NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

TOP FUEL ROUND 1

The marquee matchup of Top Fuel pitted the points leader, Antron Brown, against No 2 Justin Ashley, who was making his first run since Q1 Friday after sitting out three sessions to observe Yom Kippur, and the brief layoff doesn’t affect the team as they beat AB in a race where both ran 3.77. If Ashley can win in round two, he’ll take the points lead.

“That was huge,” said Ashley, who was 0-2 against Brown this season. “Every round right now is huge, especially when you’re racing a three-time world champ and the points leader. We still have a long way to go. We have this race and two more after that.”

Ashley won’t have an easy go in round two as he’ll face third-place Shawn Langdon, whose 3.72 will earn him lane choice. Langdon’s victory over Jasmine Salinas raised some eyebrows as the Christmas Tree had a long delay before turning green and their reaction times showed it with respective lights of .126 and .190. The round was embued with even more weirdness one pair later after power to the facility was briefly knocked out due to a reported minor collision between a bus and a power pole out on the highway. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

Coming off a strong semifinal in St. Louis, Shawn Reed and crew chief Rob Wendland continued to make hay, defeating Tony Stewart with a strong 3.75, ending “Smoke’s” frustrating weekend. Reed will cede second-round lane choice to Indy winner Clay Millican, who got past tire-smoking Doug Kalitta but banged the blower in the lights,

Tony Schumacher’s win two weeks ago at the Midwest Nationals was his first playoff event win since 2014, when he won his most recent of eight world championships, and he’s off to another good start today with a first-round conquest of teammate Ida Zetterström. Schumacher's win and Kalitta's loss moved "the Srage" up to fifth place, meaning that Kalitta has dropped two spots in the standings this weekend.

Low qualifier Brittany Force advanced on Spencer Hyde’s foul and will have lane choice against Schumacher. Steve Torrence moved ahead on Krista Baldwin's up-in-smoke effort and will face is dad, Billy, in round two after Billy-Billy took out tire-smoking Josh Hart.

Second-round Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Brittany Force vs. Tony Schumacher; Shawn Langdon vs. Justin Ashley; Clay Millican vs. Shawn Reed; Steve Torrence vs. Billy Torrence

FUNNY CAR ROUND 1

The Funny Car championship battle took a wild turn before the first engines were ever fired when it was announced that Jack Beckman, earning points as a replacement driver for John Force and locked into a titanic tilt with teammate Austin Prock, had to bow out of round one due to vertigo-like conditions. The good news for Beckman is that regardless of what anyone else does today, he'll still leave the event in second place. Chad Green got a bye run.

Before Green made that solo run it briefly looked like Beckman’s absence might be minimized when Prock went up in smoke at 300 feet against Terry Haddock, but then Haddock’s engine went sour and Prock deftly pedaled his way to the win. His 4.38 will surrender second-round lane choice to Paul Lee's early shutoff 4.10 after Dale Creasy smoked the tires early.

Bob Tasca III’s championship hopes took another hit when they lost to the suddenly fierce Head Inc. Ford and driver Blake Alexander, who cruised to a fine 3.87, which was low e.t. of the round.

“Our championship hopes ended in St. Louis,” Tasca conceded. “Hats off to that team and Jimmy Prock. What a great tuning job this season; they’re the top dogs and we’ll start working on next year.”

With No. 2 Beckman and No. 3 Tasca out, Ron Capps had the chance to climb the standings but like everything so far today, there was drama there, too. Dave Richards initially couldn’t back up from his burnout and required a ton of manpower — including Tim Wilkerson — to get him back to the line, but Richards was up in smoke immediately. A second-round win would move Capps past Tasca in the standings.

Matt Hagan also kept his name in the championship discussion with an unexpected holeshot win over Bobby Bode, 3.97 to 3.96. It's Hagan's 350th eliminations-day start. he's only DNQ'd four times in a 354-race career.

Daniel Wilkerson also got a first-round bye after Alexis DeJoria’s Toyota had to be shut off after the burnout, Cruz Pedregon took a win over tire-smoking J.R. Todd. Todd, who won Top Fuel here in 2008, was hoping to become just the fifth driver in history to win this event in both nitro classes, joining Don Prudhomme, Ed McCulloch, Kenny Bernstein, and Mike Dunn. but that will have to wait until next year.

Second-round Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Paul Lee vs. Austin Prock; Blake Alexander vs. Ron Capps; Matt Hagan vs. Cruz Pedregon; Daniel Wilkerson vs. Chad Green
 

PRO STOCK ROUND 1

Matt Hartford dug deep into years of diverse drag racing experience to save his The Hose Connection Chevrolet as both he and Camrie Caruso get loose as soon as they leave the starting line. Hartford’s car pulled dramatically to the centerline just past the tree, but he reeled it back in when he saw Caruso wasn’t with him. Hartford gets the win, and crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia says that although they were way too aggressive, they felt pretty confident going into this round. At the top end, Hartford’s adrenaline is on full display.

“That was a high pressure run right there, but my crew does a fantastic job,” said Hartford, who won this race in 2020 and has gathered a round win at each race of the Countdown to the Championship so far. “It started to go a little right, and you start to think, ‘I’ve been upside down; I don’t want to do it again,’ but got it kinda back pointed in a decent direction, didn’t see her, found a couple gears, and the win light came on. We’ll take it, let’s go to the next round.”

In the closest race of the round, Cory Reed made one of the fastest runs of the weekend but can’t get there and Jeg Coughlin Jr. wins by .008.

No. 1 qualifier Greg Anderson takes a free ride as Eric Latino – who crashed on Friday night – cannot make the call. Six-time Dallas winner Anderson, who came into this event No. 4 in the Pro Stock standings, takes the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to a low of the round 6.543, 210.59.

Incoming points leader Dallas Glenn was low e.t. of both sessions on Saturday in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet, and he doesn’t have the fastest car this round but he does get the win over Troy Coughlin Jr. to keep ahead of his chasers. Aaron Stanfield makes the second-quickest run of the round in his JHG machine to defeat of Mason McGaha, that means that once again, Stanfield and Glenn will be matched on Sunday. This time, though, it’s not a final round.

“Every round win is going to be big this time of the year,” said Glenn. “T.J. is a real tough competitor, we have another tough one coming up. We didn’t make that great of a run there, so we’re going to have to hop it up some because Aaron is tough, and he’s fast.”

Reigning champion and defending event titlist Erica Enders takes her JHG Chevy to the second round with a 6.579 to defeat Elite Motorsports teammate Cristian Cuadra. She’ll be matched with rival Hartford in the quarterfinals.

“I learned a valuable lesson a few years back from Matt Hartford, and I’ve never let anybody take control of the starting line since then,” she said. “Hopefully, it’s just a good old fashioned drag race and people can put their egos in their pockets and we’ll just go out there and have a great time.”

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

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE ROUND 1

In one of the most anticipated runs of the round, Richard Gadson, third in the points, clocks a .016 reaction time next to Chase Van Sant, No. 5 in the standings. Van Sant is .007 at the tree, though, and he’s got the quicker motorcycle here with a 6.803 to a 6.830.

The Matt Smith Racing Denso-backed Buells are efficient in terms of speed and productivity: Angie Smith flies to a 202.54 mph run that defeats a troubled Chris Bostick, while Matt recovers from a .107 reaction time with a6.776, 202.48 to beat Malcom Phillips Jr. Their MSR teammate John Hall goes red, as does Vance & Hines rider Geno Scali, which sends Steve Johnson ahead on a strong 6.774 that is low of the round until Gaige Herrera drops a 6.758 on his solo run.

Like Matt Smith, Hector Arana Jr. also recovers from a tardy start (.090) to advance over Ryan Oehler.

There are points implications here; if Hector Arana Jr. wins the race, he will go around Gadson in points to third. Jianna Evaristo needs to reach the semifinals to go around John Hall into the No. 7 spot, and she can climb higher if there are surprises for others ahead of her.

Second-round Pro Stock Motorcycle pairings (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. Chase Van Sant; Jianna Evaristo vs. Steve Johnson; Matt Smith vs. Marc Ingwersen; Hector Arana Jr. vs. Angie Smith

TOP FUEL ROUND 2

After beating points leader Antron Brown in round one, Justin Ashley took over the lead in a wild race with third-place Shawn Langdon. Langdon actually got a slight (.001-second) edge on the class’ best leaver but both cars went up in smoke. Ashley was further downtrack with more momentum and scooted to a 3.95 win,

Tony Schumacher, whose six Top Fuel wins at Texas Motorplex are double that of any other racer in the class, moved into the semifinals, beating Brittany Force on a holeshot, 3.797 to 3.790. It’s Schumacher’s second holeshot win of the season and moves him past Doug Kalitta and into fifth place in the standings.

Steve Torrence won the intra-family battle over his father Billy with a 3.81 for his sixth semifinal or better showing this season. Torrence will cede semifinal lane choice to Indy winner Clay Millican, who powered to a 3.75 to end Shawn Reed’s second straight strong outing. With Langdon's loss, Torrence could move to third place if he gets to the final round.

Semifinal Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Tony Schumacher vs. Justin Ashley; Clay Millican s. Steve Torrence

FUNNY CAR ROUND 2

Ron Capps moved past Bob Tasca III and into third place in the standings with an easy win over tire-smoking Blake Alexander. 

The points-leading AAA Texas team fixed their first-round tire-smoking issues and Austin Prock defeated Paul Lee in a rematch of their final-round battle in Seattle, which also went Prock’s way.

Prock and Capps both ran 3.945 but Prock will get semifinal lane choice thanks to a superior speed, 327.92 to Capps’ cylinder-dropping 307.34 against Blake Alexander.

Daniel Wilkerson reached his first semifinal since the Epping race with a 3.944 to beat the car he was tuning at this race last year, the Bond Coat entry of Chad Green. The win moved him up two spots in the standings, past Alexander and J.R. Todd into sixth place.

While admitting to grading himself an F+ for a .092 reaction time, Wilkerson lauded his dad, crew chief Tim, for a great run: “He’s just bad-ass.”

Matt Hagan looked like he got away with one against Cruz Pedregon, who was driving away from him until halftrack, when the pink Snap-on car went silent, keeping alive Hagan’s title run. It’s a tough loss for Pedregon who would have passed Alexis DeJoria for a Top 10 spot with a win.

Semifinal Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Austin Prock vs. Ron Capps; Daniel Wilkerson vs. Matt Hagan

PRO STOCK ROUND 2

Major points shake-up here as Matt Hartford defeated Erica Enders on a holeshot, 6.616 to 6.613.

“That’s huge,” said The Hose Connection-sponsored Hartford, who will race in the semifinals for the first time in what has been a very challenging year. “We needed some round wins, and we struggled coming into the Countdown. Our morale stayed up, but when you run into the car that’s won the last two races here, you have to get up on the wheel.”

Dallas Glenn and Aaron Stanfield are the match of the day as the No. 1 and No. 2 drivers in the Pro Stock points come up against one another for the fourth consecutive race. The nod goes to Glenn, who leaves first and then easily moves ahead as Stanfield gets into trouble and has to lift. With the win, Glenn stretches his lead over Stanfield to 53 points.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. drives the Scag Power Equipment Chevrolet to the lone win light of the round for the Elite Motorsports team as David Cuadra falls into tire shake. Coughlin won Pro Stock at this race in 2002.

Anderson, who uses low elapsed time of the round to defeat Fernando Cuadra Jr., moves around Enders to No. 3 in the standings, and there he will remain regardless of the outcome of the event.

Semifinal Pro Stock pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Dallas Glenn; Matt Hartford vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE ROUND 2

A red-light start for Chase Van Sant makes this a surprisingly easy win for Herrera, who shares a deep mutual respect with his opponent. Van Sant is safe in the No. 5 position through the remainder of the event as both Angie Smith and John Hall have also exited ahead of him.

Matt Smith claims low elapsed time of the round, 6.788, to secure his spot in the semifinals on the opposite side of the ladder from Herrera.

Hector Arana Jr.’s victory over Angie Smith keeps the door open for a move up to third, but he has to win the race.

Jianna Evaristo also advances on a red-lighting Steve Johnson. She moves around Hall to No. 7 in the standings, and if she reaches the final, she will bump Angie Smith down a notch.

Semifinal Pro Stock Motorcycle pairings (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. Jianna Evaristo; Matt Smith vs. Hector Arana Jr.