Nevada
Sunday News and Notes from the NHRA Nevada Nationals
UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Racing into a strong headwind in sub-60-degree temperatures, it’s anyone’s guess what kind of runs we’ll see today. The atmospheric conditions are phenomenal, but the headwind may negate some of that as may the 76-degree track temperature, It’s going to be a tightrope act for everyone.
Tony Schumacher betters his 3.72 qualifying best with a 3.69 to beat Shawn Langdon, who backfires the blower at the top end on a losing 3.74 pass. It’s just the 10th round win all season for the class’ all-time winner who has come on in the playoffs with two semifinals in the last four events after a lackluster regular season.
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Brittany Force keeps her slim championship hopes alive by beating Antron Brown with her best run. of the meet, 3.704. Regular-season champ Justin Ashley does likewise, driving around Dan Mercier’s early lead to keep himself in title contention on a 3.73 to 3.75. decision.
That was a tough match up,” admitted Force. We qualified in the bottom half of the field [10th] and we had to turn our act around. That wasn’t [the e.t.] we were looking for but it was enough to get the win.”
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Points leader Leah Pruett comes into raceday with a slim one-point lead over Doug Kalitta but is upset by Josh Hart by an equally narrow margin, just .002-second after his holeshot-aided 3.74 beats her 3.69. She’ll be an anxious spectator the rest of the day hoping the damage to her title hopes gets minimized by other upsets.
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Third-place Steve Torrence at least temporarily takes the points lead from Pruett and Kalitta by beating Clay Millican, but the excitement doesn’t end there as Millican’s Rick Ware Racing/{Parts Plus dragster blows a left-rear tire. The veteran wheelman does a superb job of correcting a hard centerline-heading move and keeping it in his lane.
The car that Millican is racing this weekend is the team’s 2022 chassis that has been front- and back-halved and put into action after their primary car was damaged by a wheelstand two weeks ago in Dallas. The team worked hard to turn a bare chassis into a racecar in a week’s time only to have this happen.
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Low qualifier Mike Salinas races to round’s fourth 3.69-second pass and his 3.695 to defeat Rob Passey is .002-second than Tony Schumacher to earn him second-round lane choice over the eight-time Las Vegas winner. With the win and Antron Brown’s loss, Salians moves into fifth place.
Austin Prock then ends the dream weekend of Top Sportsman racer Kelly Harper, running 3.71 despite banging the blower in the lights. Harper was impressive this weekend in his class debut with four solid three-second passes in Todd Paton’s car but even his best-of-race 3.80 is not enough to get around Prock.
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Doug Kaltta takes the points lead from Torrence and runs low e.t. of the first round with a 3.68 to defeat T.J. Zizzo. He’ll have second-round lane choice over Josh Hart. Kalitta’s lead over Torrence is a slim five points and, should they both get that far they can’t meet until the final round.
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Top Fuel second-round pairings (lane choice first): Mike Ashley vs. Tony Schumacher; Josh Hart; Steve Torrence vs. Brittany Force; Austin Prock vs. Justin Ashley
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Paul Lee, who made three-second passes on all four qualifying passes, runs a strong 3.89, just a hundredth of the career-best pass he made here in 2019, to defeat Chad Green, who runs an impressive 3.99 despite dropping cylinders. It’s just Lee’s fourth round-win of the year but he’s collected two in his last three starts.
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Blake Alexander, who made it down the track just once in four qualifying attempts in Jim Head’s car, races to a 3.94 to defeat Jsix-time Las Vegas Jwinner ohn Force, who rattles the tire and pedals before giving up the chase. That’s two straight losses by Countdown contenders against non-playoff cars.
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Bob Tasca III, still smarting and riled up after the disqualification of his low e.t. pass from Q4, gets away with a wild win, losing traction about 400 feet into the run and turning on the win light with a 4.34 against Steven Densham.
“It takes everything you have to step off the throttle in these circumstances, but you have to get it hooked,” said Tasca. “We got lucky.”
Densham was happy to just be racing after nearly losing the Q4 pass that got him qualified. The team discovered on the starting line that the cap to the air bottle that controls the car’s functions was missing. They were just pulling out of line when Matt Hagan’s team raced over with a cap and they were able to run and make the field.
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Robert Hight storms to a 3.816 that shocks even his crew chief, Jimmy Prock, to defeat red-lighting Jeff Diehl. It’s the ninth-quickest run in Funny Car history and the quickest since 2019.
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World champ Ron Capps‘ hopes of a repeat take a major hit as his NAPA Auto Parts Toyota goes silent before the lights and coasts to a 4.09 and Alex Laughlin takes the win with a 4.089. Laughlin admits that he feels bad for hurting Capps’ hopes and even apologizes to him.
“We’ve been in test mode trying to get better and at half-track, it really felt like we were improving,” said Capps, who will be at least 119 points out of the lead heading to Pomona. “I think we put a hole [cylinder] out and shot me out of the groove and it started spinning. I still have all the faith in the world in my team.”
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Points leader Matt Hagan keeps his margin intact with a workmanlike 3.88 to defeat Terry Haddock. His lead over Tasca remains at 35 points. The top three of Hagan-Tasca-Hight are putting some distance between them and the pack as No. 4 Capps, No. 5 Force, and (spoiler alert) No. 6 J.R. Todd all went out.
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Cruz Pedregon and J.R. Todd both rattle the tiree and pedal and Pedregon gets the win, 4.74 to 483, which is good news for Tasca, who will surprisingly get lane choice with his 4.34.
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In a battle between Nos. 8 and 9 in points. Alexis DeJoria gets the win with a 3;92 for her first round-win in four events while Tim Wilkerson destroys the body on his Scag Ford with a massive blower explosion.
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Funny Car second-round pairings (lane choice first): Robert Hight vs. Alexis DeJoria; Blake Alexander vs. Alex Laughlin; Bob Tasca III vs. Cruz Pedregon; Matt Hagan vs. Paul Lee
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After a painful second-round exit to Aaron Stanfield in Dallas, Greg Anderson gets a little revenge with a .005 reaction time and a 6.571 at 207.27. The five-time champ’s title hopes for this season are kept alive as Stanfield goes 6.612, 207.69 in a strong but losing effort.
“Every round is like a final round in this class anymore, and that certainly was one of them,” said Anderson. “Stanfield got the best of me last week, but I was fortunate to get the win light here. I tell you what, I used up every inch of that racetrack I could. It’s a tricky track out there.”
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Elite Motorsports teammates Troy Coughlin Jr. and Bo Butner come to the starting line with Butner fighting to get into the top 10. He’s No. 11 before they make their pass, and there will be no further forward momentum this weekend for his JHG machine as Coughlin goes low e.t. and top speed of the event, 6.573, 208.26, to defeat a 6.582, 207.75. Butner’s best run of the weekend is null and void.
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He was off the starting line first by .006, but the engine stumbles when championship-hopeful Dallas Glenn puts it on the two-step. Jeg Coughlin Jr. wins his first round of Pro Stock since the semifinals in Houston 2020.
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Matt Hartford races to a 6.584 when KB Titan Racing teammate Camrie Caruso has to shove the clutch in as her Powerbuilt Tools Chevy gets very loose downtrack. Hartford moves around Glenn in the championship standings, from fourth to No. 3.
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Father meets son here as Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Sr. line up side-by-side for Corral Boots and Cuadra Racing. Jr. leaves well ahead of ol’ dad but starts to shake the tires. He’s on and off the go-pedal but when Sr. gets in trouble, too, Jr. rolls ahead for the win light.
Younger brother Cristian Cuadra is a very quick .006 at the tree in his match just a few pairs later, and his race is decided there – he puts a winning 6.601 on the board next to Deric Kramer’s quicker but losing 6.597.
“It’s been an amazing weekend, and we love Vegas,” said an emotional Cristian at the top end. “The first time my dad qualified was here in 2004, and it was the first time I qualified, too. There is something here that gets me really emotional. I love this place, and I get really focused and confident here.”
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No. 1 qualifier Kyle Koretsky resets the track record at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a brilliant 6.552, 208.36 in his defeat of Jerry Tucker, who races to a 6.595, 208.39. It’s Koretsky’s first win light since the race at Maple Grove Raceway when he reached the final round next to winner Matt Hartford.
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Erica Enders will leave Las Vegas with the points lead regardless of the outcome of the event. Her first-round win over Mason McGaha, 6.554 to 6.625, also comes with top speed of the meet, 208.81.
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Pro Stock pairings for round two (lane choice first): Kyle Koretsky vs. Greg Anderson; Matt Hartford vs. Fernando Cuadra Jr.; Erica Enders vs. Troy Coughlin Jr.; Jeg Coughlin vs. Cristian Cuadra
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Chris Bostick stumbles soon after leaving the line and Steve Johnson picks up his first round-win since Sonoma.
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Kelly Clontz grabs a starting line advantage but her motorcycle is pulling to the centerline and she’s losing momentum. Jianna Evaristo gets around her for a 6.889 to 6.956 win and moves from No. 6 to fifth in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings.
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John Hall pulls off a big upset as he gets around reigning world champion Matt Smith, who stumbles early and then has trouble throughout his run. Hall’s respectable .025 reaction time is paired with a winning 6.881, 193.90 to a .044 and 6.949, 194.46.
“We struggled this weekend a lot with things that have never happened before,” said Hall. “I’m just so happy I did this for the team; they worked so hard and late every night and early every morning. I’m just so happy.”
Hall will race the boss, White Alligator Racing’s Jerry Savoie, in round two. Savoie is back on a bike for the first time since Charlotte, and he’s here filling in for Chase Van Sant on the Trick-Tools entry.
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Hector Arana Jr. and Joey Gladstone are nearly identical as they leave the starting line, but at the top end, the win goes to Gladstone, who is riding for the Matt Smith Racing team and effectively doing his job by taking out the No. 4 man in the points – especially after Smith’s day ended early and he could no longer protect himself.
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Karen Stoffer will not make her first-round meeting with Eddie Krawiec due to parts breakage, and Krawiec gets a solo. That also gets him one win light closer to the 50th Pro Stock Motorcycle win that he’s been chasing since winning the U.S. Nationals in 2021.
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No. 1 qualifier Gaige Herrera loses a little bit of ground in his early numbers, but his 6.786 is still low elapsed time of raceday. Because Angie Smith, as planned, did not come to the starting line for her first-round meeting with the points leader, Marc Ingwersen slips around her from eighth to No. 7 in the points.
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Pro Stock Motorcycle pairings for round two (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. Marc Ingwersen; John Hall vs. Jerry Savoie; Steve Johnson vs. Eddie Krawiec; Joey Gladstone vs. Jianna Evaristo
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