NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Although points are not officially posted until the event completion, no matter what happens when the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals are completed during qualifying at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in two weeks, Kalitta Motorsports teammates Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively, and six-time Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders will remain points leaders, as they were after the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals.

The simultaneous second-round exits of Langdon and second-place Steve Torrence, along with Billy Torrence’s semifinal loss, assured that the driver of the Kalitta Air dragster will remain atop the standings with 178. If Justin Ashley wins the weather-delayed final in Phoenix, he would jump past Billy Torrence into second place with 167 points. If Tony Schumacher wins, he would be in third behind Torrence, with respective totals of 160 and 151. Ashley would be fourth with 147 points. A final-round loss by Schumacher would still see him in fifth place.

(Note: All projected points totals do not include possible oildown or centerline violations in Phoenix)

Todd went to the Funny Car semifinals to boost his lead and benefitted greatly from first-round losses by his closest pursuers  – Austin Prock, Bib Tasca III, and Chad Green – to get some breathing room.

Todd exited with 185 points, 29 more than the second-place driver, four-time world champ Matt Hagan, who has 156 and would reach 176 with a win in the delayed Pomona final in Phoenix. If John Force beats Hagan in that final, the two would be tied for second at 156 points. Ron Capps sits third at 138 with Prock fourth at 137. If Force loses the final, he will stay in fifth with 136 points. Force did lose 10 points for a centerline violation in Q1 in Pomona, or he’d have been higher.

Enders, the winner in Gainesville, left Pomona with 227 points already in the bank and the delayed final is still to come. Her final-round opponent, defending Winternationals champ Dallas Glenn, will be second no matter what, and he’ll either end up with 198 points for a win or 178 for a runner-up, keeping him ahead of KB Titan teammate Greg Anderson (151) regardless of the outcome. There’s quite a points plummet from there to Cristian Cuadra in fourth place as Cuadra, runner-up to Enders at the season opener, failed to qualify in Pomona.