NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

After a dizzying Friday night of qualifying at the Texas Motorplex where cooler temperatures and a cooling track yielded amazing performances, those numbers will almost certainly be untouched today as the weather and the track both heat up during the final day of qualifying at the Texas NHRA FallNationals.

Shawn Langdon in Top Fuel, Austin Prock in Funny Car, Greg Anderson in Pro Stock, and Richard Gadson in Pro Stock Motorcycle should hold on to the No. 1 qualifying spots they earned last night. But that doesn't mean that the action on the sport’s first all-concrete quarter mile today isn't worth watching.

This event opens up the three-race homestretch run of the Countdown of the Championship playoffs and the world championships that wait at the end of the line in Pomona. Almost all of the points battles are tight, and yesterday's action definitely aided the causes of some of the challengers as they try to track down the front-runners.

For Langdon, whose Countdown hasn't gone that smooth, the No. 1 qualifying berth and the apparent grasp that tuner Brian Husen has on the tune-up with a called-shot 3.68 gives the former world champion more confidence as he tries to chase down his teammate Doug Kalitta and second-place Justin Ashley.

In Funny Car Prock’s rocket-like run carried him to the top and helped him claw back a tiny bit of ground that had been gained by second place Matt Hagan over the last couple of races.

Anderson's Pro Stock pole run and his session-leading first pass helped him carve a tiny slice off of Dallas Glenn's points lead as the two teammates rush towards what almost seems like a repeat of last year's winner-take-all finale in Pomona.

For Gadson, who's being chased by his two-time world champion teammate Gaige Herrera and six-time world champ Matt Smith, the season can't end soon enough as he's clinging to a fragile lead. It's clear however that Gadson is making the most of the tune up that crew chief Eddie Krawiec is providing and he's riding better than either of his rivals, a good sign that he could hold on to his lead to win his first world championship.

The day will also include the final rounds of the JEGS Allstars program that started Friday. There will be semifinal action in all classes except the two Top Alcohol classes which ran their for my finals Friday night all the final rounds for all the classes will take place about 2:00 today.

2024 EVENT WINNERS: Justin Ashley, Top Fuel; Matt Hagan, Funny Car; Jeg Coughlin, Pro Stock; Gaige Herrera, Pro Stock Motorcycle

MOST VICTORIES: Antron Brown, 7, TF; Robert Hight, 7, FC; Greg Anderson, 5, PS; Andrew Hines, 8, PSM

TRACK RECORDS:
Top Fuel - 3.636 seconds by Steve Torrence, Oct. '23; 340.57 by Brittany Force. Oct. '25
Funny Car - 3.813 seconds by Austin Prock, Oct. '24; 338.60 mph by Robert Hight, Oct. '17.
Pro Stock - 6.457 seconds by Greg Anderson, Oct. '15; 214.59 mph by Anderson, Oct. '15.
Pro Stock Motorcycle - 6.627 seconds by Gaige Herrera, Oct. '23; 204.16 mph by Herrera, Oct. '23

NATIONAL RECORDS:
Top Fuel - 3.623 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept. '19, Reading, Pa.; 343.51 mph by B. Force, Sept. ‘25, Indy
Funny Car - 3.793 sec. by Robert Hight, Aug. '17, Brainerd; 341.68 mph by Austin Prock, Nov. '24, Pomona, Calif.
Pro Stock - 6.443 sec. by Greg Anderson, March '25, Gainesville; 215.55 mph by Erica Enders, May '14, Englishtown
N.J.
Pro Stock Motorcycle - 6.627 sec. by Gaige Herrera, Oct. '23, Dallas; 205.04 mph by Matt Smith, July '21, Sonoma.

SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, Oct. 11
Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series eliminations at 8:00 a.m. and 4:35 p.m.
Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car eliminations at 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying at 12:00 and 2:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, Oct. 12
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series eliminations begin at 10:00 a.m

TELEVISION
Sunday, Oct. 12, FOX Sports 1 (FS1) will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 10:00 a.m. ET
Sunday, Oct. 12, FOX will televise two hours of finals coverage at 2:00 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET