NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Any race that marks the midway point in the Countdown to the Championship figures to be stressful for the drivers competing for NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world titles, but the rainy weather that plagued the Dodge NHRA Nationals in Reading made for more than a few sleepless nights for drivers and crew chiefs. Friday's qualifying sessions were completely washed out, and Saturday's schedule allowed for just a single run, which gave teams a minimal amount of data to work from and made for some interesting round-one matchups. None of the four incoming points leaders had worse than a semifinal finish, so they all emerged largely unscathed, and in Top Fuel, Antron Brown actually extended his lead with a victory. In the rest of the classes, big moves by middle-of-the-pack racers helped set the stage for a thrilling three-race battle down the stretch.   

Here’s a class-by-class look at the changes:

TOP FUEL

Driver

Antron Brown

Doug Kalitta

Tony Schumacher

Shawn Langdon

Brittany Force

Steve Torrence

J.R. Todd

Richie Crampton

Leah Pritchett

Clay Millican

Winners: Antron Brown (pictured) might be the biggest winner of the entire event because he quickly bounced back from last week's untimely round-one loss in St. Louis to post another victory. Brown also caught a big break when teammate Tony Schumacher lost in round one and his closest rival, Doug Kalitta, hit the sidelines in round two. In the grand scheme, Brittany Force also came away a winner thanks to her runner-up finish. Force picked up two spots in the standings, and even though she's 118 points behind Brown, there is hope for a late-season rally.

Losers: Barring a miracle, Tony Schumacher will not win a ninth Mello Yello Top Fuel world title this season. Schumacher was in the hunt after St. Louis, but a rare first-round loss has left him 141 points out of the lead with three races remaining. Mathematically, he's still in the running, but even a three-race sweep might not be enough to get the job done. While Doug Kalitta's prospects are clearly much better than Schumacher's, he also did not do himself any favors with a round-two finish in Reading. He's now 77 points behind Antron Brown.

Breaking even: Shawn Langdon remained in the middle of the pack thanks to a semifinal finish, and Steve Torrence still holds down the No. 6 spot.

Key stat: Tony Schumacher has lost in the first round just four times this season, but two of those losses have come during the Countdown.

FUNNY CAR

Driver

Ron Capps

Tommy Johnson Jr.

Jack Beckman

John Force

Del Worsham

Matt Hagan

Robert Hight

Courtney Force

Tim Wilkerson

Alexis DeJoria

Winners: The entire Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car team, with drivers Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr. (pictured), Matt Hagan, and Jack Beckman, was the biggest winner in Reading, occupying all four semifinal spots. Of those four, Johnson was the biggest winner after he won the race and gained a round on Capps, who held steady with a much-needed runner-up finish. Hagan, who celebrated the birth of his third child Saturday night, improved from sixth to fourth thanks to his semifinal showing.

Losers: John and Courtney Force and teammate Robert Hight each lost in round one, which is going to make it incredibly difficult for any of them to win a championship. At this point, John is closest to leader Ron Capps, but he still must make up a 138-point deficit in three races.

Breaking even: No one really broke even in the Funny Car class because the drivers at the front of the pack mostly added to their points totals while the drivers at the rear of the pack gave up more ground. Even leader Ron Capps lost ground in spite of his runner-up finish.

Key stat: In the last three seasons, the John Force Racing Funny Car team is a combined 0-9 at Maple Grove Raceway. The last round-win for a JFR driver in Reading came in 2013, when John defeated Chad Head in the final round.

PRO STOCK

Driver

Jason Line

Greg Anderson

Bo Butner

Vincent Nobile

Shane Gray

Chris McGaha

Allen Johnson

Drew Skillman

Jeg Coughlin Jr.

Erica Enders

Winners: Vincent Nobile (pictured) made it known before the event that nothing less than a victory would help his cause as far as the world championship, and the Mountain View driver delivered, which makes him the event's biggest winner by far. Greg Anderson can also claim a win even though he lost to Nobile in the final because he made up ground on teammate Jason Line.

Losers: Bo Butner's title hopes were all but dashed when he suffered a round-one loss to Erica Enders. The drivers who entered Reading outside the top five -- Chris McGaha, Allen Johnson, Drew Skillman, Jeg Coughlin Jr., and Enders -- also failed to make a move because none of them made it out of round two.

Breaking even: Shane Gray had a fire in his pit area Sunday morning, but his crew quickly repaired the car, and he reached the semifinals. As a result, Gray remains the No. 5 driver in the standings.

Key stat: Jason Line now has a 59-13 round-win record on the season, making him the most successful Pro in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. With three events remaining, Line has already far exceeded his personal best of 50 round-wins set during the 2009 season.  

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Rider

Andrew Hines

Angelle Sampey

Chip Ellis

Jerry Savoie

Eddie Krawiec

LE Tonglet

Hector Arana Jr.

Hector Arana Sr.

Cory Reed

Matt Smith

Winners: Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson teammates Eddie Krawiec (pictured) and Andrew Hines both emerged from Reading as big winners. Krawiec is obviously the biggest winner because he won the race and made a big move in the points standings. Hines also makes our list because he was able to avoid an upset and maintained his hold on the top spot with a semifinal finish.

Losers: The Reading event started off badly for championship contenders Angelle Sampey and Chip Ellis and went downhill from there. Both riders did not get down the track during Saturday's lone session, and that left them ranked in the No. 15 and No. 16 spots, respectively. Ellis lost to low qualifier Andrew Hines, and Eddie Krawiec defeated Sampey to deal a crippling blow to their title aspirations.

Breaking even: LE Tonglet held tight to the No. 6 spot, but the Nitro Fish rider clearly needed more than a semifinal finish to stay in the championship battle. The same goes for fellow Cajun Jerry Savoie, who dropped from fourth to fifth place following his round-two finish.

Key stat: Cory Reed, who remains the leading contender for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, has won 11 rounds this season, and seven of them have come at the last four events.

AWARDS

Best race: Antron Brown vs. Brittany Force, Top Fuel final
Brown, near lane, moved first by three-thousandths of a second and held on to win by the same margin in the thrilling 3.721 to 3.721 Top Fuel final against Force. Should Brown go on to win his third world championship by anything less than a round, he will most certainly look back at this race as a key moment.

Marquee matchup: Eddie Krawiec vs. Angelle Sampey
A battle that would have been better suited to be a final round became a first-round pairing due to the rain-shortened qualifying. Sampey entered the race just two points out of first place in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings, but her title aspirations took a big hit when she lost to Krawiec, who went on to win the race. Afterward, as part of their longtime rivalry, Krawiec wasn't afraid to taunt the three-time champ with a few well-aimed barbs aired on the FOX Sports1 television broadcast.

Driver of the race: Vincent Nobile
Nobile admitted that any chance he has of winning the 2016 Mello Yello Pro Stock world title hinged on a Reading victory, and he delivered one of the best performances of his career, including four lightning-quick reaction times. The Mountain View team also did its part by providing a car that was quick enough to qualify in the No. 1 position for the third time this season.

Upset of the race: Alan Prusiensky def. Allen Johnson
Former Comp driver Prusiensky has a handful of round-wins in his brief Pro Stock career, and they have come against some of the class’ best drivers. In Reading, Prusiensky scored another victory after fellow Dodge driver Johnson broke a driveshaft early in the run.

Best run of the race: Jack Beckman
Beckman didn’t win the race, but he did post a 3.850 in the second round of Funny Car eliminations. Not only was the run low elapsed time of the event, but it also ranked as the fifth quickest in history.

Wild moment of the race: Clint Thompson
Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Clint Thompson got a view of the sky that he wasn’t expecting when his car broke a wheelie-bar assembly in the semifinals. Thompson wasn’t hurt but lost the round to eventual winner Andy Bohl.

Key stat: Greg Anderson
Pro Stock’s Anderson became just the eighth driver in NHRA history to appear in 1,000 eliminations rounds when he took on teammate Jason Line in the semifinals. After the Reading event, Anderson boasts a 708-293 record in elimination rounds in his career.