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Auto Club NHRA Finals Friday Preview

The Camping World NHRA Drag Racing Series races to a conclusion this week during the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif. Champions will be crowned this weekend in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle as well as a variety of Lucas Oil Series sportsman categories.
10 Nov 2022
Posted by NHRA.com staff
News
Pomona

The Camping World NHRA Drag Racing Series races to a conclusion this week during the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif. Champions will be crowned this weekend in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle as well as a variety of Lucas Oil Series sportsman categories.

The Top Fuel battle features a lot of intrigue as former champ Brittany Force enters the event leading Justin Ashley by just seven points while Mike Salinas, Antron Brown, and Steve Torrence are also very much in the running. It’s entirely possible that a driver will have to win the race in order to clinch the championship and with 18 quality cars in the field, it won’t be an easy task.

Robert Hight enters Pomona as the leader in Funny Car and he’ll have to fend off challenges from Ron Capps and Matt Hagan in order to claim his fourth Camping World Series title. Hight has enjoyed some of the best days of his career in Pomona, and he’ll likely need another deep run into eliminations in order to pull it off.  Ironically, Hight is the only full-time NHRA pro who does not have a round one loss this season.

Erica Enders has already locked up the 2022 Pro Stock title but now the race is on to see if she can secure an 11th win this season. While Enders has won the bulk of the events in Pro Stock, Troy Coughlin Jr., Aaron Stanfield, Matt Hartford, Dallas Glenn, and Greg Anderson also have wins this season. Will one of them finish with another victory? Or, will we get a seventh different winner with Kyle Koretsky, Deric Kramer, Cristian Cuadra, Mason McGaha, or Camrie Caruso as the most likely suspects?

Matt Smith is on the verge of a record-tying sixth Pro Stock Motorcycle championship and needs to do little more than win the first round in order to make it official. Smith is the defending Auto Club Finals champion and he’s had the best bike in the class for most of the season, so he enters Pomona as a heavy favorite. Smith’s biggest rival is Joey Gladstone, who has had a breakout season with a pair of wins on his Reed Motorsports Suzuki.

In the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, championships in Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Super Stock, Stock, Super Gas, and Top Sportsman presented by Vortech Superchargers will also be decided this weekend.

 Finally, the Pomona event will also feature a popular Cacklefest in the Hot Rod Junction on Friday and Saturday as well as exhibition runs with the Walking Tall P.T. Cruiser Wheelstander throughout the weekend.
 
You can catch the action all weekend on FOX Sports 1 and NHRA.tv.

You can follow NHRA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to get a closer look at the action.

2021 EVENT WINNERS

Steve Torrence, Top Fuel; Bob Tasca III, Funny Car; Greg Anderson, Pro Stock; Matt Smith, Pro Stock Motorcycle.

TRACK RECORDS:

TOP FUEL
3.628 seconds by Clay Millican, Feb. 2018; 336.23 mph by Brittany Force, Feb. 2020
FUNNY CAR
3.822 seconds by Matt Hagan, Feb. 2017; 336.99 mph by Robert Hight, Feb. 2018
PRO STOCK
6.480 seconds by Erica Enders, Feb. 2014; 213.84 by Drew Skillman, Nov. 2015
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
6.741 seconds by Karen Stoffer, Nov. 2021; 201.91 by Matt Smith, Nov. 2021

SCHEDULE:

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at noon and 3:15 p.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 11, and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 11:30 and 3 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13.

TV SCHEDULE

SUNDAY, Nov. 13, FS1 will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 2 p.m. (ET)
SUNDAY, Nov. 13, FS1 will televise 3 hours of finals coverage at 4 p.m. (ET)