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TOP FUEL ROUND ONE

For the first time in her Top Fuel career, Krista Baldwin had first-round lane choice after making a career-best 3.75 in qualifying, but it didn’t pay off as her McLeod dragster was up in smoke immediately, allowing Billy Torrence to take the win with a 4.73 after he had to step off the throttle at half-track. Jasmine Salinas suffers the same fate right behind her in the right lane, and she watches Shawn Reed streak to a 3.79 win. It's Reed's first win since his comeback after sitting out the last three seasons.

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Incredibly, Justin Ashley and Tony Schumacher, who settled the rain-delayed Winternationals final round late yesterday, have to face off again in round one and, in almost an exact repeat of that final, Ashley wins on a holeshot again, this time 3.80 to 3.79.

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The third time is the charm for Tony Stewart as he collects his first Top Fuel round win after Brittany Force becomes the third straight female to smoke the hides in the right lane. Stewart got the Direct Connection dragster to half-track before he lost traction, but was far enough ahead to claim the win with a 4.16 which, crazily enough, will give him second-round lane choice over Billy Torrence.

"This was something the team needed," said Stewart, who admits that the team has been struggling to adjust the tune-up of the car for his weight after his wife, Leah Pruett, campaigned the car all last year.

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World champ Doug Kalitta, who has won this race just once, way back in 2001, advanced to round two with an off-pace but winning 3.99 at just 247 mph, but will surrender second-round lane choice to Ashley. Another world champ, 4x champ Steve Torrence, doesn't care that this is a sentimental first start for Travis Shumake, whose father Tripp used to race here in Funny Car, and he dispatches with Shumake with a 3.82. Three-time world champ Antron Brown joins them in the next round after defeating Clay Millican with a 3.804.

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Gatornationals champ Shawn Langdon wins a weird one to end the round as Josh Hart double-steps the throttle and red-lights, and Langdon's car quits just feet off the starting line and coasts to an 18-second win, a run that he later called "the idle of shame."

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Second-round Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Shawn Reed vs. Steve Torrence; Antron Brown vs. Shawn Langdon; Tony Stewart vs. Billy Torrence; Justin Ashley vs. Doug Kalitta

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FUNNY CAR ROUND ONE

Alexis DeJoria's nightmare comes to an end as she notches her first round-win of the season after Bob Tasca III smokes the tires in the right lane. DeJoria failed to qualify at the 2023 season-ending In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, lost in round one at the Gatornationals, then DNQ'd again in Pomona at the Winternationals.

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Paul Lee, whose Jonnie Lindberg-tuned McLeod Clutches car made three straight three-second runs in qualifying, makes another, a 3.97 to wipe out "the Surfer," Jeff Diehl, who loses traction early in the right lane.

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Despite the apparent right-lane woes, crew chief Jimmy Prock puts his son Austin Prock into that lane, and gets a win against Buddy Hull in a race between new Funny Car drivers. Both drivers experienced traction woes downtrack and pedaled furiously before Prock finally turned on the win light with a 4.39. Prock's boss, John Force, who won the Winternationals final yesterday, makes it five straight win lights with a win over Jim Campbell. Ironically, Force beat Campbell in round one of the Winternationals two weeks ago.

Force has raced at Firebird every year since it opened in 1983 and was runner-up at the first national event held there in 1985. He has won the race a record eight times (1994 through 1997, 1999-2001 and 2005).

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J.R. Todd, who won yesterday's Mission #2fast2Tasty Challenge, moves into round two with low e.t. of eliminations so far, a 3.93, to beat Cruz Pedregon,  Todd’s DHL “yella fellas” will be one of the teams that stays over on Monday at tests at Firebird Motorsports Park before the team packs up and makes the short drive to Las Vegas for next week’s Four-Wide Nationals.

“We’re still building on the tune-up that we changed at the beginning of the year last year and finally came around the summer," he said. "Now I think Todd [Smith] and Jim O [Oberhofer] are still trying to get a handle on things we didn’t get to do in testing in Gainesville due to the weather, so we're gonna run here on Monday and try those things and, hopefully, that that works out and parlays to more consistent runs and more success later this year.”

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Ron Capps, who made his first career start here in Top Fuel in 1995 and scored his first career round that day, has a less pleasant experience this year as he loses a tire-smoking battle with Blake Alexander, who will move into round two to face Paul Lee.

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Local favorite Bobby Bode, who attends college at Arizona State, gives the Sun Devils fans something to cheer about with a solid 4.03 victory over Chad Green and also will have lane choice against DeJoria in the second frame. Daniel Wilkerson ends the round by sending world champ Matt Hagan home early, reversing the outcome of their first-round match in Gainesville.

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Second-round Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Daniel Wilkerson vs. Austin Prock; J.R. Todd vs. John Force; Bobby Bode vs. Alexis DeJoria; Paul Lee vs. Blake Alexander

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PRO STOCK ROUND ONE

Jerry Tucker ends an 11-race winless streak with a round win over David Cuadra. Tucker, winless since he beat Deric Kramer at last year's Mile-High Nationals, takes the Outlaw Mile-Hi Light Beer Camaro to round two. Aaron Stanfield puts a second Elie Motorsports Camaro into the second frame with a victory over Kenny Delco, whose Camaro hooked hard right on the launch, and Cristian Cuadra makes Elite 3-for-3 with a win over Brandon Foster. Troy Coughlin Jr. notches Elite's fourth straight round win but needs a holeshot to do it against Deric Kramer. Coughlin leaves first, .041 to .050, then takes the win by just .008-second, 6.587 to 6.586

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KB/Titan Racing can't lose the next frame as Greg Anderson takes on teammate Eric Latino as he races into the next round with a strong 6.569 and will have second-round lane choice over TJ. Dallas Glenn, who won the delayed Winternationals yesterday, adds a second KB/Titan car to the quarterfinals with a win over Mason McGaha, avenging his loss to McGaha in yesterday's Mission #2fast2tasty event.

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Erica Enders runs low e.t. of eliminations with a 6.558 to beat the other Mcgaha, dad Chris, and add another Elite Camaro to the ladder.

Although she was disappointed that she couldn’t follow her Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge win yesterday with a Winternationals victory, losing on a holeshot to Dallas Glenn, it only made Erica Enders more determined to win today.

"We made a terrible run in that final round against Dallas, the worst run that we've made in the last three races, just super light on clutch and kind of chasing our butt after that," she said last night. "Had we made the run we should have, we probably would have gotten [6.]50 out there and run better than him, but if the crickets had pistols the birds wouldn't mess with them.”

She’s already put it in the rearview mirror as far as Sunday goes,

“My dad always reminds me that it's the six inches between my ears that’s most important. It’s not my equipment or my ability that lacks, it's just I get my own way, so I got to go back and sharpen my tools for Sunday,” she added.

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Just as he did late yesterday to teammate Enders, Jeg Coughlin Jr. takes low e.t. with a 6.552 to defeat local Pro Stock favorite Matt Hartford.

Coughlin is looking for his first event win since his return late last season after stepping out of the cockpit at the end of the 2020 season and eager to make up for his miscue at the Winternationals, where he lost on a holeshot to Mason McGaha in round one.

“It's funny how I’ve made literally tens of thousands of runs in race cars, and I still forget to pay attention every now and then, so it's one of those reminders that I've taken good notice on and feel like I've gotten well for the weekend here in Phoenix.

Asked how it felt when he first saddled up in a Pro Stocker last fall to prepare for his return, he grinned. “When I did the first burnout in Tulsa last fall, I was like ‘Daddy’s home, boys’; it felt fantastic.”

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Second-round Pro Stock pairings (lane choice first): Jeg Coughlin jr. vs. Jerry Tucker; Greg Anderson vs. Troy Coughlin Jr.’ Erica Enders vs. Aaron Stanfield; Dallas Glenn vs. Cristian Cuadra

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Three-time Top Alcohol Funny Car world champ Doug Gordon may have turned over the wheel of the family’s Beta Motorcycles Camaro to daughter Maddi, but he’s still racing, competing this weekend in Super Comp, where he proved every bit as impressive in Maddi’s dragster.

In round one, he beat two-time tour winner Tanner Theobald with a dazzling package consisting of a .03 light and an 8.901 that forced Theobald into an 8.896 breakout. Gordon then got a bye in round two.

In an interesting turn, his third-round opponent was Top Alcohol Dragster driver and Super-class regular Madison Payne, who ended his day after a spectacular race in which both were .005 on the Tree but Gordon broke out by .004-second, ironically with the same 8.896 run that felled Theobald two rounds earlier.

Daughter Macie is also racing this weekend in Right Trailers Top Dragster, where she will race in round two.

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TOP FUEL ROUND TWO

Tony Stewart adds his second career Top Fuel round win, the reward for struggling through the first three events, as he defeats Billy Torrence. The car goes silent before the finish line as the blower belt snaps, but his 3.97 is still a winner and moves him into the Top 10 of points. Right behind Billy's loss, son Steve Torrence advances to the semifinals after Shawn Reed broke traction about 300 feet downtrack.

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Antron Brown's bid for a 75th career win will have to move on to next weekend in Las Vegas as the Matco car smokes the tires early and Shawn Langdon is in his second semifinal in three events with a 3.82 that will earn him lane choice against Steve-o and them Capco boys. Justin Ashley gives crew chief Mike Green another birthday present and runs his recent round record to 6-0 following his Winternationals win yesterday, taking down Doug Kalitta with a 3.82

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Semifinal Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Shawn Langdon vs. Steve Torrence; Justin Ashley vs. Tony Stewart

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FUNNY CAR ROUND TWO

Alexis DeJoria lights another win light to reach her first semifinal since last year's Mile-High Nationals and her top-end-troubled 4.04 will even get her lane choice against Blake Alexander, who smoked the tires on a single run after Paul Lee had to be shut off on the the line with a throttle-linkage problem that prevented him from doing a burnout.

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Austin Prock continues his charge towards a first career Funny Car win, defeating tire-smoking Daniel Wilkerson, but has a hairy moment at the other end as a dropped cylinder on the right bank drives the car towards the guardwall and comes close enough for something to dislodge one of the finish-line marker signs. NHRA officials go to check for infractions but deem it a clean run; the thought is that either the header blast or wind from the car took off the sign.

"I knew I didn't hit it, but it damn sure was close. It just kept dropping holes and driving me over there," said Prock.

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Nos. 1 and 2 in points, J.R. Todd and John Force, line up in the final pair of the round. Force won the Winternationals yesterday and Todd won the Mission Challenge, so both are looking for a weekend double. Todd continues to build his points lead with a 4.00 to 4.03 victory. He's 42 points ahead of Prock, who has jumped into second place. Todd and Prock will race in the semifinals; if Prock can beat him and then if he can win the race, Prock will pull to within two points of the lead, but those are two big "ifs."

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Semifinal Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): J.R. Todd vs. Austin Prock; Alexis DeJoria vs. Blake Alexander

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PRO STOCK ROUND TWO

Dallas Glenn keeps his chances alive for a weekend double as the Winternationals champ gets lucky in round two. Cristian Cuadra red-lighted against him and Glenn's RAD Torque Systems Camaro squared the tires at the hit, but he's able to pooch on down to a 9.66 victory, His KB/Titan teammate Greg Anderson joins him in the final four with a solid 6.58 against Troy Coughlin jr., who shook the tires in the right lane.

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Johnson's Horsepowered Garage stablemates Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield pair up in the next match and both rattle the tires early and then get back into the gas. Stanfield takes the upset win, 6.87 to 7.07, to trailer the points leader and end her bid for a milestone 50th career win. No. 1 qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr. then has little problem navigating what has been a sometimes-tricky track, racking up a 6.61 win over Jerry Tucker.

The semifinals will be a classic Elite vs. KB/Titan face-off on both sides of the ladder. If Glenn can beat Stanfield, he'll take away Enders' season-long points lead.

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Semifinal Pro Stock pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Aaron Stanfield vs. Dallas Glenn.

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Mason Wright beat Gatornationals champ Jose Gonzalez to advance to the Pro Mod semifinal, where he'll face off with Kevin Rivenbark while Ken Quartuccio will take on Billy Banaka. One of those four will collect their first career Pro Mod win today.

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Geoff Monise defeated Jeff Arend in the semifinals of the Modern Warriors Legends Nitro Series competition with a 4.77 and will square off in the final round against Bobby Cottrell, who defeated Arend in the delayed final round of the Winternationals yesterday. Ryan Horan red-lighted against Cottrell and threw away a quicker run, a 4.717 against Cottrell’s 4.723.

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TOP FUEL SEMIFINALS

in a rematch of their first-round bash at the season opener in Gainesville, Justin Ashley defeated Tony Stewart, ending the motorsports hall of famer's bid for a first Top Fuel win. The win gives Ashley a streak of seven straight wins and sets up Saturday's Winternationals winner to double in the final round, just as he did last year in winning the New England Nationals and Thunder Valley Nationals on the same weekend. Ashley came all the way from the No. 11 position; only four drivers have won from the No. 11 position in Top Fuel over the last 10 years and 221 events.

Standing between Ashley and that honor will be the points leader, Shawn Langdon, one of those four drivers to have won from the No. 11 spot (2015 Finals). Langdon, the No. 5 qualifier here, defeated Steve Torrence by .008-second on a 3.87 to 3.85 holeshot in their semifinal tilt. Ashley will have lane choice. Regardless of what happens in that final, Langdon will leave Phoenix with his points lead intact.

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FUNNY CAR SEMIFINALS

Alexis DeJoria reaches her first final round since her runner-up to Matt Hagan in Delver last summer, taking the 4.06 win after Blake Alexander smoked the tires hard and veered toward the centerline. after a tough last few months, DeJoria's long day today has carried her Bandero TequilaToyota into the Top 10 of points.

In the other semifinal, a rematch of their Gatornationals final, Austin Prock avenges that loss with a victory over J.R. Todd, driving around Todd's holeshot for a 3.99 to 4.01 victory by just .002-second. Prock will have final-round lane choice as he seeks a first career Funny Car win to go with his four Top Fuel victories. If Prock wins the final, he'll cut Todd's lead to just two points.

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PRO STOCK SEMIFINALS

Dallas Glenn will get the chance to win his second national event of the weekend as the Winternationals champ from yesterday got around tire-shaking Aaron Stanfield in their semifinal race. Standfield was off the line first by almost three-hundredths but was hindered by the shake and Glenn won easily, 6.63 to 6.79.

Greg Anderson then made it an all-KB/Titan final round as he beat tire-shaking Jeg Coughlin Jr., in the 117th career meeting between the dynamic duo. Anderson's win pulled him closer, though Coughlin still leads, 58-48. Anderson's 6.61 winner earns him final-round lane choice over Glenn.

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The Congruity HR Pro Mod final will put Kevin Rivebark against Ken Quartuccio, both looking for their first career win in the class. Rivenbark has been to one NHRA Pro Mod final, a runner-up behind world champ Mike Castellana at last year's fall Las Vegas event while Quartuccio is appearing in his first final.

In that final, Rivenbark took the win, 5.74 to 5.82, to reach his first winner's circle.

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PRO STOCK FINAL

Greg Anderson is 2-0 against his KB/Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn in past national event finals and 5-2 across all rounds, and he ups both of those numbers with a decisive 6,58 to 6.61 victory, the 104th of his career. Anderson even left on "Double-Oh Dallas," .022 to .032. Anderson's win made for an even better day for the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR team, who finished 1-2-3 in Martinsville with William Byron taking the checkered flag.

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FUNNY CAR FINAL

Austin Prock scores his first NHRA Funny Car title, driving away to a 3.95 to 4.04 victory against Alexis DeJoria, who had smoke trailing behind her car the whole way, possibly from oil on the clutch. Prock scores that first victory in just his third start (it took all of16 races to win his first in Top Fuel during his 2019 rookie season) and becomes just the 19th driver to win in both nitro classes. On the heels of team boss John Force's win in the delayed Winternationals final yesterday, it's been a good weekend for John Force Racing.

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TOP FUEL FINAL

Shawn Langdon collects his second win in three starts this season and stops Winternationals winner Justin Ashley from a double-up weekend with a 3.76 to 3.84 decision. Langdon's win is his 17th in Top Fuel and 27th overall.

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Geoff Monise pulled off an upset in the final of the Modern Warriors Legends Nitro Series, beating Bobby Cottrell, who won the Winternationals crown yesterday. Monise and the Quarter Pounder team denied him a double-win weekend with a 4.75 to 4.81 final-round decision.