Dodge NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil Sunday photo gallery
Dodge Funny Car driver (and eventual race winner) Matt Hagan led the SealMaster Track Walk with NHRA's Joe Castello. Race fans got to take a stroll down the actual racing surface at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
For the 104th time in his career, Greg Anderson was introduced as the No. 1 qualifier in Pro Stock.
Matt Hartford and Jason Line had some pre-race fun in the marquee matchup interview as the two Pro Stock title challengers prepared to square off in round one, where Line scored a crucial win.
Funny Car points lead Robert Hight was in the Hot Seat with Jason Logan for a series of rapid-fire questions.
Billy Torrence was all smiles after his first-round victory in Top Fuel over rookie Justin Ashley.
J.R. Todd, right, who had won the last three events at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, congratulated Jonnie Lindberg for taking him out in round one of Funny Car. Lindberg would go on to reach the final, the fourth of his career in the class.
Afterward, the reigning world champ could only think of what might have been as he pursues his second championship.
Steven Densham didn't beat 16-time world champ John Force in his first eliminations round, but not for lack of trying. The second-generation Funny Car racer left on Force, made his first three-second run, and lost by just .003-second.
Funny Car points leader Robert Hight ran a pair of 3.89-second passes to begin Sunday. The first was good enough to beat Tim Wilkerson, but the second fell short against his closest points rival, Jack Beckman, who beat him on a second-round holeshot.
One of these days, Scotty Pollacheck is going to win a Pro Stock Motorcycle race, but not this weekend. The six-time finalist fell in the semifinals to Steve Johnson.
Jack Beckman and crew chief Dean Antonelli carved 20 points from Robert Hight's lead but lost in the semifinals to Jonnie Lindberg.
Dan Fletcher, who owns 104 career victories -- the third-most in NHRA history -- came one round away from tying Alcohol Funny Car great Frank Manzo for second but fell in the Super Comp final to Vernon Rowland.
Stevie "Fast" Jackson put an exclamation point on his amazing, championship-winning season in the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod class by winning again with his supercharged Bahrain 1 Camaro.
It was heartbreak in the Top Fuel semifinals for Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools team after the engine backfired on the burnout, deploying the parachutes and costing him a chance to close the gap on points leader Steve Torrence.
Matt Smith scored a huge win in Pro Stock Motorcycle to keep him mathematically alive in the battle for the world championship.
Erica Enders made double history by winning in Pro Stock. Her win was not only the 200th for the Camaro brand in the class by the 150th win by a female in NHRA Mello Yello competition.
Matt Hagan made it two straight wins in Funny Car to pull back into the title chase and did it in front of an audience that included executives from both Dodge and Pennzoil.
Brittany Force defeated point leader Steve Torrence in the Top Fuel final to cut his lead to less than one round entering the season finale in Pomona.
Your Dodge NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil event winners, from left, Brittany Force, Erica Enders, Matt Hagan, and Matt Smith,