NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Top Fuel Q4

Points leader Shawn Langdon, whose first three qualifying runs probably hadn't matched the team's expectations — sitting just sixth with a 3.71 best — made up for that by recording the first 340-mph pass in Indy history, making him the third driver (behind Brittany Force and his teammate, Doug Kalitta) to exceed 340 mph.

"I was a little surprised; I thought I clicked it a little early," said Langdon. "But hats off to the team. I'm pretty pumped up about that."

Although the e.t. was another 3.71 for Langdon and didn't improve his position, it was the session's best pass. Four-time world champ Steve Torrence was two-hundedths back at 3.738.

A lot of other teams made feel-good passes that show that they've got or are getting a handle on the track and weather conditions.

Justin Ashley clocked his second 3.75 of the event, Tripp Tatum backed up his Friday 3.73 with a 3.74 (third-best of the session), and homestate racer Kyle Wurtzel, who clocked a 3.79 on the opening day of qualifying, posted a steady 3.80 in his Dom Lagana-tuned Heartwood Planning Group entry, showing the other teams will have to make a good run to beat him on Monday.

***

Funny Car Q4/Callout E1

Matt Hagan opened the Callout and ended Mission Challenge winner J.R. Todd's hopes of a weekend three-peat — or rather tire smoke did — as the DHL Toyota lost traction early and watched Hagan, a two-time Callout runner-up, race to the semifinals with a 3.931. Right behind them, Ron Capps also ran 3.93, but with a 9 in the thousandths digit, while Daniel Wilkerson followed Todd's tire smoker with his own rolling fog bank in the right lane. With the chance to call out your opponent in the semifinals, low e.t. of the round means everything.

Defending U.S. Nationals champ Austin Prock stole that low e.t. and the pick with a 3.907 — his best run of qualifying — to defeat Cruz Pedregon's close 3.96 and was joined in the semifinals by his John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman, who clocked a 3.951 to defeat Bob Tasca III's 3.97.

With the choice, Prock called out Hagan. 2022 Callout champ Capps will take on Beckman in the other pair.

"You've got to beat them all to win this thing, and obviously I'm not going to pick my teammate and otherwise Matt has the best car out there," reasoned Prock, who is shockingly 9-0 in his short Funny Car career against Hagan.

All of the Callout passes also counted towards qualifying (as will the final round, while the semifinals will not), and Prock jumped from No. 10 into the top half of the field.

A lot of the following cars had trouble negotiating a warming track, but one that didn't was Top Alcohol Dragster world champ Julie Nataas, who ran a 4.90 in her Airmine-backed Del Worsh Racing entry. The run moved her into the field from the No. 17 spot.

"Right now I'm still learning how to drive the car, and we decided to make a clean A-to-B pass," she said. "Maybe later today we can come back and make a better run."

The round ended with a spine-tingling moment as Jusin Schriefer crossed the centerline just past midtrack and right in front of Alex Laughlin. Schreifer dumped the chutes right into Laughlin's windshield, and Laughlin, going faster than Schreifer, deftly swerved to the left to avoid a rear-end collision, momentarily putting his car on two wheels. It was a driving tour de force for Laughlin, whose Funny Car wheel time probably comprises fewer than 100 runs

"There's not a whole lot that gets my heart racing like that," said Laughlin, who has also raced in Top Fuel, Pro Stock, Pro Mod, and a host of other classes. "That's gonna take a moment to settle. You just go into survival mode. I'm not saying I'm the best driver there ever, but I'm a Swiss Army knife."

The field still sits at 14 three-second cars, but at least four of the fives outside of that zone are capable of helping us make history in the final session.

***

Pro Stock Q4

Monday eliminations is just a small part of the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals charm. This means Pro Stock racers get the unique opportunity to make five qualifying runs in total, with two on Sunday, which translates into a potential warmup for final eliminations.

Tight track conditions allowed teams to get aggressive, and it showed as there were movers in the field. Greg Anderson maintained the pole thanks to his 6.491-second Friday night blast, and he ran low for the round on Sunday with a 6.505 at 210.67 mph. KB Titan teammate Dallas Glenn drove to the second-quickest lap, a 6.510, bettering his previous 6.523. Erica Enders also improved, running 6.516 which was enough to keep the third slot and she ran 211.39 mph which was top speed of the event.

The Cuadra Boys, Cristian, David and Fernando Cuadra Jr., all made impressive runs and currently sit in the fourth, fifth, and eight spots respectively, while Eric Latino improved from a 6.541 to 6.537, but he remains ninth. Stephen Bell was another racer who found performance, running a 6.570 but he also holds his previous position, which is 15th. Mason McGaha did the same, improving from a 6.591 to 6.589 and he sits on the bump. Notable driver Troy Coughlin Jr. has made four attempts and has yet to complete a run. He will have one last chance to break into the field, along with Chris McGaha, Derrick Reese and Kenny Delco.

***

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q4

Heading into Sunday at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, we are just one bike away from having an all 6.8-second Pro Stock Motorcycle field. Will we get there?

It took just one pair for Hector Arana Jr. to answer that question with a 6.853 on his Arana Racing Buell that put Chris Bostick and his 6.899 on the bump spot. In the other lane, Brayden Davis was also making his best run of the weekend with a 6.753. Davis also topped 200 mph for the first time in his career.

Mark Ingwersen also showed a significant improvement with a 6.858 to move up a couple of spots with his Ohio-based V-twin.

Matt Smith made his best run of the event with a 6.756 and also topped 200 mph with a 201.07 run on his Denso Buell, a further indication that conditions are the best they’ve been since Friday’s nighttime run.

The biggest mover of the session? That might well be Chase Van Sant, who put his Trick Tools Suzuki into the top half of the field with a 6.815 at 198.20 mph.

It was far from a perfect run, but Jianna Evaristo’s time slip showed otherwise as she ran 6.812, her best run of the weekend, and also nudged the speed mark a bit higher with a 201.73 mph trap speed.

The parade of quick runs continued when John Hall put his American Rebel Light Buell into the No. 5 spot with a 6.757 effort.

How close are the Vance & Hines bikes? Pretty darned close. After Brayden Davis ran 6.753 to open the session, Vance & Hines riders Gaige Herrera and Richard Gadson closed it with runs of 6.750 and 6.752, respectively.  

***

Funny Car Callout semifinals

Ron Capps closed in on becoming the first two-time Callout winner as the 2022 champ took down Jack Beckman with a solid 3.911 to "Fast Jack's" 3.99.

Capps will face Austin Prock, and Prock will pick his lane after a 3.901 victory over two-time callout winner Matt Hagan's 3.965.

The Callout final is a rematch of last year's U.S. Nationals final, which was won by Prock.

***

Top Fuel Q5

T.J. Zizzo, who has shown flashes of brilliance in U.S. Nationals qualifying over the years, had the best run of the final qualifying session with a 3.768 from his Mike Kern- and Rahn-Tobler-tuned Rust-Oleum dragster. It's a nice birthday present for Kern.

With the conclusion of qualifying, Shawn Reed — with a big two-race assist from Jordan Vandergriff — is officially locked into the Countdown to the championship playoffs.

Behind Zizzo, Vandergriff and tuner Rob Wendland also continued to look good with a 3.7709, second-best of the session, while Justin Ashley's 3.782 and Tony Schumacher's 3.804 grabbed the rest of the bonus points.

Brittany Force remained the No. 1 qualifier, and the bump is set at 3.824 by Ida Zetterstrom, who will be Force's first-round opponent.

With bonus and position points added, Doug Kalitta has leapfrogged Tony Stewart into second place in the standings behind Shawn Langdon. Kalitta is 47 back and Stewart is 51 back.

***

Funny Car Q5/Callout final

Austin Prock didn't have enough points to qualify for last year's All-Star Callout, but the reigning world champ made up for it this year, winning the Callout with a stunning 3.873 blast to drive around and defeat quicker-leaving Ron Capps' 4.04. The run, no doubt helped up a half-hour delay due to a power issue at the track, was the best of the session, but not good enough to get around his teammate, Jack Beckman, who held onto the No. 1 spot. Prock went from the No. 7 spot to No. 2.

"I'm happy to get the job done for John Force racing and Cornwell Tools to recover from missing out on the Mission Challenge title," said Prock, who was runner-up after smoking the tires. "That was a long Tree and I was flinching and late on the Tree. I'll have to sharpen up tomorrow."

Alexis DeJoria, who won the 2014 U.S. Nationals, had the best non-Callout run of the final session with a 3.948 in her Bandero Cafe entry, with Bob Tasca III (.3961) and Bobby Bode and J.R. Todd (both at 3.968) having the next best runs.

As has heartbreakingly been the case time and again, the hopes for the first all-three-second field ended early in the final session when Chris King, Alex LaughLaughlin, and Dave Richards all failed to make full runs, setting the bump at 4.103 by Justin Schriefer, whose 4.005 at the 2019 U.S. Nationals was the anchor for what is sitll the quickest 16-car Funny Car field in NHRA history. The shame for Richards is that he ran a 4.05 in qualifying yesterday but lost the run when he clipped a finish-line timing block.

With the conclusion of Funny Car qualifying, Prock has been crowned the first regular-season champion of the Countdown era.

***

Pro Stock Q5

Warm conditions dictated the performance of the final Pro Stock qualifying session, which saw no one improve. With a 6.491 in the books, Greg Anderson secured his 6th pole position for the 2025 season, and his 138^th in total, which ties Warren Johnson. Anderson set the pace Friday night in cool conditions, and he’ll face Mason McGaha in the opening round on Labor Day.

Anderson is followed by Dallas Glenn, Erica Enders, Cristian Cuadra, Deric Kramer, Cody Coughlin and Fernando Cuadra Jr., who make up the top eight.

Teammates Erica Enders and Greg Stanfield will face off in round one, with Enders showing big power after running 211.10 mph on her final qualifying pass. This was faster than Anderson, who tripped the clocks at 209.95 mph.

Derrick Reese’s Mustang wouldn’t stay running after the burnout, forcing him to abort his attempt. Troy Coughlin Jr. failed to complete a pass during qualifying; it’s his third DNQ of 2025 and fifth ever. And Chris McGaha and Kenny Delco and won’t race on Monday, either.

***

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q4

Dystany Spurlock continued her streak of consistent runs by riding the Arana family Buell to a 6.867 to tie her best run of the weekend and solidify her position in the all 6.8-second field.

There wasn’t much improvement in the fifth and final session although Ryan Oehler, Chase Van Sant, Angie Smith, and Mark Ingwersen were all solidly in the 6.8s.

Jianna Evaristo was perhaps the most impressive rider of the session when she rode to a 6.840. Although she previously ran 6.81, this might have actually been a better run given the conditions.

John Hall upped the ante with a 6.811 to set low E.T. of the session although that didn’t last long. Gaige Herrera set low elapsed time of the weekend in the final pair with a 6.732 at 201.16 mph. As an added bonus, Herrera also tuned-up for Monday’s final eliminations with a .002 reaction time.