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ELIMINATION ROUND RECAPS

TOP FUEL ROUND 1 (12:20 p.m.): Bill Litton, who earlier this year upset Tony Schumacher for his first career round win, added a second notch to his scorecard when No. 2 qualifier Brittany Force smoked the tires against him. Litton, who broke on his only qualifying attempt, advanced with a 4.02. Steve Torrence, who struggled on the first day of qualifying, had low e.t. of the round with a 3.812 in beating quasi-teammate Scott Palmer. Clay Millican’s string of eight straight wins ended there when he surprisingly red-lighted against Leah Pritchett.

Second-round matchups (lane choice listed first): Tony Schumacher vs. Richie Crampton; Doug Kalitta vs. Leah Pritchett; Antron Brown vs. Bill Litton; Steve Torrence vs. Terry McMilllen

FUNNY CAR ROUND 1 (1: 10 p.m.): Jim Campbell picked up his first round win of the season in Jim Dunn’s Oberto Beef Jerky entry, squeaking past Shawn Langdon for the win. Cruz Pedregon meanwhile bounced back from his body-shredding Q3 blower explosion to upset No. 2 qualifier Robert Hight as teams battled a hot track and Del Worsham put his Funny Car into round two after winning a pedaling match with Jack Beckman. Jonnie Lindberg had low e.t. of the round with a 4.095 in besting homestate hero Matt Hagan.

Second-round matchups (lane choice listed first): Courtney Force vs. Jim Campbell; J.R. Todd vs. Del Worsham; John Force vs. Cruz Pedregon; Jonnie Lindberg vs. Tim Wilkerson

PRO STOCK E1 (1:30 p.m.): Jeg Coughlin Jr. didn't take a week off after winning his first Pro Stock Wally in four years. He ran low e.t. of the round at the Virginia NHRA Nationals. His 6.612-second pass was .002 second better than Greg Anderson, who defeated Tommy Lee in the first round of action. Both cars departed from the right lane, which seemed to be the preferred spot for those with lane choice in the first stanza. Anderson and Coughlin were the only drivers who posted 6.61s in the first round, while Vincent Nobile hit the only 6.62. After that, a slew of 6.63s filled the run sheet. 

Second round pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Drew Skillman; Vincent Nobile vs. Tanner Gray; Bo Butner vs. Erica Enders; Jeg Coughlin Jr. vs. Chris McGaha

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE E1 (1:41 p.m.): The only upset (based on seeding, of course) in the first round came at the hands of Angie Smith, who delivered a blow to Steve Johnson on her Denso Spark Plugs bike. Her 6.9-second run won’t get her lane choice against pole-sitter Hector Arana Jr. in the second round, but it gets her a chance to unseat him nonetheless. All other top seeds advanced, including Arana, who ran the quickest e.t. of the session (6.867). The only other bike in the same area code was Matt Smith (6.874). Smith will race Jerry Savoie (6.881) in a battle between the most recent race winner and the 2016 champ. 

Second round pairings (lane choice first): Hector Arana Jr. vs. Angie Smith; Eddie Krawiec vs. LE Tonglet; Andrew Hines vs. Scotty Pollacheck; Matt Smith vs. Jerry Savoie

TOP FUEL ROUND 2 (3:15 p.m.): After a rainshower that delayed racing for almost exactly an hour, the track temp was down some 20 degrees to 109 when the fuel dragsters finally retook the track. After five straight first-round losses, Antron Brown has reached the semifinals for just the fourth time this season after ending Bill Litton’s Cinderella bid, and will face his buddy, points leader Steve Torrence, who beat Terry McMillen by just .007-second on a 3.779 to 3.776 holeshot. In the other semifinal race, teammates Doug Kalitta and Richie Crampton will square off for the seventh time in the season’s first 10 events.

Semifinal matchups (lane choice listed first): Richie Crampton vs. Doug Kalitta; Steve Torrence vs. Antron Brown

FUNNY CAR ROUND 2 (3:35 p.m.): Low qualifier Courtney Force bettered her 3.98 qualifying time with a 3.97 to beat nemesis Jim Campbell and will have lane choice over J.R. Todd, whose victory over Del Worsham keeps alive the chance of a Kalitta double that would earn Connie his 100th win. Tim Wilkerson got a solo after Jonnie Lindberg was shut off with a fluid leak and will race John Force, who beat Cruz Pedregon for the 70th time in the 104th meeting of their storied careers.

Semifinal matchups (lane choice listed first): Courtney Force vs. J.R. Todd; Tim Wilkerson vs. John Force

PRO STOCK ROUND 2 (3:48 p.m.): Tanner Gray powered past Vincent Nobile to reach the semifinals of the Virginia NHRA Nationals despite getting off the starting line second in a reversal of roles from their Atlanta meeting. That booked him a meeting with teammate Drew Skillman, who also drives a car powered by Gray Motorsports. The Indiana native defeated No. 1 qualifier Greg Anderson, who will have to wait until at least next weekend to get his first win of the season. That suits Skillman fine as he’s also looking for his first win of the season in the 10th event. 

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Tanner Gray vs. Drew Skillman; Chris McGaha vs. Erica Enders

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE ROUND 2 (3:56 p.m.): Nobody stood much of a chance against No. 1 qualifier Hector Arana Jr., least of all Angie Smith, who went about 20 feet before losing power. Arana powered to the best run of the round with a 6.849 and will meet LE Tonglet with lane choice in hand. That doesn’t put too much fear into Tonglet, who sent defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Eddie Krawiec home by a narrow margin on the back of a 6.871 lap. On the other side of the ladder is a pair of former world champs: Andrew Hines and Matt Smith, the latter of whom is the most recent winner on tour.

Semifinal matchups (lane choice first): Hector Arana Jr. vs. LE Tonglet; Andrew Hines vs. Matt Smith

TOP FUEL SEMIFINALS (4:40 p.m.): Points leader Steve Torrence will be gunning for his fourth win of the year as he faces Doug Kalitta in the final round. Torrence advanced on the surprising -.017 red-light by good friend Antron Brown while Kalitta moved into his 94th career final by besting teammate Richie Crampton. Torrence holds lane choice based on his superior 3.87 to 4.00 performance.

FUNNY CAR SEMIFINALS (4:45 p.m.): John Force will be gunning for career win No. 149 in the final round, the milestone 250th of his career, after defeating Tim Wilkerson but he faces a tough opponent in daughter Courtney, the low qualifier whose performance has dominated the event like it has the season. Courtney, already a three-time winner this season, will be appearing in her career-high sixth final of the season and will have lane choice based on her 4.06 in a victory over J.R. Todd to dad’s 4.07.

PRO STOCK SEMIFINALS (4:54 p.m.): A couple of great race cars bailed out a pair of (usually) terrific leavers as neither Erica Enders nor Tanner Gray were up to their usual standards in terms of reaction time. They will meet up in the final round for the latest showdown between two of the best drivers in the Pro Stock category. Enders had the best e.t. by .005 and will have lane choice as a result, but you can bet everyone will have their eyes at the reaction times when the time slips are printed after the final. Okay, that’s after we see who turns on the win light. This should be a good one. 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE SEMIFINAL (4:58 p.m.): LE Tonglet muscled his way past Hector Arana Jr. with his best run of the weekend. The Nitro Fish rider powered to a 6.846 and secured lane choice over Andrew Hines, who got by a red-lighting Matt Smith. That means there will be a new winner (for this season, anyway) crowned at the 2018 Virginia NHRA Nationals. Hines entered the day as the higher qualified bike, but Tonglet as gradually improved as the day has gone on. That should make for a close race between two former champions. Tonglet runnered up in the last race on tour, the JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals, but came up short against Smith. The Louisiana native has been on the upswing since rejoining White Alligator Racing and is looking to get back into the winner's circle for the first time since St. Louis.

LUCAS OIL DRAG RACING SERIES FINALS: In addition to the Mello Yello and E3 Pro Mod Series racing in Virginia, four classes were also contested in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. Final-round results:

Super Stock
Joe Tysinger vs. Joe Lisa 

Stock
Randy Parker def. Eugene Monahan 

Super Comp
Jeg Coughlin Jr. (pictured) def. Rich Dorr

Super Gas
Charlie Kenopic def. Mike Sawyer

PRO MOD FINAL (5:45 p.m.): Mike Janis, far lane, second in points entering the event, took maximum advantage of point leader Rickie Smith’s early loss, defeating Mike Castellana in a battle of supercharged Camaros, 5.82 to 6.00. The win is the fifth of Janis’ career.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE FINAL (5:50 p.m.): LE Tonglet, near lane, snagged his first win of the season in his second final of 2018. He hammered the tree with a .006 reaction time, but it won’t go down as a holeshot because the Nitro Fish Suzuki rider beat Andrew Hines down the strip by .007 second. Tonglet beat Hines in his last win, too, when the duo faced off in St. Louis in 2017. It’s the sixth time in eight tries Tonglet has defeated Hines in final rounds. 

PRO STOCK FINAL (5:55 p.m.): Tanner Gray, far lane, got the best of Erica Enders on the tree with a .007 light and then made a better pass just to add on as the second-year racer earned his seventh career Wally. Gray evened his head-to-head record against Enders to 4-4 and became just the second Pro Stock racer to win more than one race this season.

FUNNY CAR FINAL (6 p.m.): Courtney Force, near lane, defeated her father, John, 4.02 to 4.07, to score her fourth win of the season and the 12th of her career. It was the sixth time the two have raced in a final round and evened the score. It was also the 50th Funny Car final round between JFR teammates.

TOP FUEL FINAL (6:05 p.m.): Points leader Steve Torrence, near lane, who competed in his first Top Fuel event at this race in 2006, celebrated his 200th event at the same track with a win, defeating Doug Kalitta in the final, 3.81 to 3.84, to earn his fourth win of the season and the 20th of his career.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE WINNER LE TONGLET: "Any time you race a Harley you know they’re going to be fast. We made a fast run in the semi’s and were talking in the trailer and were saying that we needed to pretty much repeat that 6.84. We came pretty damn close to doing that in the final round because we were within a thousandth of that in the final round. The bike is pretty much flying right now. Tim Kulungian decided to try something and said it’s either going to go fast or slow down a lot, and it picked up in the semi’s and that’s a huge confidence booster. 

"Last weekend I rode terrible in the final and I told the crew everything after the final. I said that one was on me and that I would make it up to them in the next final. I made four very straight runs and corrected very early. Last weekend I let the bike drift too far. I’m not sure what happened. This weekend I came in with a statement to prove and I think that we proved it."

PRO STOCK WINNER TANNER GRAY: "When you’re racing Erica Enders you gotta get up on the tree. It makes for a great race no matter the circumstances because we can be struggling like we were today and then go up there and go .007 and .013 like we did today. So, you gotta respect her because she’s a two-time champ and has accomplished a lot more than I have. 

"Like I said in Topeka I went to Richard Freeman that I obviously wasn’t trying to tie two race cars up and then I went and talked to her and we talked and saw where we both could have done things differently. I guess it just took, and I’m not sure who did it, but it just took us both taking the first step towards being nice. I guess you just have to respect everything she’s accomplished."

FUNNY CAR WINNER COURTNEY FORCE: “It’s a great job obviously by my team. It was really exciting for our sponsors and for us to be in an all-JFR final and to see that Peak team perform so well. They had me nervous rolling up there – I’m not going to lie – and really excited that we had a great side-by-side race.

“It’s really just the beginning of the season and we have to maintain our focus. We’re in the points lead and stretched it a little with the win today but our focus is getting to Indy and locking into the Countdown. I’m trying to keep up with my team and perform well as a driver. It feels amazing and great but we have to keep it going if we want to end up on top at the end.”

TOP FUEL WINNER STEVE TORRENCE: “We didn’t qualify as high as we wanted to but Bobby [Lagana] and Richard [Hogan] did a great job all day today. They threw down that .81 in the final.

“It was hotter than doughnut grease this weekend – I bet I sweated down five or six pounds – but it’s one of the best racetracks I’ve even been down. It’s so smooth it’s like glass, and you could see that when it cooled off you can run really well. I think you could have seen some really good numbers if it was cooler. This was my 200th race and also my first and you couldn’t have scripted it any better for me to win here.”
 

FEATURES

In 490 career starts, Tony Schumacher has only missed the field eight times, and on 87 occasions he’s led the Top Fuel field into Sunday’s final eliminations. Entering the event, his career first-round record was 363-119 – better than a 3-1 ratio – but he knows he’ll add another win the first round today after earning a bye for being the No. 1 qualifier in the 15-car field.

So, what does a team do when it has a bye run? Do they shoot for the moon and lane choice for the next round or experiment on their tune-up for later in the day?

“That’s an excellent question,” said Schumacher. “We’ll try to go fast and learn. At a lot of other tracks, where there’s clearly a better lane, we’d be pushing for lane choice. Here, I don’t know that there’s one lane better than the other. We went down both lanes well. 

“We’ll learn how to go fast in the heat but we can push it because if we smoke the tires we don’t lose. I’ve watched cars do burnouts and blow the blowers off so there’s so such thing as a gimmee, but we definitely have more advantage than we would with another car in the other lane. We earned that No. 1 spot and the 20 points [for a first-round win], so we’ll take that, go for low e.t. and keep going on to hopefully win the race.”

After going 229 events without an NHRA race win before his breakthrough last year in Bristol, Clay Millican has won the last two events, in Topeka and Chicago, and is finally the red-hot racer he and everyone always thought he could be.

When he came fulltime to NHRA racing in 2007 he had already won six straight IHRA Top Fuel championships (2001-2006) and 51 IHRA national event titles with the Werner Enterprises Top Fueler, but in many ways he had to start over when he switched leagues.

“If I had been able to take that Werner car over to NHRA during my championship run, I think we could have done a lot of winning before last year, but Greg Werner didn’t want us to run NHRA,” he said. “Greg told me that his trucking business did a half a billion dollars’ worth of business with Budweiser – hauling beer or whatever -- and he didn’t want to jeopardize that by us racing and maybe beating Kenny Bernstein and his Budweiser car. When we did come race NHRA during that time, we usually had to put something else on the car; even though Kenny told it didn’t matter to him, Greg didn’t want to risk it.

“We only ran 10 NHRA events in 2004 but went to three straight final rounds (Houston, Bristol, and Atlanta), so we knew we could win in NHRA, too; we just had no idea it would take so long to actually do it. You’d think somewhere along the line I’d have one of those weekends where everyone smokes the tires against me, but it never worked out that way.”

When the cost of diesel fuel went through the roof at the end of 2006, Werner had to scale back so Millican came to NHRA and drove for Evan Knoll, Kenny Koretsky, and others before landing with Doug Stringer’s team four years ago.

Millican went to eight NHRA finals (plus two four-wide finals) before his Bristol win, and even though he had few doubts he’d win again, a lot of people were happy to see him and crew chief Dave Grubnic win in Topeka so that he wouldn’t be regarded as some sort of one-win wonder.

“It’s just crazy, absolutely unreal,” he said of his recent success. “Grubby’s really got a hold on the tune-up and I’m managing not to screw it up.”

After watching Clay Millican and Terry McMillen record their first national event wins last season after lengthy waits (229 and 194 events, respectively), Scott Palmer figures to be the next first-time winner in the class and, after 157 events, he feels like he’s finally ready to do it. He already has reached his first career final earlier this year – he was runner-up to good pal Steve Torrence in Phoenix – it’s likely only a matter of time before the CatSpot team, which now includes former world championship tuner Jason McCulloch, parks their ride in the winner’s circle.

“It’s not like we sitting here expecting it, but at least now we know it’s possible,” said Palmer. “Until this time in my life – including last season [Palmer’s first full year on the tour] – I’ve never even thought it was possible. Last year we weren’t ready. We were still learning how to do it. I think we’re prepared. I think a lot of people think they are ready to win right away, and, sure, you might luck into a win somehow, but you need to learn how to win, and I think were ready. 

“Terry and Clay both had six or seven full years under their belts before they could win, and we went to a final in just our second full year so we feel very fortunate to have someone like Tommy Thompson in our corner allowing us to build a team that can compete for race wins. I’m not saying this is going to be our weekend, but I can’t help but feel it’s coming sooner rather than later.”

Palmer had his best run in Q1, 3.891 at 309.06 mph, but his pass of 3.895 at 320.05 mph in the final session has him optimistic for Sunday.

"If you get by the first round, I do believe a 3.80-car is going to win this race," Palmer said. "If you get by the first round, 3.80s are going to win this race."

Win or lose, Palmer’s team is already a fan favorite if for no other reason than the “throttle whacks” the team does doing warmups, though a win surely would only add to that.

"Under orders from the boss [Thompson], our No. 1 goal every weekend is to have fun," Palmer explained. "You know, 10 years ago everybody whacked the throttle. Funny Cars always did big, long burnouts and the fans loved all that stuff. For whatever reason, all that has kinda tapered off. Nobody does it anymore; except for us. We're the outlaws in Top Fuel right now. We still whack the throttle. We still invite people into the pit at night to have a look around. We still enjoy ourselves.”

The first bout between Robert Hight and Ron Capps in 2018 went the way of the defending Funny Car world champion. Hight won the JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago while the 2016 Funny Car champ slowed down track, giving Hight his first victory of the season. The two butted heads six times head-to-head in 2017 and Capps took home four of the wins, but Hight is on a three-race win streak entering the Virginia NHRA Nationals. 

That makes sense when looking at the type of season both drivers enjoyed. Hight struggled with consistency through the first half of the 2017 season, earning his first win in Denver, and went on a roll from there. Capps dominated to begin the season and never faltered, but the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car didn’t quite maintain its torrid pace once Hight and tuner Jimmy Prock turned things up a notch. 

It’s worth noting Capps still nearly won the championship despite that big push Hight started during the Western Swing. The two raced once during the Countdown to the Championship, in a pivotal final-round contest at the NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex. Capps annihilated the tree with a .038 reaction time, but a 3.877 elapsed time from Hight got the Auto Club Chevy to the stripe .034 second sooner. That wasn’t “the end” by any means – but those 20 points* felt huge in a championship decided by 98. 

By comparison, Hight beating Capps by nearly a quarter of a second in Chicago last weekend feels trivial. But here’s why it might matter for more reasons than the obvious: crew chief Rahn Tobler switched the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car back to the five-disc clutch, which is what the flopper ran last season. That’s significant because of the new track prep and because it’s what Tobler is most comfortable with. There’s a line of thinking that goes the six-disc clutch, which allows for great numbers and high speeds, isn’t quite as useful these days where reliability is king. 

Time will tell, sort of. Good decisions don’t always pay off and bad decisions don’t always bite you, especially not in drag racing. There are along 15 more races left, and just nine to go before the Countdown begins. Try as they might, racers and crew chiefs can’t ensure success: But they can do their best to deserve it. We can just hope for more Capps vs. Hight matchups this year, because one through nine races isn’t cutting it. 

*Stop talking about 40-point swings in head-to-head matchups, it’s not great math and it leads to much worse math later.

Before Richmond rejoined the schedule this year, Ron Capps had only one painful blemish on his scorecard, having never won the biggest race of the year, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, but now with the return to Richmond, it’s back to two, as he’s also never visited the winner’s circle at Virginia Motorsports Park in 10 tries.

Capps has two runner-ups in Virginia, in 2000 to John Force and 2007 to Gary Scelzi.

"I never got to win here before, and I’ve won at pretty much every other track over all these years, so to get to come back here and have that opportunity is fun,” he said. “We always enjoy coming to this area of the country and you can tell the owners that bought that place, what they’ve done in a short amount of time, it’s going to be fun. We’re seeing a whole bunch of fresh faces that we haven’t seen for almost a decade as far as fans. They’ve missed us being in that area. I’m so happy NHRA is back. I’d love for nothing more than to park that NAPA Dodge right in the winner’s circle. This summer is going to be fun, and it starts here."

Capps is qualified No. 3 with a first-round date with Tim Wilkerson.

"Great weekend, we're making strides and putting runs back in (crew chief) Rahn Tobler's computer with data on top of what we ran with the five-disc (clutch) back in 2017," he said. "Every run we make is more and more information and once again, in the heat today, to go down the track and run a 4.04 was classic Rahn Tobler. Conditions are going to change again [Sunday]. It's going to be a little cooler with a chance of rain, but that's why I'm so happy on Sunday mornings to have a guy like Rahn Tobler calling the shots."