NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The three-race Western Swing is the gateway to the home stretch of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series regular season that sets the contenders for the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs and a pivotal time for teams trying to establish dominance or just to get back into the fight.

This week we’ll share a class-by-class look at those who prospered and those who floundered during the annual trek through Denver, Sonoma, and Seattle, continuing with Funny Car. [Top Fuel recap]

• With bookending wins in Denver and Seattle and a semifinal finish in Sonoma, Robert Hight was far and away the star of the 2022 Western Swing, going 10-1 in head-to-head battles to accumulate 321 valuable points, 41 more than fellow Funny Car pilot Bob Tasca III.
• Hight’s fortunes crisscrossed with those of second-place Matt Hagan, who didn’t win a round in the Western Swing. Hight went from a 21-point lead over Hagan to a 228-point edge.
• Third-place Ron Capps, who won just one round (in Denver) closed slightly on No. 2 Hagan, from 79 points behind to 66 back but both lost ground to Hight.
• Sonoma runner-up John Force remained fourth in points but gained ground on both Hagan and Hight.
• With his Sonoma win and Denver runner-up, Bob Tasca III picked up one spot, from sixth to fifth. Seattle runner-up J.R. Todd also picked up one position, from seventh to sixth, and Cruz Pedregon, who won just one round over the three races, dropped two spots, from fifth to seventh.
• Alexis DeJoria (No. 8) and Tim Wilkerson (No. 9) held onto their spots withthree and two round-wins, respectively, while Jim Campbell clambered up two spots, from 12th to 10th, thanks to a Sonoma win and the Sonoma absence of Blake Alexander and the absence of Chad Green in Sonoma and Seattle.
• Chad Green and Blake Alexander each lost one spot, to 11th and 12th, respectively. Neither of the drivers has run the minimum number of required qualifying sessions that allow a team to make the Countdown regardless of points position, so both will have to battle their way in at the next three events. Green is just seven points behind Campbell while Alexander is just 25 points in back of the 10th-placed driver.