NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

TOP FUEL ROUND 1

Doug Kalitta entered round one with a 68-point lead over teammate Shawn Langdon in the race for the regular-season championship, meaning Langdon would have to go three rounds further than Kalitta, and "Air Doug" made that a little tougher as tuner Alan Johnson poured on the coals with a 3.68 pass at 341.68 mph. The air temperature is a great 69 degrees, and the track temp is a near-perfect 89 degrees.

One pairing earlier, Langdon, whose SealMaster team struggled a bit experimenting in the hot weather on Saturday and even early Sunday, showed that crew chief Brian Husen has righted the ship with a 3.709-second win over Clay Million, his third in three matchups this year, with the meet's first 340-mph pass at 340.22.

If Kalitta wins the next round, he'll be the regular-season champ; if he loses, Langdon has to win the event to take the lead.

Tony Stewart had earlier reset low e.t. of the meet with a 3.717 to beat TJ Zizzo, whose team has been battling ignition woes since their last NHRA appearance in Chicago. Tuner Rahn Tobler looks like he might have gotten it turned around a bit, as Zizzo was a solid 3.76 in defeat. Stewart's wife, Leah Pruett, ran her season record to 4-0 with a great 3.71 to defeat Josh Hart.

Defending event champ Justin Ashley ran his Indy win streak to five rounds with an easy win over Shawn Reed, who had to pedal almost immediately. Reed was stellar on the starting line with a .035 reaction time, his best of the season, but Ashley still left first with an .031. Ashley has left on 23 of his 24 opponents this year, an incredible feat.

Tripp Tatum pulled off a bottom-half upset with a 3,73, his best run of the weekend by seven-hundredths, to defeat Jasmine Salinas, whose mount broke loose at the top end and slowed to a 4.08, and Maddi Gordon did the same, winning from the No. 13 spot over Billy Torrence with a 3.763. Antron Brown also won without lane choice with a 3.73 to defeat Ida Zetterstrom.

The top six points earners all advanced to round two.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Shawn Langdon vs. Justin Ashley; Leah Pruett vs. Maddi Gordon; Tony Stewart vs. Antron Brown; Doug Kalitta vs.Tripp Tatum

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FUNNY CAR ROUND 1

Yesterday's Funny Car Callout winner Jack Beckman pounded out a 3.885 in the John Force 1996 tribute machine to end Jeff Arend's day in Jim Dunn's car. After taking over as a driver earlier this year, Arend has been helping Dunn with the tune-up, and it shows here with a respectable 4.01 in defeat.

Low qualifier Ron Capps was not far behind Beckman with a 3.90 to take out John Smith. Capps is the points leader by three points over Matt Hagan, with Jordan Vandergriff 12 points out of the lead and J.R. Todd 30 points back in the race for the regular-season championship. Beckman is also still alive, but he's 73 points back.

Hagan kept the race alive with an easy 3.91 victory over Hunter Green and, in a huge matchup that helped clarify the scenarios, Vandergriff defeated Todd in a race where both ran 3.908, with Vandergriff's .044 to .058 reaction-time edge making the difference.

Paul Lee took his Tom McEwen tribute car to the second round with his first three of the meet, a 3.925, to end car owner Jim Head's hopes of a third Indy win (he has two as a driver) as Spencer Hyde's mount began dropping cylinders and nosed over before he stepped off. Same story for Del Worsham, who won the 2005 Indy Funny Car crown behind the wheel, but his driver, Julie Nataas, is out in round one against two-time defending event champ Austin Prock's 3.91.

Prock is trying to become the first Funny Car driver to win the U.S. Nationals three straight years.

After an all-day thrash, the John Force Racing team was able to wrap a spare body with the Night Stalker colors after Alexis DeJoria destroyed the first body in a Saturday blower explosion, and it paid off with a 3.937 to 3.977 victory over Chad Green, to even their head-to-head record this season to 2-2.

Daniel Wilkerson closed out the round with a 3.942 decision over Cruz Pedregon. How good was round one? Wilkerson's e.t. was the slowest winning time of the round with a run that would have qualified him fourth in the field and 10 of the 16 drivers ran in the threes.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Ron Capps vs. Daniel Wilkerson; Matt Hagan vs. Paul Lee; Jordan Vandergriff vs. Austin Prock; Jack Beckman vs. Alexis DeJoria