NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Top Fuel Round 1

It’s not often that the majority of the Top Fuel pits is rooting for the No. 1 qualifier, but they were counting on Brittany Force to put the brakes on points leader Tony Stewart, the No. 14 qualifier, in their first-round race.

Stewart, who entered the event with a three-plus-round points edge, doesn’t have a first-round loss through eight races this season, a marked improvement over his rookie year where he went out in the opening stanza at 10 of the 20 events while Force has three first-round losses in the season’s first eight events. But the failure of Stewart’s team to get down on any of its three rounds is an outlier in a season where crew chief Neal Strausbaugh had a field-leading 77% run-completion record (second place was a distant 65%) yet they never exceeded 80 mph on any of their trio of attempts Saturday.

There was a lot riding on this one, which was a rematch of their Epping final, won by Force, but Strausbaugh and team, who were here late Saturday working in the issue, solved the riddle and blasted to a 3.872, low e.t. of the round, to defeat Force and put Stewart into the semi’s. No matter what happens today, he’ll leave Richmond still the points leader.

Shawn Langdon, who could have taken the points lead with an event win and a Stewart first-round loss, defeated Cameron Ferre with a 3.90. Langdon had just three round wins in the last three races. His best showing in that stretch was two weeks ago in Bristol, Tenn., where he advanced to the semifinals 

“The car kind of got away from us at the last couple of races, so after Epping, the guys re-addressed some areas on the car and went through everything with a fine-toothed comb,” Langdon said. “We found a couple of issues.”

Justin Ashley continues his amazing stating-line mastery. Coming into the event he had left on 19 of his 20 opponents (the outlier being against Shawn Langdon in round two in Phoenix) and owned a class-best .042 reaction-time average (Langdon second at .057), and he made it 20 of 21 in leaving on Doug Foley with an .046 reaction and cruising to a 3.93 to 3.99 win.

Shawn Reed, who has qualified in the top half of the field at seven of nine events this year but only has three round wins, two of which have come in the last three events, but he only has himself to blame fo this one, losing on a 3.95 to 3.93 holeshot to Dan Mercier.

No. 2 qualifier Clay Millican advanced easily after Smax Smith left before the Tree, a break for Millican, whose car had a cylinder out and hazed the tires downtrack and will take on Doug Kalitta, whose 3.877 was second-quick of the round to take out Antron Brown. Virginia Motorsports Park is one of only two facilities (along with Bristol Dragway) on the current NHRA tour where Brown has yet to reach the winner’s circle.

Top Fuel second-round pairings (lane choice first): Tony Stewart vs. bye; Shawn Langdon vs. Dan Mercier; Doug Kalitta vs. Clay Millican; Steve Torrence vs. Justin Ashley

***

Funny Car Round 1

A year ago at this race, Round 1 ended in disaster for the Peak Chevy team when John Force crashed after turning on the win light, but there was no such drama this time as Force's replacement driver, low qualifier Jack Beckman, led Jim Campbell wire to wire for a 4.00 win. Beckman was the only driver to run in the threes in qualifying and almost did it again here.

Beckman's teammate, defending event champ Austin Prock, ended his streak of two first-round losses by defeating Cruz Pedregon and became the second driver to run in the threes with a 3.99. Prock's .096 reaction time was well off his .064 season average, but the team helped him there. The man who'd beaten Prock in the opening stanza the last two races had his streak ended as Buddy Hull fell to J.R. Todd's 4.11.

Saturday's Mission Challenge winner Daniel Wilkerson kept his hopes of a double alive by beating teammate Dave Richards, 4.06 to 4.15, and he'll cede second-round lane choice to Bristol winner Ron Capps, who turned the tables on Chad Green from their final-round battle at the season-opening Gatornationals.

Homestate hero Matt Hagan, who lives in Christiansburg, Va., just 190 miles west of the track, had his day ended by Hunter Green, 4.06 to 4.08, helping turn around a tough weekend for the Pronto team, which is missing ailing driver Blake Alexander. Bob  Tasca III, wheeling a new chassis here, took down rookie if the year frontrunner Spencer Hyde, who led for virtually the whole race before being nosed out by Tasca's multi-colored Ford. the win moves Tasca back into the Top 10 after sliding to 11th following back-to-back first-round losses in Epping and Bristol. Tasca dedicated his round win to former Top Fuel and Pro Stock racer Kenny Koretsky, who is battling medical issues.

Paul Lee, second in points, kept the pressure on Prock with a big (but expensive-looking) 405 victory over Alexis DeJoria to end the round.

Funny Car second-round pairings (lane choice first): Jack Beckman vs. Paul Lee; Ron Capps vs. Daniel Wilkerson; Austin Prock vs. Bob Tasca III; Hunter Green vs. J.R. Todd

***

Pro Stock Motorcycle Round 1

The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki team went three for three as world champ Gaige Herrera defeated "The Rat", Ron Tornow, with a 6.790, low qualifier Brayden Davis ran 6.83 to ride around Marc Ingwersen's very game .003 holeshot,  and Richard Gadson bested Hector Arna Jr. with a 6.85.

Matt Smith threw his hat into the performance ring with a 6.79 to defeat Chase Van Sant, setting up a second-round race with his wife, Angie, who won the class' first-round marquee matchup, defeating rookie Dystany Spurlock, ending the hometrack favorite's debut early

Steve Johnson blasted to a 6.88 to defeat Kelly Clontz, but gave us some anxious moments as his bike drifted to the centerline past the finish and appeared to come close to rubbing fairings. Ryan Oehler got his first round win in the season's first five events, defeating Jianna Evaristo for a long-overdue win for the resurgent team.

Chris Bostick got the break of the round when No. 3 qualifier John Hall's American Rebel Light entry had an air-line leak on the starting line. Hall staged anyway, hoping for a Bostick red-light that never came. It's just the second round-win of the year for Bostick.

Pro Stock Motorcycle second-round pairings (lane choice first): Brayden Davis vs. Ryan Oehler; Gaige Herrera vs. Steve Johnson; Matt Smith vs. Angie Smith; Richard Gadson vs. Chris Bostick.

***

Top Fuel Round 2

In a rematch of their final-round meeting two weeks ago in Bristol (their only previous meeting this season), Justin Ashley got revenge on Steve Torrence, whose Capco machine broke traction a few hundred feet downtrack. Torrence's victory at the Thunder Valley Nationals had run to 11 the number of consecutive seasons in which he has won at least one NHRA tour event, but he won't add to that total this weekend. The solid 3.92 win for Ashley moved him past Antron Brown and into third place in the standings and keeps him in the hunt chasing Tony Stewart and Shawn Langdon.

Langdon made a solid 3.95 pass to trailer Dan Mercier, who smoked the tires, and, as he did three times in qualifying, Stewart blazed the tires at the hit on his bye run but turned on the free win light to set up a titanic semifinal race between the top two points runners.

Doug Kalitta, meanwhile, ripped to low e.t. of the round with a 3.88 to defeat Clay Millican and earn semifinal lane choice against Ashley, and also moved past Brown, bumping the reigning world champ to fifth in points.

Top Fuel semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Shawn Langdon vs. Tony Stewart; Doug Kalitta vs. Justin Ashley

***

Funny Car Round 2

Points leader Austin Prock caught a lucky break for the first time in three events as Bob Tasca III beat him to the finish-line stripe, but the headers on Tasca's Ford clipped the finish-line beams, leading to a disqualification. Prock's 4.16 elapsed time will get booted, but it wasn't enough away to earn semifinal lane choice against J.R. Todd, who dispatched Hunter Green with a 4.07. 

"I was shocked; I was really disappoiintd there for a second as I saw him go around us," said Prock, who for the second straight round had a reaction time (.080) not to his liking or true to his class-leading .064 average.

Jack Beckman helped his teammate Prock defend his lead by defeating second-place Paul Lee, who boiled the tires in defeat. With the win, Beckman moves past Lee and into second place, but his off-key 4,33 won't bring many more smiles. Beckman is an even two rounds (40 points) behind Prock and could tie him for the lead with an event win if Prock loses against Todd in the semifinals.

D-Wilk is still eying his first career Wally after denying Bristol winner Ron Capps his second straight. Capps smoked the tires while Wilkerson smoked it to a 4.06 in his Scag Jackal, low e.t. of the round.

Funny Car semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Daniel Wilkerson vs.  Jack Beckman; J.R. Todd vs. Austin Prock

Pro Stock Motorcycle Round 2

Angie Smith laid the smack down on hubby Matt with a sizzling 6.818 pass — avenging her semifinal loss to him at the Gatornationals — then rode out a harrowing moment when the side panel of her wheelie bars departed the Denso bike, upsetting the balance for a second, but she skillfully reined it in. The win moved her past Chase Van Sant and into fourth place in the standings, which is as high as she can get this weekend

Smith is the island in a sea of Vance & Hines riders as world champ Gaige Herrera, Richard Gadson, and Brayden Davis are the three other semifinalists. Herrera had low e.t. of the round (barely) with a 6.883 to beat Steve Johnson, while Gadson went 6.88 to trailer Chris Bostick, and newcomer Davis ran 6.89 to beat Ryan Oehler. After an .012 light in round one in Bristol and an .016 in round one here, Davis missed it a bit with a .042 that was better than everyone except Gadson's .031. Davis, who seemed primed to win in Bristol before he double-clutched the bike against Herrera in the semifinals, will get a shot at redemption shortly.

Pro Stock Motorcycle semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. Brayden Davis; Angie Smith vs. Richard Gadson

***

Top Fuel semifinals

The four-driver Top Fuel semifinals aptly featured the class' top four points earners in Tony Stewart, Shawn Langdon, Justin Ashley, and Doug Kalitta.

The first battle is between No. 1 and No. 2, Stewart and Langdon, and no one saw this coming. Stewart, who's been pretty solid at the Tree throughout his young drag racing career, fouled against Langdon with a -.093 red-light; it's "Smoke's" first foul. To add insult to injury, Langdon's Kalita Air dragster puffed the tires 300 feet out and coasted to a 6.35 win.

The afternoon heat is getting to the track as both Ashley and Kalitta smoked the tires, Ashley pedaled quickest and kept his Scag dragster moving to take the win and reach his third final round i the last four events still looking for his first win.

Ashley's other final-round appearance this year was at the Las Vegas four-wide event, where he finished second behind .... Langdon. A final-round win by Langdon would move him to within 31 points of Stewart's lead. 

***

Funny Car semifinals

Austin Prock loses a cylinder early but it doesn;t matter as J.R. Todd's DHL Toyota was already up in smoke, It's Prock's milestone 25th career final and his fifth of the year as he looks to win this event back-to-back.

In the other semifinal, it's a brief early heart-in-the-throat moment for Daniel Wilkerson as his throttle hung up somewhat after the burnout, but the crew go tit straightend out efficently. It's all to no avail as he follows Todd's lead and smokes 'em early in the right lane, and Beckman goes on to ensure an all-John Force Racing final as The GOAT's return to the track that hurt him so badly last year.

Both cars ran 4.11, but Beckman was .002-second quicker to earn lane choice, which, as we just saw, may be a dealmaker.

***

Pro Stock Motorcycle semifinals

People who were wondering when Gaige Herrera would win again in the face of the emergence of teammates Richard Gadson and newcomer Brayden Davis might see it today, as the two-time champ looked great in reaching the final over Davis with a 6.81 to earn final-round lane choice. Davis left first, but by just .004-second, then ran into trouble and had to sit up on the bike and watch Herrera beat him in the semifinals for the second straight event.

Angie Smith reached her 10th career final and will have a chance to collect the 198th Pro victory by a female in NHRA competition after defeating Gadson by just .007-second, 6.85 to 6.87.

***

Lucas Oil Series final-round results

Comp

Jay Schonberger def. Mark Moreland

Super Stock
Joe Santangelo def. Bryan Worner

Stock
Steve Foley def. Greg Rowe

Super Comp
Corey Manuel def. Lauren Freer

Super Gas
J.J. Brock def. Ricky Hall

Top Dragster
Tommy Muller def. Anthony Bertozzi

Holley EFI Factory X
Lenny Lottig def. Jesse Alexandra

***

Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle final

World champion Larry "Spiderman" McBride ran his unbeaten string to five events -- the last three of last season and the first two of 2025 -- by defeating Bob Malloy in the final round, just as he did at the season opener in Chicago.

***

Congruity HR Pro Mod final

J.R. Gray collected another Pro Mod win in a wild final in which Dmitry Samorukov left first struck the tires and then lost the handle and smashed into the guardwall in his lane, handing the win to Gray.