NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

As a result of competition at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, four Pro Stock Motorcycle riders are the first to lock in their positions in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Reigning world champion Richard Gadson, teammate and two-time world champion Gaige Herrera, and six-time world champion Matt Smith and his wife, Angie, all have earned enough points to guarantee a Top 10 finish required to take part in the playoffs that begin after the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals.

Matt Smith, who has been sidelined for medical reasons since the NHRA Potomac Nationals, has had riders earn points for him at the last three races under NHRA's Driver Replacement Policy but expects to return to competition at or before the U.S. Nationals.

Although eight riders will compete in the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle NHRA All-Star Callout at the upcoming Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge, the class does not earn championship points at that event. The two-wheel class also is not competing this year at either the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle or the NHRA Brainerd Nationals in Minnesota, the two events that directly precede the end of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series regular-season finale at the U.S. Nationals.

Drivers qualify for the Countdown in two ways: by finishing in the Top 10 of points at the conclusion of the U.S. Nationals or by attending every race of the regular season and making at least the minimum number of required qualifying attempts at those events.