NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

TOP FUEL ROUND 1

In cool, mid-60s temperaures and cloud cover, Josh Hart, the No. 1 qualifier for the second time this season, reset low e.t. with a 3.670 on his bye run — the last time Hart was the low qualifier, at the season opener in Gainesville, he went on to win the race — but he was quickly upstaged by Doug Kalitta who raced to a 3.669 to defeat Shawn Reed in a great race, Reed falling with his best run of the year, 3.69, in his return to the track where he last year had a terrible top-end accident.

Kalitta's win became even more important as his teammate and points leader, Shawn Langdon, fell to Justin Ashley after the Kalitta Air car pitched the blower belt. Ashley, of course, left first (as he has done in 18 of 19 races this year) and raced to a 3.732. An event win by Kalitta would bring him to within five points of Langdon's lead. It's just the second first-round loss this season for Langdon; the first came at the season opener in Gainesville in March.

Antron Brown won the battle of two of the sport's most successful Top Fuel drivers, the four-time champ beating eight-time champ Tony Schumacher with a 3.71 after Schumacher's mount went silent before midtrack. 

Brown, a four-time Seattle winner, won his 50th race during the 2018 Northwest Nationals and became the fourth Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to achieve that feat behind Joe Amato, Tony Schumacher, and Larry Dixon. Brown is also the last driver to have swept the Western Swing, way back in 2009, and the last driver to do it until Gaige Herrera pulled it off in 2023 in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Jasmine Salinas, riding a two-race final-round streak — runner-up last Sunday in Sonoma and then the runner-up yesterday in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge — advanced past the quicker-qualified Clay Millican, who, like his Rick Ware Racing teammate Schumacher, was out of the gas early.

"Our motto is be humble, but let everybody know that we're here," Salinas said. "That's something we've been working on this year. Also, gotta give a shout out to my team, Valley Services; I'm really grateful for them. And then also, we're in the land of Jimothy. I think that's probably the change of energy, so let's just keep going. We came here to finish something."

Salinas will take on Kalitta in round two in a rematch of their Sonoma final.

Third-place Leah Pruett also advanced to round two after winning a pedalfest with Will Smith, but her 4.40 will cede second-round lane choice to Ashley. Pruett's husband, Tony Stewart, took on Maddi Gordon for the fifth time this season and collected his second win over the outstanding rookie, 3.70 to 3.72. The last two races have been a tough down-to-earth stretch for Gordon with a pair of first-round losses following her breakthrough win in Norwalk, and the loss here drops her to sixth place in the standings and pushes Stewart past her into fifth.

 Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Josh Hart vs. Tony Stewart; Justin Ashley vs. Leah Pruett; Antron Brown vs. Billy Torrence; Doug Kalitta vs. Jasmine Salinas

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FUNNY CAR ROUND 1

Cruz Pedregon, who was Friday's low qualifier, showed he's still good on Sundays, too, and he defeated the points leader, Ron Capps, who shook just off the line while "the Cruzer" made his best run of the weekend, a 3.914. Capps' lead instantly becomes vulnerable should either Jordan Vandergriff or Jack Beckman win the event.

"We're just trying to be consistent," said Pedregon. "Guys are throwing haymakers out there. We missed a little bit yesterday on the run, but we learned a lot what not to do more than we learned what to do, and the car does what we tell it. The track's tight — any time you have cloud cover, you're gonna be able to run good — so you know the guys are going to be swinging, so we've got to do the same thing."

Beckman, who won this race in 2009 with a final-round defeat of John Force, whose car he now drives, made a move in the right direction as he reset low e.t. with a 3.858 in the Peak Chevy to defeat Tim Gibbons, who made a career-best 4.01 pass and his first 300-mph run in an impressive defeat in Gary Densham's car. Vandergriff also moved on with a 3.91 victory over Spencer Hyde.

Jeff Arend made his best run of the meet, a 4.019 in Jim Dunn's car, but it was no match for low qualifier J.R. Todd's 3.90 winner. Todd, who drove through a little tire quiver, will have second-round lane choice over Vandergriff. 

Todd, who won this race in Top Fuel in 2015, is gunning to become just the fifth driver to win the event in both nitro classes, joining Tommy Johnson Jr., Capps, Del Worsham, and Austin Prock.

In back-to-back races that opened the round, both Chad Green and Daniel Wilkerson smoked the tires instantly, advancing Paul Lee and Prock. Prock also had traction woes further downtrack but expertly pedaled his way to the win with a 4.89. The same bug bit both Dave Richards and Alexis DeJoria, but Richards recovered better for the victory, just his third win light of the year and his first since the Chicago event. Despite a 4.54, Richards will have second-round lane choice over Prock.

Matt Hagan advanced to round two in a great race with Blake Alexander, 3.936 to 3.946, and earned lane choice over Lee by just .002-second.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): J.R. Todd vs. Jordan Vandergriff; Matt Hagan vs. Paul Lee; Jack Beckman vs. Cruz Pedregon; Dave Richards vs. Austin Prock

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PRO STOCK ROUND 1

For the second straight weekend, "the Natural," Jeg Coughlin Jr. put Matt Hartford on the trailer on a holeshot, this time by a 6.500 to 6.478 count, and for the second straight weekend, Greg Stanfield beat his son, Aaron, in round one. Last weekend, the senior Stanfield went on to win the event in Sonoma, and his win here, combined with Hartford's loss, moved Stanfield into third place in the standings ahead of Hartford.

Matt Latino continued to have a great car with a career-best 6.487 and an easy win after Sonoma polesitter Chris Vang blew the tires off at the hit, a fate that also befell Shane Tucker against Cody Anderson's 6.500 winner, and Mason McGaha, who fell to low qualifier Dallas Glenn's low e.t. blast of 6.468. Glenn's teammate, Greg Anderson, kept pace with a workmanlike 6.472 thrashing of Stephen Bell. Remarkably, it's Anderson's first win light in the last three races after losing in the opening stanza in both Norwalk and Sonoma.

Kenny Delco made a career-best run of 6.500 but was late off the line, losing on a holeshot to Troy Coughlin Jr.'s 6.520, and Sonoma runner-up Erica Enders also got it done with her left foot, leaving slightly on Eric Latino to win a race in which they both ran 6.503. It's the third holeshot win of the season for Enders, who is hoping to collect her 50th career Pro Stock Wally this weekend. 

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Dallas Glenn vs. Troy Coughlin Jr.; Greg Stanfield vs. Cody Anderson; Greg Anderson vs. Matt Latino; Jeg Coughlin Jr. vs. Erica Enders