NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The 13th of 21 events on the 2023 Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is taking place this weekend at Heartland Motorsports Park, and the 34th annual Menards NHRA Nationals is slated to be a race to remember as drivers in three of the four Professional categories take to the dragstrip in the heart of America. 

On the heels of the strenuous trio of events known as the Western Swing, points leader Justin Ashley and the Phillips Connect Top Fuel team are eager to continue the momentum they regained with a Sonoma win after early exits in both Denver and Seattle. The Topeka event is one of just three remaining in the regular season before the points are reset for the Countdown to the Championship, and every mark matters. Ashley, along with Josh Hart, Antron Brown, and Steve Torrence, will be racing for bonus Countdown to the Championship points as they square off in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday, but for Friday, all eyes are on making the best run to set a positive tone for the weekend. 

Brown, a two-time Topeka winner and the defending event champion, made up good ground on the Western Swing, and with a runner-up finish in Sonoma, he scooted up to No. 4 in the Top Fuel standings driving his Matco Tools rail. Torrence, who won Topeka in 2019 and was runner-up last year, is currently No. 2 in the points. He also won this event in 2005 driving his Top Alcohol Dragster, so the CAPCO Contractors campaigner is well-acquainted with what it takes to get it done at Heartland Motorsports Park. Torrence most recently claimed victory in Seattle, and in Sonoma he continued to surge with a semifinals finish. 

Brittany Force, the 2021 winner and the reigning Top Fuel champion, is still seeking her first win of the year for the Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pac dragster, but she's hanging tight at No. 3 in the points, and her crew chief, David Grubnic, won this race twice behind the wheel of a Top Fuel dragster of his own. Two-time Topeka winner Doug Kalitta and his Mac Tools dragster went to back-to-back finals in Denver and Seattle, and after a first-round exit in Sonoma, the 49-time Top Fuel victor is eager to claim his first win of the year. 

In Funny Car, last season's Heartland Motorsports Park winner – Bob Tasca III – had a less-than-fruitful Western Swing and came away with a single round win. He did, however, prove that his Motorcraft Quicklane Ford had exceptional capabilities as he was No. 3 qualifier in Denver, No. 2 in Seattle, and No. 1 – his fourth of the season – in Sonoma. He'll be one to watch, as will John Force, whom he defeated in the Topeka final last season. Force has a remarkable 10 wins at Heartland Motorsports Park, more than any driver in any class, and is hovering ninth in the Funny Car standings at the moment. He was runner-up to Tasca earlier this year at the New England Nationals. 

Reigning champion Ron Capps is particularly fired up to get back in his NAPA Toyota after an exhilarating evening of competition in the lauded SRX event at El Dora on Thursday night. Capps is tied with Cruz Pedregon as the second-most winning Funny Car racer in Topeka. They each have four trophies earned in the Heartland, but Pedregon's all came in the 1990s, and after a tough go in the latter half of the regular season, he's more than ready for a turnaround weekend in his Snap-On Tools Toyota. Capps is No. 2 in the Funny Car standings entering the Topeka event, 19 marks behind points leader Matt Hagan and the Dodge Direct Connecton entry. After winning Denver, Hagan was shockingly ousted in the first round at Seattle, but he rebounded with a semifinals performance in Sonoma to retain the points lead. 

Chad Green and his Bond-Coat Ford will be competing in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, along with Capps, Hagan, and J.R. Todd, who was a back-to-back finalist in Seattle and then Sonoma, where he claimed his first win of the season in his DHL Toyota. Green and Todd are both on an upsurge; after repeated semifinal performances for Green throughout the season, he reached his first final in Sonoma. 

Pro Stock points leader Dallas Glenn will also be competing in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, along with his KB Titan Racing teammate Camrie Caruso and Elite Motorsports runners Troy Coughlin Jr. and Erica Enders. Glenn, driving his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet, won Topeka in 2021, and Coughlin is the defending event champion with a final-round defeat in 2022 of four-time Topeka winner Greg Anderson. 

Five-time champion Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, has the most Topeka wins of any active Pro Stock driver, while Coughlin has reached the final round in Topeka in Top Alcohol Dragster (runner-up in 2019) as well as Pro Stock. Enders won this event in 2015 en route to a second consecutive championship title. Deric Kramer is the only other active driver in the category to have claimed a previous win at Heartland Motorsports Park.

The Pro Stock cars haven't been on the schedule since Denver, and their return to action closes a three-week period of testing and time in the raceshop that could show major moves. The weather is often a factor in this part of the United States, though, and the naturally aspirated Pro Stock engines won't love air weighted so heavily with humidity. Friday dawned stiflingly hot, but with qualifying set to begin in the evening, conditions could shift some. 

Coughlin was on a bit of a roll before the break as he won the #2Fast2Tasty title in Denver as well as the main event with his JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro, and Enders, who unlocked whatever was stuck by qualifying No. 1 and winning Bristol for Johnson's Horsepowered Garage, has made up a ton of ground. She was No. 14 in the standings before Bristol, and three races later, she's moved up to sixth in the standings. 

Glenn's three wins in six final rounds in the first nine races sent a strong message, but Matt Hartford – No. 2 in the points – has had a serious racecar beneath him with his Eddie Guarnaccia-tuned Total Seal Chevy. Deric Kramer, who earned the first win of his Pro Stock career at this event in 2018, has also had a racecar that should not be taken for granted. The Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals winner has gone rounds in the GetBioFuel.com Chevrolet to hover mid-pack and remain a threat, as has Aaron Stanfield and his Janac Bros. Chevrolet. 

2022 EVENT WINNERS

Antron Brown, Top Fuel; Bob Tasca III, Funny Car; Troy Coughlin Jr., Pro Stock

MOST VICTORIES

Scott Kalitta, 6, TF; John Force, 10, FC; Warren Johnson, 5, Pro Stock

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.660 seconds by Tony Schumacher, May '17; 334.90 mph by Clay Millican, May '18 

Funny Car - 3.802 seconds by Matt Hagan, May '17; 338.85 mph by Hagan, May '17

Pro Stock - 6.515 seconds by Erica Enders, May '15; 211.43 mph by Enders, May '15

NATIONAL RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.623 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept. '19, Reading, Pa.; 338.94 mph by Brittany Force, Nov. ‘22, Pomona, Calif. 

Funny Car - 3.793 sec. by Robert Hight, Aug. '17, Brainerd; 339.87 mph by Robert Hight, July ’17, Sonoma, Calif. 

Pro Stock - 6.450 sec. by Erica Enders, March '22, Gainesville, Fla.; 215.55 mph by Erica Enders, May '14, Englishtown, N.J. 

EVENT SCHEDULE (Central Time)

FRIDAY, August 11

Lucas Oil Series Drag Racing Series qualifying (two sessions) at 8:30 a.m.
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying at 7:15 p.m.

SATURDAY, August 12

Lucas Oil Series Drag Racing Series eliminations at 8:00 a.m.
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying at 2:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.

SUNDAY, August 13

Lucas Oil Series Drag Racing Series eliminations at 8:00 a.m.
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series eliminations begin at 11:00 a.m. 

TELEVISION SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, August 12, FS1 will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 7:00 p.m. ET

SUNDAY, August 13, FS1 will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 1:00 p.m. ET

SUNDAY, August 13, FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 3:00 p.m. ET

Watch all day on NHRA.tv