91°µÍø

The champions of what may well be the final NHRA national event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park will be crowned today at the NHRA Arizona Nationals after two frantic days of qualifying.

While Saturday’s action was highlighted by the drama of the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, Sunday’s action is shaping up to be as big or an even bigger barnburner.

Doug Kalitta, who won the Mission Challenge, enters eliminations as the No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel, just as he was last year, and his first-round opponent will be the same one he faced — and lost to — last year: independent Rob Passey. Neither of Kalitta’s two runs Friday were great — a tire smoker in Q2 and a Q3 run where the engine went sour — but the overall feeling is that Kalitta is still well positioned for his first win in more than two years (2020 St. Louis), a huge victory that would also be the milestone 50th of his career. 

Points frontrunner Steve Torrence and Mike Salinas will face off against Krista Baldwin and Clay Millican, respectively, as they try to maintain control of the leaderboard.

In Funny Car, Bob Tasca III continued the kind of mastery he showed in his season debut in Gainesville where, even though he had a second-round exit, his Motorcraft Mustang proved to be a fast and consistent hot rod. Tasca, who has never won this event, will square off with Jim Campbell, who had a trouble-plagued weekend in his first outing in Jeff Diehl’s car.

Mission Challenge winner Alexis DeJoria will begin her pursuit of a double from the No. 2 spot where she’ll face the man she beat for the title, Toyota teammate J.R. Todd. Gatornationals champ and points leader Matt Hagan will have a tough first-round draw in two-time world champ Cruz Pedregon while teammates John Force and Robert Hight will have to battle in the opening stanza after a disappointing qualifying outing that left them Nos. 8 and 9.

Pro Stock low qualifier Cristian Cuadra, who made history as the first Mexican-born No. 1 qualifier in the Pro ranks, will try to add to that accomplishment with a win Sunday. Cuadra, who notched a runner-up last year at the 91°µÍø Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas plus a pair of semifinal finishes, will take on Alan Prusiensky in round one.

Troy Coughlin Jr., who won the Gatornationals Pro Stock crown and Saturday’s Mission challenge, will try to turn on his seventh straight win light of the season but will have a battle on his hands with Greg Anderson, the class’ all-time win leader and the man he beat to win the Challenge. Reigning world champ Erica Enders qualified just No. 6 and draws Bo Butner in round one.

2022 EVENT WINNERS

Mike Salinas, Top Fuel; Robert Hight, Funny Car; Aaron Stanfield, Pro Stock

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel
3.643 seconds by Brittany Force Feb. '20; 
337.92 mph by Force, Feb. '20.

Funny Car 
3.823 seconds by Matt Hagan, Feb. '22; 
337.16 mph by Courtney Force, Feb. '18.

Pro Stock
6.498 seconds by Mike Edwards, Feb. '13;
213.77 mph by Edwards, Feb. '13.

SCHEDULE

SUNDAY, February 26 - Pre-race ceremony, 10 a.m. Camping World Series eliminations begin at 11 a.m

TELEVISION SCHEDULE

SUNDAY, Feb. 26, FS1 will televise two hour of qualifying highlights at noon (ET) 
SUNDAY, Feb.26, FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 7 p.m. (ET)

Or watch all day on