And we're back ...

Welcome to an unusual Monday completion of the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals. Action ended abruptly last night with Doug Kalitta's catastrophic rear-end failure in the left lane in the semifinals of Top Fuel. While all eyes were on his teammate and opponent Shawn Langdon, who was crossing the centerline and blowing a rear tire in the other lane, Kalitta's ride ended a few hundred feet out and spewed gear lubricant all over the track.

Despite the hard work of the NHRA Simpson Safety Safari, it was quite a mess and, with a lot of racing still to come, the hour getting late, and the air and track temperature rapidly cooling, the decision was made to return for today's completion. 

The pits are surprisingly still full, mostly because a ton of the Sportsman racers are leaving their rigs here to return next weekend for the Division 7/West Region NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series finale, an event that always is filled with drama and championship clinches.

The schedule is as follows:

• Stock final
• Super Gas final
• Summit Series finals (five classes)
• Comp final
• Mountain Motor Pro Stock final
• Pro Mod final
• Top Alcohol Dragster final
• Funny Car semifinals (11 a.m. PT)
• Pro Stock semifinals
• Pro Stock Motorcycle semifinals
• Legends Nitro Funny Car final
• Top Fuel final
• Funny Car final
• Pro Stock final
• Pro Stock Motorcycle final

Three classes — Top Alcohol Funny Car, Super Stock, and Super Comp — will not be completed here today due to scheduling conflicts for some of the finalists. Top Alcohol Funny Car, with Sean Bellemeur taking on Maddi Gordon, will take place during Q3 at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals. Super Stock (Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. vs. Brett Speer) and Super Comp (Toby Payne vs. Michael Handras) will finish here next weekend at the Lucas Oil Series event.

Television coverage of the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals will air today on FS2 beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern.

And here we go ...

Lucas Oil Series finals

Top Alcohol Dragster: Shawn Cowie, who took over the national points lead this weekend, defeated Julie Nataas, who shook early, to win the Wally. Incredibly, Cowie is 7-0 lifetime against the outgoing world champ. It's Cowie's 25th career win.

Comp: Taylor Chomiski collected the win, the first of his career, on Scott Linder's foul start.

Stock: Joe Sorensen defeated Chad Langdon in a heads-up F/SA final, 11.16 to 11.26.

Super Gas: Josh Dalrymple won a double-breakout final over Rodger Sauder, 10.019 to 10.008 on the 10.05 index.

Summit Racing Series finals

Super Pro: Zach Meziere def. Jeff Krushinskie

Pro: Alvie Merrill def. Tim O'Moore

Sportsman: C.W. Hoefer def. Josh Carroll

Motorcycle: James Paulson def. Jason Drnach

Street Legal EV: Omar Leon def. Michael Webster

Full details of the NHRA Summit Racing Series National Championships can be found here.

Pro Mod final

A day after being crowned the Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series champion, Jordan Lazic added the event crown to his weekend, collecting the Wally on a red-light start by outgoing world champ Mike Janis.

Mountain Motor Pro Stock final

Like Lazic in Pro Mod, Johnny Pluchino, who won the Johnson's Horsepowered Garage championship yesterday, adds an event title as well, besting Randi Lyn Butner for the Wally, 6.30 to 6.43.

Funny Car semifinals

Coming up at 11 a.m., it will be points leader Austin Prock vs. Blake Alexander and second-place Jack Beckman vs. Paul Lee.

Coming into this round, John Force Racing has already clinched its 21st Funny Car world championship. Team owner John Force has won 16 championships, Robert Hight has won three crowns, and Tony Pedregon has one title for JFR, and either Prock or Beckman will be No. 21 — all that is to be resolved is whether it will be Prock or Beckman as third-place Ron Capps is too far behind to catch Prock in Pomona regardless of today's outcome.

Because Beckman's Peak team ran quicker than everybody in their round-two win, they get to choose if they run first or second, and they choose second, so first up it's Prock versus Alexander, and this one is over quickly as Alexander's Jim Head Ford loses traction early and Prock streaks to a stout 3.859.

John Force is here again watching with daughter Brittany in the water box, and he has to be disappointed to see his car with Beckman at the wheel lose on a 3.834 to 3.827 holeshot to Lee by just .002-second. That's another career-best pass for Lee and crew chief Jonnie Lindberg and lane choice for the final.

That pretty much clinches the world championship for Prock, who is currently 168 points ahead of Beckman and could be 188 if he beats Lee in the final. There are 191 points available in Pomona under the points-and-a-half scoring scheme — 15 of which are given when a driver stages for their first qualifying pass — so, yeah, do the math.

An eighth 2024 victory for Prock also would tie him with Robert Hight — for whom he is subbing this season — and Ron Capps for the most Funny Car wins in a single season, the most since John Force won 11 times in 2000.

Pro Stock semifinals

If Aaron Stanfield goes on to win the Pro Stock championship, everyone will remember this round as his Camaro squared the tires at the hit milliseconds after David Cuadra fouled against him. Stanfield rolls to the win and the points lead with a 32-second pass. Stanfield is now 12 points ahead of Dallas Glenn.

"That's what you call dodging the bullet," said a relieved Stanfield.

Greg Anderson, the lone KB/Titan Racing car among three Elite Performance cars in the semifinals, is now hoping to minimize the damage to Glenn by beating Cristian Cuadra in the semi's and then hopefully winning the final against Stanfield. He's halfway to getting that job done with a 6.59 to 6.64 victory.

Anderson, the No. 1 qualifier, is hoping to break the class jinx that has existed against the polesitter since the spring event in Charlotte, where Anderson was the winner.

Pro Stock Motorcycle semifinals

Angie Smith cements her spot in the final round, taking down Chase Van Sant on a 6.89 to 6.92 count, and, like Anderson, is looking for a final-round win to cut down points leader Gaige Herrera on behalf of her husband, Matt.

Herrera will be her opponent in the final after a 6.81 to 6.92 romp over Hector Arana Jr. Herrera's points lead over Matt Smith is 103 and could be 123 if he wins the final.

Legends Nitro Funny Car final

It's a pretty big upset here as Tim Boychuk and the Happy Hour team collect the win after Shane Westerfield lost traction just a few feet downtrack in the O'Brien & Austin Bardhal entry. 

Pro Stock Motorcycle final

It's a rematch of the final round from the U.S. Nationals, where Gaige Herrera defeated Angie Smith. She's here trying to slow the defending champ's bid for a second straight world championship at the expense of her husband, Matt, who surprisingly went out in round two,

This one is a walk in the park for Herrera, who runs low e.t. of the meet with a 6.79 to run away from her 6.92. With his third win of the Countdown to the Championship and 10th of the season, Herrera and the Vance & Hines/RevZilla have a 123-point lead over Matt Smith heading to the season finale.

"It never gets old," said Herrera. "That's just Vance & Hines horsepower right there. the bike has been on rails all weekend, and it takes a little weight off my shoulders for the championship. It's on to Pomona."

Pro Stock final

Aaron Stanfield is 5-0 against Greg Anderson in two-car head-to-head races this season, most recently beating him in the semi's in Indy and Charlotte, and a win here would boost his slim points lead over Dallas Glenn.

Stanfield gets it down on a holeshot, 6.606 to 6.591, to win by just .005-second. Both drivers made their best runs of the event in the final, and Anderson's losing pass was low e.t. of the meet. It's Stanfield's sixth win of the season and his second of the Countdown playoffs

Stanfield's lead is 32 points heading to Pomona.

"The team went back after the semifinals and made all the right calls," said Stanfield. "This was a big day for us."

Top Fuel final

This is the 33rd career meeting between Brittany Force and Doug Kalitta but, incredibly, the first time they've ever raced in a final round. Kalitta's work so far this weekend has boosted him into a tie for fourth place with Steve Torrence behind Justin Ashley, Antron Brown, and Shawn Langdon. Force is just hoping to break a two-year win drought.

And it's Force, for the first time since this race in 2022 as Kalitta is up in smoke right away. The win, the 17th of her career, moves up to seventh place in the standings and a double-up win for John Force Racing.

"We've been chasing this win for two years," said Force. "It's been a long road, but we've never given up. Everyone has just been so patient for us in this time. This one is for everyone. I think God's plan was for us to double up at the first race that my dad has been at. This win is for him."

Funny Car final

Paul Lee gives it a ride against Austin Prock, but he has a cylinder out and the car erupts in a small ball of flames underneath the car as Prock races to his eighth win of the season and his third of the Countdown with a 3.83. Prock's lead over Jack Beckman is 188 points, just four points shy of a clinch,

"I'm feeling amazing," said Prock. "Brittany and I have been talking about doubling up, and for it to happen with John's first weekend back, it's just amazing."

:: SUNDAY'S NOTES ::

Top Fuel round one

Points leader Justin Ashley did not have an easy draw in round one, facing fellow holeshot artist Spencer Massey. As he has done in 39 of his 45 previous rounds this season, Ashley left on his opponent with a .044 light (he’s been sub-.050 on the Tree on all but two launches this season) and trucked to a 3.71 win.

Second-place Antron Brown kept pace with a 3.72 victory over Tony Stewart, who backfired the blower in the lights. Ashley’s lead remains at 44 points. Third-place Shawn Langdon also advances with an impressive 3.68 to beat rookie Jasmine Salinas and earn important lane choice for his round-two race with Ashley.

Because it now doesn't look like she'll win the Rookie of the year honors, Salinas has endorsed fellow rookie and Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Richard Gadson.

“Richard has outperformed everyone else in contention in every on-track measurement that matters,” she said. “He is an outstanding rider and I admire him for all that he’s accomplished in his first professional season. This isn’t easy, for anyone. If I were a part of the voting media, that’s who I would choose.”

Four-time world champ Steve Torrence, sitting fourth in points, also kept the heat on Ashley , beating Tony Schumacher in just their second meeting of the season; the first was in St. Louis, where Schumacher beat him in the final.

Low qualifier Brittany Force, whose last victory came at this event two long years ago during a five-win 2022 world championship, advanced past Josh Hart, beating him for the third straight time this season. It’s Hart’s fourth straight first-round loss.

After first-round losses at 13 of 15 races in the heart of the season, Shawn Reed won his first-round race for the third straight event, defeating rookie Travis Shumake in a great 3.72 to 3.79 race and Clay Millican eked past Billy Torrence by just .007-second.

With reigning world champ Doug Kalitta also advancing over Ida Zetterström (who recently returned to the States from Valencia, Spain, where she served as Team Captain for Sweden at the 2024 FIA Motorsports Games), seven of the eight top points earners are in round two, Schumacher being the lone exception. Reed's win and Billy Torrence's loss moves Reed past Billy-Billy and into the coveted Top 10.

Second-round Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Brittany Force vs. Shawn Reed; Steve Torrence vs. Clay Millican; Shawn Langdon vs. Justin Ashley; Antron Brown vs. Doug Kalitta

Funny Car round one

Points leader Austin Prock was .037 on the Tree against longshot Tim Gibbons with what was probably a conservative pass of "just" 3.866. Second-place Jack Beckman, still earning points for John Force, meanwhile almost matched his 3.821 qualifying pace with a 3.831 to wipe out "the Surfer," Jeff Diehl, who fireballed the car at half-track, perhaps from a blown head gasket.

"We're racing smart today," said Prock, "just trying to get it done for the boss."

Prock, whose lead is at 148 points, can conceivably win the season championship today but he needs Beckman to go out before the semifinals. He needs to lead by 192 points leaving Vegas for that to happen.

Paul Lee and crew chief Jonnie Lindberg, who made four passes between 3.845 and 3.879 in qualifying, added another 3.8-second pass with a 3.89 to beat Steven Densham while Blake Alexander, is what is reported to be one of his last rides in Jim Head's entry, ran 3.87 to beat Dave Richards.

Daniel Wilkerson, still in the running for the Rookie of the Year honors, ended whatever slim hope that reigning world champ Matt Hagan had of scoring a fifth championship, blasting to a 3.880 that will give him second-round lane choice over Lee.

Bob Tasca III moved past Jason Rupert with a 3.88 but will cede lane choice to Alexander while Ron Capps ran just 3.91 to get past Toyota teammate Alexis DeJoria but that win and Hagan's loss moved Capps past him into third place.

Second-round Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Austin Prock vs. Cruz Pedregon; Blake Alexander vs. Bob Tasca III; Jack Beckman vs. Ron Capps; Daniel Wilkerson vs. Paul Lee

Pro Stock round one

Pro Stock eliminations started with a red-light start after Cory Reed dumped the clutch six-thousandths of a second too soon in his race against Camrie Caruso. The loss had to be especially galling for Reed after Caruso’s Camaro fell silent at half-track. For Caruso, the win was her second since Indy where she made her return following a broken leg suffered in an accident earlier this year in Phoenix.

Erica Enders also advanced via a foul start by Mason McGaha. McGaha’s car left as soon as he hit the gas, an almost certain indication of a two-step malfunction.  Enders came into eliminations trailing by 116 points but remains mathematically in the running for her seventh Pro Stock title.

Cristian Cuadra shook up the Pro Stock standings with a shocking victory against incoming leader Dallas Glenn. Cuadra did his job with a .005 light and ran a 6.625 to beat Glenn’s 6.635. Glenn entered eliminations nursing a 48-point lead over Aaron Stanfield, but that lead will shrink by at least 20 after Stanfield topped Eric Latino with a 6.638. Stanfield would need to reach the final round in order to take the lead.

Greg Anderson’s chance to win another title remains intact after he posted low elapsed time of the weekend with a 6.610 in his win against Chris McGaha. Anderson admits that he’s a big longshot, but he’s also the type that won’t give up easily.

Second-round Pro Stock pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Camrie Caruso; Matt Hartford vs. Cristian Cuadra; David Cuadra vs. Erica Enders; Aaron Stanfield vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.

Pro Stock Motorcycle round one

The upsets that defined the first round of Pro Stock did not trickle down to the Pro Stock Motorcycle class as contenders Gaige Herrera and Matt Smith both advanced to round two. Smith, who came into the Las Vegas event trailing by 62 points, got a free pass after Clayton Howey fouled. Smith won with a conservative 6.912 on his Denso Buell.

Herrera also got what was essentially a free pass after his opponent, Kahea Woods, crossed the centerline and hit a pair of the timing blocks. Herrera set the pace for the round with a 6.854.

The headwind that cropped up on Sunday figured to slow most bikes but Chase Van Sant’s Trick Tools Suzuki wasn’t one of them. Van Sant powered to a 6.885 in an easy win over Chris Bostick. Van Sant admitted that the team made changes that helped improve their performance and that he likely would have qualified better than No. 7 if thy had made the same run on Saturday.

Steve Johnson put up a solid fight with a 6.935, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Richard Gadson, who is hoping to cement his case for the Rookie of the Year award. Gadson has been particularly effective during the Countdown as he pursues his first win as a member of the Vance & Hines team.

Seven of the top eight riders in the points advanced with the exception being Jianna Evaristo, who lost to 2003 world champion Geno Scali.

Pro Stock Motorcycle round two pairings: (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. John Hall; Richard Gadson vs. Hector Arana Jr.; Chase Van Sant vs. Matt Smith; Angie Smith vs. Geno Scali.

Top Fuel round two

The Top Fuel championship battle got stood on its head in round two with a pair of major upsets at the top of the standings.

First, reigning world champ Doug Kalitta put a dent in Antron Brown's championship hopes and boosted his own with a 3.69 to 3.72 victory over AB, Kalitta's third win in five races against the three-time world champ this season.

"It's a tough blow, but we've got to keep our heads down," said Brown. "We've still got Pomona and have to keep digging. It's not over yet,"

Brown's loss became less critical in the final pair of the session where Shawn Langdon took down points leader Justin Ashley on, of all things, a holeshot. Ashley, who had nine holeshot wins this season, suffered his first holeshot loss, 3.701 to 3.698, despite a pretty good .052 light to Langdon's .047. The margin of victory was just .002-second. The .052 is Ashley's second worst light of the last 20-plus rounds (behind only a .053); he owns a season-long .043 reaction-time average, tops in the class.

"Justin and his team have set the bar in the class, so that run had my heart elevated and I knew I had to step up," said Langdon, who is now just on point behind Brown for second place and 45 behind Ashley. "This gives us a chance for the championship."

Brittany Force continued her quest to get back to the winner's circle with a super-tight .004-second win against Shawn Reed, Force driving around his holeshot for a blower-banging 3.701 to 3.722 win.

Clay Millican reached the semifinals with his right foot, leaving on four-time world champ Steve Torrence and scoring a 3.72 to 3.71 holeshot. It's Millican's third holeshot win of the season and Torrence's sixth being on the other end of that result.

Semifinal Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Brittany Force vs. Clay Millican; Doug Kalitta vs. Shawn Langdon

Funny Car round two

In a crucial battle between two drivers trying to stay in the championship hunt behind points leader Austin Prock, Jack Beckman took down Ron Capps, 3.85 to 3.87, to assure that Prock cannot clinch this weekend.

Prock had already won ahead of them with a seemingly-effortless 3.859 to defeat Cruz Pedregon, who gave everyone a heart-stopping moment, crossing the centerline behind Prock before reigning the Snap-on entry back under control.

Should Prock and Beckman meet in the final and Prock win, he would have a 168-point lead; he would have had to lead by 192 to clinch (191 points available at the season finale in Pomona). If Beckman wins the final (assuming they both get there), Prock's lead would be 128.

"The  Procks are amazing people; they're JFR cars and their season has been one for the ages," said Beckman. "We're having a pretty darn good one too considering John and I both got to drive the same car this year. And getting strapped in that Peak car, watching Forcebgive me a thumbs up there. I just want to race Austin in the final."

Blake Alexander reached the semifinals for the second time in the last three races, winning an all-Ford battle with Bob Tasca III at their sponsor's event with a 3.88 to Tasca's mildly-on-fire 4.12.

Paul Lee's great weekend continued with a semifinal berth after beating Daniel Wilkerson on a 3.897 to 3.896 holeshot,

Semifinal Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Austin Prock vs. Balke Alexander; Jack Beckman vs. Paul Lee.

Pro Stock round two

A round after taking out points leader Dallas Glenn, Cristian Cuadra defeated another KB Titan car when he stopped Matt Hartford’s GETTRX/Total Seal Camaro. Cuadra was .011 on the Tree and drove to a 6.625 to win after Hartford shook the tires.

Cristuan’s twin brother, David is also in the semifinals after taking out reigning champ Erica Enders. Cuadra, who qualified a career-best No.  2, left first by two-hundredths and posted a 6.635 to 6.644 victory. The loss leaves Enders 96 points behind current leader Glenn, making for an uphill climb to a seventh title.

Aaron Stanfield has now moved to within eight points of Glenn after a dominating win against Jeg Coughlin. Stanfield made one of the most impressive runs of the round with a 6.614.

Greg Anderson kept pace with the leaders, and did so in style with a 6.605 in his win against Camria Caruso. Anderson set low E.T. of the round, and was also solid on the Tree with a .026 light.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Aaron Stanfield vs. David Cuadra; Greg Anderson vs. Cristian Cuadra

Pro Stock Motorcycle round two

Angie Smith is going to the semifinals following a 6.884 in her win against Geno Scali, who shut off early as he drifted close to the centerline in the left lane. Smith will race against Chase Van Sant, who scored a narrow win against Smith’s husband, Matt, handing him a loss that likely ended his title hopes. Van Sant’s 6.888 held off Matt Smith’s 6.865 by just two-thousandths of a second.

Hector Arana Jr. gave up a starting line lead to Richard Gadson, but rallied to win with a 6.899 to reach the semifinals. Gadson did his job on the starting line with a .010 light, but his Suzuki slowed from it’s earlier 6.8-second pace to a 6.945.

Gaige Herrera moved a step closer to his second title with a win over John Hall. Herrera’s lead is now 83 points after he rode to a 6.868.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. Hector Arana Jr.; Angie Smith vs. Chase Van Sant

Top Fuel semifinals

Shawn Langdon was on his way to a huge semifinal win over teammate Doug Kalitta that would pull him to within striking distance of both Justin Ashley Ashley and Antron Brown when his Kalitta Air Top Fueler drifted toward the centerline and centerpunched the timing blocks, setting off a chain reaction that punctured his left rear tire anD sent the former world champion on a wild ride. Not unlike the wild ride that Kalitta took last year when he blew a rear tire in Reading on the way to his first championship, Langdon skillfully brought his 330-mph tricycle to a safe stop, but the win went to Kalitta, who blew the rear end early in the run and could only watch the plight of his teammate,

“The car was making a good run and I could feel it pulling me left,” said Langdon. “I tried to cheat it a bit right and run the ragged edge and bring it back in but it kept pulling me left. I kept putting input into it and it just was not coming back. The next thing I know there's a block and the tire blows, and I’m just trying to save what I can. That’s the first time I’ve ever hit anything in my career., I feel bad for my guys; they’ve worked their asses off. We have a championship team. I hope we didn’t do too much damage.”

Despite the disappointing loss, Langdon will head to the season finale in Pomona in third place, just one point behind Antron Brown and 45 behind Justin Ashley.

On the other side of the ladder, Brittany Force's two-year nightmare might end here as the driver of the Monster Energy dragster has reached the final round at the event where she last won. It's also her first final-round appearance since the Topeka event in the summer of 2023. Force and crew chiefs Dave Grubnic and John Collins got it done with a dazzling 3.666-second ripper to defeat Clay Millican. Force will have final-round lane choice over Kalitta.

We are down for what will be a lengthy cleanup after Kalitta.

EVENT COMPLETION POSTPONED

Due to the lengthy cleanup and cooling weather conditions, NHRA officials have announced that the event will complete on Monday,

Still to run are the semifinals in Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcydle, and the final rounds in all other classes.