenix. It will be that type of season — a hard-fought one, as Brown sees the competition at a new level this year, but he’s up for the challenge. The reigning four-time champion sits down with The Racing Writer’s Podcast to discuss how his team has refocused after a championship season, continuing its growth, chasing the regular season champion bonus, looking to the future as a team owner, and more.

Langdon, Lee, Anderson claim Firebird NHRA wins

Top Fuel’s Shawn Langdon won for a second straight year at Firebird Motorsports Park on Sunday, powering past Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round in front of a sellout crowd at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. Paul Lee (Funny …

Paul Lee (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the second round of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It was the second straight sellout this weekend in Phoenix, as fans packed Firebird Motorsports Park.

Langdon put together the quickest run of eliminations in the championship round, going 3.724-seconds at 330.39 mph in his Kalitta Air Careers dragster to get past Kalitta’s 3.770 at 325.53. It was the second straight final round for Langdon to open 2025, as he defeated Scott Palmer, Justin Ashley and Brittany Force earlier in the day before picking up his 20th career win and first this season.

He’s now made the final round in Phoenix three straight years and enjoyed another stellar weekend at the facility, winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday and following it up with Sunday’s victory, also putting him in the points lead.

“Running [Alan Johnson, crew chief] and Doug in the final, we know what they’re capable of, and the run they made in the semi’s [3.76], and the one we made go only going 3.83, we knew we had to step up, so we kind of threw the kitchen sink at it,” Langdon said. ““(Crew chief) Brian Husen has turned this whole team into a bunch of superstars. All the guys have done such a fantastic job and have made no mistakes.

“Brian said, ‘I’m trying to get this thing build low 3.70s and, I was like, ‘OK, I’ll try to be 0.050-something Tree and it should be a good race, and it was. It’s kind of neat when everything plan comes together, right?”

Kalitta reached the final round for the 120th time in his standout career, as the No. 1 qualifier defeated Travis Shumake and Jasmine Salinas to reach the championship round.

In Funny Car, Paul Lee became the 96th different Funny Car winner in NHRA history on Sunday with his first career victory, defeating reigning world champion Austin Prock with a run of 4.030 at 313.22 in his McLeod/FTI Performance Dodge Charger SRT. It was a remarkable performance from Lee, who defeated a slew of standouts to earn his first career win in the category.

After qualifying fifth, Lee took down Gainesville winner Chad Green, Blake Alexander and Bob Tasca, running an impressive 3.964 at 319.82 to reach the final round. Prock drove into smoke, while Lee made a clean run en route to the victory. It led to a memorable celebration, as Lee continues to make massive strides in the loaded Funny Car ranks.

“Twenty-one years ago was the last time I won a Wally in Englishtown, N.J., at my home track in Top Alcohol Funny Car and I’ve dreaming of someday standing here with a nitro Funny Car Wally,” Lee said. “I love driving a nitro Funny Cars. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I was 13 years old. A lot of people don’t realize this is a lifetime of work, it’s not just overnight.

“It’s a special day. We lost Eric Medlin on this day [in 2007], and we have a team prayer every Sunday, and John [Medlen, Eric’s father] leads us and today, he asked for Eric to watch out for us. You know something, our whole pit was calm all day, we just had a feeling that Eric was watching over us. I know it’s a funny feeling. It was just we were calm all day. Nobody was excited. Everybody did their job. It was a long time coming, but it’s well worth it.”

Prock advanced to the final round for the first time this season and the 21st in his career after defeating Buddy Hull, Matt Hagan and John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman.

In one of the wildest Pro Stock final rounds in recent memory, Greg Anderson picked up his second straight Phoenix win when Dallas Glenn went red in the final round. Anderson, the reigning world champ, barely moved off the starting line as his car had its own trouble, lost power and didn’t even make it to half-track.

But it was still a victory for Anderson in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, as the all-time wins leader in Pro Stock earned his 107th career victory and fourth overall at Firebird Motorsports Park. To reach the final round for the second straight race, Anderson got past Fernando Cuadra Jr., Eric Latino and Aaron Stanfield, setting up the third straight Anderson-Glenn showdown dating back to last year’s NHRA Finals.

This one was easily the strangest, but Anderson will gladly take the win and the points lead after defeating his KB Titan Racing teammate.

“I’m still trying to figure out how the heck I won,” Anderson said. “When you go into a final against Dallas, you know he’s going to be double .00 (reaction time) and you’re just on edge trying to leave the starting line. I saw some sort of flash of light, and I let the clutch out and red-light, but obviously that flash of light was Dallas’s red light coming on first, so he red-lighted before I did under the first or worst.

“My car made it about a foot and it shut right off and now I‘m going to have to sit in front of the grandstands and want to sink underneath the seat, because I just red lighted, and you just threw the race away and I wondered why Dallas didn’t go by me? I reached up and I’m trying to restart the car, and it won’t start. Something went wrong. I don’t know if the ignition blew out on it or what happened, but I red-lighted and somehow Dallas did something worse than I did. So crazy final round, but, like they say, a win is a win.”

Glenn, who won the opener in Gainesville, defeated David Cuadra, Greg Stanfield and No. 1 qualifier Matt Hartford to reach the final round for the 29th time in his career.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action March 27-30 with the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Tasca goes No. 1 at NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird

Funny Car’s Ron Capps claimed the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the year on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at Firebird Motorsports Park, defeating Matt Hagan in the final round of the bonus race as part of the 40th annual NHRA …

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge specialty race, while Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca III (Funny Car) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) earned No. 1 qualifiers at the second of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

In front of a capacity crowd, Capps went 3.989s at 318.24mph in his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra, driving past Hagan in the bonus race in a matchup of multi-time world champions. It was a welcome victory for Capps, who went all of 2024 without winning a national event. He was the runner-up in Gainesville and built on that on Saturday, defeating Alexis DeJoria earlier in the day before getting past Hagan for a much-needed result.

“I’m very excited myself, but I’m more excited for ‘Guido’ [crew chief Dean Antonelli] and the team,” Capps said. “Last year was a rebuilding of sorts. We knew we had to change the setup to get ahead of the competition after back-to-back world championships, and we felt like we needed to get to where Jimmy Prock and Austin were last year and this year.

“It’s fun to win the Mission Challenge because it’s really brought out a lot of fun on Saturdays. For the fans, it’s great. It really creates a different Saturday, and when you get to the semis at a race you’re always happy because you know you’re in the Mission Challenge the next race, and whatever happens is icing on the cake. So a great, great win for us today.”

Tasca finished as the No. 1 qualifier for the 19th time in his career, as Friday’s run of 3.863s at 333.82mph in his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang easily held up. He’ll open eliminations against Jon Capps, looking for his first victory of the season.

“It’s going to be a stacked group out there, but this car can go up and down a hot or cool track,” Tasca said. “We were aggressive [today], trying to find the limit of where we thought the track was to kind of set us up for tomorrow. I think the guys will take that data and compensate for it tomorrow and we think that 3.92s (from Q1) was really in the sweet spot for the heat.”

Austin Prock qualified second after going 3.883s on Friday, while R. Capps took third with a 3.912s at 323.50mph.

Top Fuel’s Shawn Langdon stayed red-hot at Firebird Motorsports Park, defeating Tony Stewart in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge thanks to a run of 3.805s at 315.19mph in his Kalitta Air Careers dragster. It’s another strong performance in Phoenix for Langdon, who is the defending event winner and has been to the past two final rounds at the track. That could bode well for Sunday, as Langdon, who was the runner-up in Gainesville, appears to be rolling.

“There are some tracks that just seem to work well with what you have and there’s some tracks that just doesn’t seem to work well, and Phoenix, obviously, fortunately, is one of those that seem to work well,” Langdon said.

“The team has done a great job with the car, and we’re making great runs and kind of continuing that success. I didn’t do a good job in the final. I clicked it a little bit early so, truth be told, it probably was going 3.79s, which shows how much stronger the car really is, and it definitely gives us a lot of confidence going into Sunday.”

His teammate, Doug Kalitta, earned his 60th career No. 1 qualifier in his SealMaster/Toyota dragster on the strength of Friday’s standout run of 3.688s at 330.09mph. That came under the lights, but Kalitta made a pair of strong runs on Saturday in the heat, giving him confidence for eliminations. He’ll take on Phoenix-area native Travis Shumake to open race day.

“The track is holding up good in the heat,” Kalitta said. “On that last run, we shot a couple of spark plugs out, so it shut off early, and we ran that 3.82s. I’m not really sure what it would have run, but probably a little better than that, so that’ll put us right in the mix where everybody else is.”

Brittany Force took the second spot with a run of 3.705s at 331.69mph and Langdon is third after going 3.706s at 331.85mph.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1430]

Pro Stock’s Jeg Coughlin Jr. showcased his classic form on the starting line in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, using a pair of holeshots to win the bonus round, including the final round against Dallas Glenn. Coughlin, a five-time world champ, went 6.583s at 208.88mph in his Scag Power Equipment/Outlaw Light Beer Chevrolet Camaro for Elite Motorsports, utilizing a 0.026s reaction time to hold off Glenn and get the victory. He beat longtime rival and reigning world champ Greg Anderson earlier in the day, dialing up a strong performance in the Challenge.

“I think that was a big shot in the arm for our entire team,” Coughlin said. “Pro Stock is so close. I mean, a holeshot is almost a loose term because you can win or lose races by thousandths of a second.

“We’ve made a lot of changes to our cars across the board coming into this race and obviously our we feel like our performance is there, but we’re just not able to light the [score]boards up, so we’re working hard and fortunately, we made some strides today.”

Racing in front of plenty of family and friends, as well as a sold-out crowd, local native Matt Hartford easily held onto the No. 1 spot in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro with Friday’s strong run of 6.509s at 208.20mph. Hartford picked up his fifth career No. 1 qualifier, setting the tone for what he hopes is a meaningful Sunday and a win at his home track. He opens eliminations against Brandon Foster.

“When we unloaded off the trailer here in Phoenix, we thought we had a pretty good setup,” Hartford said. “Even though the scoreboard didn’t show any good numbers for us today, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t beneficial.

“There’s nothing more that we want to do than win this race at our home track. We’ve got a runner-up here [in 2019] and our goal is to take the hardware. When I lost in the finals to Jeg a few years back, it was crushing, because it was that would have been awesome to win, but we’ve won from No. 1 before, and our goal is to do it again.”

Anderson took second with a 6.512s at 208.91mph and Cory Reed qualified third after a run of 6.516s at 208.91mph.

Eliminations for the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals begin at 11 a.m. MT on Sunday at Firebird Motorsports Park.

Kalitta, Tasca and Hartford lead Friday qualifiers at Firebird

Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta powered to the provisional No. 1 position on Friday at Firebird Motorsports Park, making the only run in the 3.60s at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. Bob Tasca III (Funny Car) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock, pictured above) were …

Kalitta went 3.688-seconds at 330.09-mph in his SealMaster/Toyota dragster under the lights in Phoenix, putting the 2023 world champion in line for his first No. 1 qualifier of the year and the 59th in his career. The No. 1 spot changed twice before Kalitta ran, but nobody else could move into the 3.60s on Friday, as Kalitta put on a standout show in Phoenix.

Kalitta and his team ran with mud flaps on during the first session, but removed them for the second, as NHRA officials announced earlier this week mud flaps will be optional for the next four races.

“I was pretty happy with that run and I have to say they’ve really done a nice job at this facility. The track is nice and smooth,” Kalitta said. “We’re happy that things kind of cooled off and we were able to get a good run in. The conditions were that good, so it says a lot for the track and this team.”

Brittany Force took the second spot with a run of 3.705 at 331.69 and Kalitta Motorsports’ teammate Shawn Langdon is currently third after going 3.706 at 331.85.

In Funny Car, Bob Tasca ended Friday qualifying in the category in impressive fashion, going 3.863 at 333.82 in his Motorcraft Ford Mustang to slip past reigning world champion Austin Prock for the provisional No. 1 spot. Prock and Tasca were the only two Funny Car drivers to dip into the 3.80s during the first two sessions, with Prock going 3.883 at 327.44 the pair before Tasca.

But Tasca topped him to take the upper hand into Saturday, where he will attempt to pick up his 19th career No. 1 qualifier and first of the year.

“What I love about what we did today is that we ran good on a hot track, and we did it on a cool track,” Tasca said. “This is very unique. You don’t see what we saw today, a 122-degree track and then an 80-degree track. That’s a 40-degree change in racing surface so that’s a completely different race car, and the teams that adapted and made the changes performed the best today, and it’ll be exciting for tomorrow and see what we can do.

“You’re going to see a hot track for the rest of the weekend, so I’m pretty confident. That first run was more important than the second run and Todd [Okuhara] and Aaron [Brooks] really worked hard over the winter, making some changes to this race car, trying to get more consistency.”

Prock is second after two sessions, while Ron Capps is in third after going 3.912 at 323.50.

Friday night was great for Phoenix-area native Matt Hartford, as he took over the No. 1 spot in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro with a stellar run of 6.509 at 208.20. If that holds, Hartford would pick up his fifth career No. 1 qualifier and first of the year, and continue his strong turnaround after struggling for the bulk of the 2024 campaign. This is another noteworthy step forward as Hartford looks to win at his home track.

“This is our home track,” Hartford said. “It’s Total Seal country, and to be able to do that in front of friends and family and all the people from Total Seal is just incredible. We’re going to have a lot of people here tomorrow, about 175 of our closest friends, and they’re all going to want to know how we did last night, so it’s going to be nice to say that we’re No. 1 going into tomorrow.”

Defending world champ and Gainesville winner Greg Anderson is second with a 6.512 at 208.91 at 208.91 and Cory Reed is third after a run of 6.516 at 208.91.

Qualifying continues at 11:30am PT on Saturday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park.