NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

TOP FUEL Q3

Clay Millican stunned a lot of folks with a 3.691, his best run of the season in the now-Rob Wendland-tuned Super.com/Rick Ware Racing entry, and did it with a 300.06 eighth-mile speed, a career best for him. Perhaps even more impressive alongside him was Doug Kalitta, whose Mac Tools machine went 301.40 mph to the eighth but backfired the blower shortly afterwards and slowed to a 3.76 at just 264 mph. The team later estimated that had they not had a valvetrain issue, the car would have run a 3.63.

"Well, it was obviously a first for me to go 300 in the eighth mile," said Millican, who moved to fourth in the qualifying list. "That's really cool. I mean, Rick Ware on the starting line, no pressure, you know, he don't get to come to all these races, so it's pretty cool. 3.69 at 300 miles per hour in the eighth is pretty dang cool. All I know is, it's a lot of fun doing what I get to do, and it's also awesome that you folks are always tuned in watching. Let's go stomp on that loud pedal."

As good as Millican's run was, it was Tony Stewart who had the session's best pass, a 3.677 that backed up his 3.676 from last night and earned him three session bonus points. Millican got two points, and Stewart's wife, Leah Pruett, in her second-to-last race before taking a hiatus, earned one with a 3.705 that improved on her Friday best of 3.720.

Maddi Gordon (3.716), Billy Torrence (3.722), Tony Schumacher (3.750) and Shawn Reed (3.823) also improved on their Friday bests. 

Points leader Shawn Langdon smoked the tires at the hit, losing the chance to add to his points lead over Kalitta, but neither earned session points and Langdon's lead remains at 144 points.

Class newcomer Chris Powers remains freakishly consistent in his Top Fuel debut in Todd Paton's dragster. Crew chief John Stewart, a Top Fuel star of the 1970s, has tuned the car to consecutive passes of 3.885, 3.883, and 3.882.

Past NHRA Winternationals Top Alcohol Dragster winner Bernie Plourd made his Top Fuel debut in his Right Trailers-backed dragster, with Gerda Joon calling the tuning shots. He shut off just a few feet off the line and will have one chance to get past Cameron's Ferre's 4.218 bump spot.

***

FUNNY CAR Q3

Second-generation Funny Car racer Jason Rupert and crew chief Rahn Tobler helped make some Funny Car history on a 3.998-second pass, becoming the 16th driver at this event to make a qualifying run under four seconds and finally giving us the sport's first all-three-second field.

It's been more than 15 years since Matt Hagan made the class' first three-second run, Sept. 16, 2011, in Charlotte, and more than seven years since Justin Schriefer was the quickest 16th qualifier with a 4.005 at the 2019 U.S. Nationals.

The cruel fate for Rupert is that he was quickly bumped from the field by Austin Prock, who made an impressive early-shutoff pass of 3.878 to set the bump at 3.975 by Dave Richards with one session to go.

Jack Beckman had the session's quickest pass, 3.846 after a Friday pass of 3.836, and his John Force racing teammate Jordan Vandergriff was second-best at 3.868 right alongside him.

Spencer Hyde made his best run of the season, a 3.887, alongside Matt Hagan's 3.871, but what got people's attention was the crewmembers on Hyde's Jim Head-owned car who were decked out for Halloween in the distinctive purple and yellow crew uniforms of Head's 1996 Smokin' Joe's/Camel sponsorship.

Julie Nataas made her first career three-second run, a 3.938 in Del Worsham's Hedinger's Equipment Toyota, and Jeff Diehl also got back into the threes for the first time in a while with a 3.968, just a tick off of his 3.95 career best.

Daniel Wilkerson also had a highlight-reel-worthy moment in the Scag Jackal, absolutely grenading the engine in a huge fireball that shed the body alongside J.R. Todd. D. Wilk gamely fought for control but made contact with the guardwall with both the front and rear tires before bringing the remains to a safe stop.

"I'm fine. I'm just embarrassed," said Wilkerson. "I feel bad for everybody that everybody worked so hard on this thing and I screwed it all up in 2.5 seconds. It barely started spinning, and by the time I thought, 'Oh, it's spinning,' it freaking blew up in my face. I didn't want to hit J.R., so I kind of yarded it left, and I think that turned out to be a bit of a downfall. Thank the good Lord above that body fell off because that is the hottest thing I've ever felt. I've never had anything that hot in my entire life."

***

PRO STOCK Q3

After the absolute madness that was the third Funny Car qualifying session, Pro Stock was comparatively tame, although the session was not without its moments.

Provisional low qualifier Matt Hartford was on record predicting that his 6.632-second run from Friday was not safe, and that proved to be the case as Greg Anderson re-set the mark at 6.622 in just the second pair of the round.

Anderson didn’t have much time to celebrate as teammate and fellow title contender Dallas Glenn knocked him from the top spot in the next pair with a 6.620.

Deric Kramer has been quick all weekend with his Get Biofuel Camaro, and he continued to impress with a 6.633 to cement his spot in the top half of the field.

“We spent some time off early in the year, and it paid off. We have our good race motor back,” said Kramer. “It all seems to be clicking right now. We cleaned up a few things up on that run.”

Chris Vang entered the session on the bump but improved to a 6.727 while Cody Anderson also bumped his way into the top half of the field with a 6.652.

By the time he ran at the end of the session, Hartford had been bumped to No. 4, and he remained there after failing to improve with a 6.636. Fellow title contender Greg Stanfield also made a solid run at 6.639.

***

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3

There was improvement in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, most notably by provisional low qualifier and title contender Gaige Herrera, who ran 6.802 on the RevZilla/Vance & Hines Suzuki.

Behind Herrera, several other riders were in the 6.8s, including teammate Richard Gadson with a 6.845 while gold-suited Matt Smith (6.857), Ryan Oehler (6.857), Angie Smith (6.867), and Joey Gladstone (6.885), also made representative runs.

Herrera, Gadson, and Matt Smith collected the valuable qualifying bonus points as they continue their ongoing battle for the 2026 world title.

Perhaps the most interesting run of the round came from Malcolm Phillips, who put Ryan Oehler’s Buell into the field with a 6.949. Phillips did not run yesterday because he was in Rockingham, N.C., testing another Motorcycle on Friday. He flew back to Las Vegas Saturday morning in time to make the first session and is now solidly in the field.

***

TOP FUEL Q4

Leah Pruett had the best run of a feels-like-getting-ready-for-Sunday session with a 3.717, with Doug Kalitta next at 3.721 and Shawn Langdon third-quickest with a 3.727, but Langdon will retain the No. 1 qualifying spot, four positions better than his points-rival teammate Kalitta as he continues to stack single-digit points to his lead.

In round one, Langdon will take on Cameron Ferre, who entered the session on the bump, did not run, but it mattered little as Bernie Plourd couldn't better Ferre's 4.218 in his Top Fuel debut. Chris Powers will make the field in his debut, clocking a 3.83 on his final pass after a trio of 3.88s.

Kalitta will take on Will Smith; the soonest that Langdon and Kalitta could race would be the semifinals. Langdon's lead is 147 points; he needs to be at 192 or better at event's end to clinch his second world championship.

A number of other drivers also made their best passes of qualifying, including Antron Brown (3.738), Justin Ashley (3.759), and Shawn Reed (3.777).

***

FUNNY CAR Q4

Dave Richards made his best run of qualifying, a 3.962, to move him up one spot to No. 15 and knock Jeff Diehl's 3.968 onto the bump spot of the historic first-all-three-second field. Jason Rupert, who helped establish the historic field with his 3.998 pass in Q3 before being bumped, couldn't find the zone again in Q4 and will go from history maker to Funny Car's quickest and only three-second non-qualifier.

Jack Beckman made the quickest run of the session, the third time he's done it this weekend, along with a second-best for 11 of 12 possible bonus points. Matt Hagn was next quickest with a 3,868 and Austin Prock third with a 3.903.

Alongside Hagan and Richards, Cruz Pedregon (3.909) and Paul Lee (3.913) also made their best runs of qualifying. Lee, along with only Beckman, made three-second runs on all four qualifying passes.

Daniel and Tim Wilkerson made a good recovery from their Q3 boomer with a 4.08

After missing the first three sessions, journeyman flopper pilot Cory Lee made his first trip to the starting line but couldn't crack the bump. Terry Haddock, who has run in the threes before, couldn't make the call and also ended up on the DNQ list.

A rainshower halted action for 45 minutes with four pairs still remaining, but Hagan was in one them, making the wait well worth it.

***

PRO STOCK Q4

The final session of Pro Stock qualifying awarded bonus points to three of the leading contenders for the Mission Foods championship. Dallas Glenn bagged three with a 6.630 to extend his lead to 15 points over Greg Stanfield. This is the fourth time this season that Glenn has taken the lead in a Pro Stock field.

“I didn’t do a very good job yesterday,” said Glenn. “It was me yesterday, and I drove much better today. We’re just out here doing what we need to do.”

Greg Anderson was just a thousandth of a second behind at 6.631 while Stanfield made a solid improvement with a 6.636 to earn a single point.

Sunday’s opening round will feature several intriguing match ups and one will be more interesting than Greg Stanfield’s opening match against Troy Coughlin Jr., who is also still mathematically alive for the title.

Glenn will face off against the Dodge of Alan Prusiensky while Greg Anderson has a race scheduled against Chris Vang. Matt Hartford will attempt to stay in the race for the title with a round one race against Kenny Delco.

***

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q4

Gaige Herrera will lead the Pro Stock Motorcycle class into Sunday’s final eliminations. Herrera bettered his earlier 6.804 with a 6.799, the quickest run in qualifying to earn three more qualifying points, bringing his total to nine for the weekend. Herrera will have a match against Chris Bostick in round one.

“This place is good to me in the past,” said Herrera. “To qualify No. 1, all the credit goes to Vance & Hines and my crew chief, Andrew Hines. I have a solid motorcycle so I just need to do my job and have some fun.”

Teammate and defending champ Richard Gadson also made a solid run with a 6.836 to earn two points while in many ways, Ryan Oehler was the star of the show in Q4 as he made the biggest improvement with a 6.844 to put his El Bandito Yankee Buell solidly into the top half of the field and score a bonus point.

Gadson will have a tough draw against John Hall in round one while Oehler will face GT Tonglet. Matt Smith’s round one opponent is Karen Stoffer.

Malcolm Phillips missed Friday’s two runs but made up for lost time with an impressive 6.926 on Ryan Oehler’s Buell. That was good for the No. 9 spot, and a race against Clayton Howey.