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Pre-race Notes

Before we dive into final eliminations for the first four-wide race of the season, let’s take a little time for a download of notes that we’ve been collecting throughout the weekend.

Top Fuel’s Steve Torrence is the most successful driver in four-wide racing history, regardless of class. The Texas pipeliner and four-time world champ has won six four-wide titles, four at ZMax Dragway in Charlotte and two here at LVMS, where he has reached the final quad in each of his last four appearances and in five of six overall. ��His record at The Strip since it went four-wide in 2018 is 13-4.

In their last 13 four-wide appearances, “them Capco boys” have sent Torrence to the final quad 10 times while compiling a 27-7 elimination record.

“I really didn’t like four-wide when it started,” Torrence admitted, “but when you start winning like we did, it changes your opinion pretty quick.

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While Torrence owns the win column, his BFF Antron Brown has the most final quad appearances among the pro categories in the four-wide era, with 11 appearances between the Las Vegas and Charlotte events. Brown has visited the final elimination quad at five of the last eight four-wide events contested between Las Vegas and Charlotte.

Brown’s first-round matchup will mark his 950th Top Fuel elimination round and his 1,300th race day overall this weekend.��

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Tony Stewart loves Las Vegas. It was here in the fall of 2022 where he made his first NHRA final-round appearance, where he was runner-up in Top Alcohol Dragster, and where he won his first national event title the following spring at this event while still in Alcohol Dragster.

Stewart has won an event on all tracks at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway property: the dirt track (his first USAC Silver Crown event on October 18, 1997),; Las Vegas Motor Speedway (captured his 1997 IndyCar championship and earned the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series event win); the Las Vegas Bullring pavement short-track (won in a USAC midget in 2002 and also won in a sprint car in the same night); and the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (won the 2010 Las Vegas Sprint Car Nationals).

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Matt Hagan is one of three Funny Car drivers with a trio of four-wide wins — the other two, John Force and Robert Hight, are not competing this year — so its seems the perfect place to extend his amazing streak of having won at least one event in each of the past 12 seasons, the longest active streak among professional racers. He has won multiple events in 11 straight seasons

“It’s funny when you think about winning races,” said Hagan. “You look at someone like Ron Capps, who won back-to-back world championships and then didn’t win a single race last year. You have to be grateful for every win light that comes on because they are so hard to come by nowadays. I think Funny Car is probably the most competitive class in the field. It’s dog-eat-dog with all 16 cars now. Getting a round win, let alone a race win, is huge. I would love to keep our streak going, but there’s no guarantee with what we do out here. It’s very humbling.”

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After earning at least one qualifying bonus points as one of the three quickest cars in the 10 qualifying sessions at the three races prior to this one, Jack Beckman was only fifth quickest in Q1 and earned just two points for having the second quickest car of Q2 and then smoked the tires on both runs Saturday.

“Our Peak Chevy all year long had gotten qualifying bonus points, 10 straight sessions,” Beckman said. “But [Saturday] we had a little hiccup. We actually didn’t make it down the track two runs in a row. But, the last time that happened was the Pomona Finals in 2024 and we ended up in the winners’ circle.”
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Ron Capps, who’s had an up and down last three races — a big explosion and crash in Phoenix, a Mission Challenge win in Pomona, and barely qualifying for the field here — also has fond memories of Las Vegas. It was at this event three years ago that Capps earned his first event win as a team owner.

Capps has won the four-wides twice, with his other triumph coming at the 2017 Charlotte event.

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Interesting note brought to us by WFO Radio host and NHRA announcer Joe Castelo: The first-round Funny Car quad consisting of Austin Prock�� Ron Capps, Jason Rupert, and Cruz Pedregon: Rahn Tobler. The former Top Fuel world champion crew chief has tuned for all four of the Funny Car drivers in the quad.

Tobler tuned Cruz Pedregon's Snap-On Tools entry to the 2008 world championship; wrenched Ron Capps' NAPA Funny Car�� from 2013-20 and to the 2016 world championship; was Prock's crew chief on the Montana Brand Top Fueler in his first years in the class in 2021-22; and has been the steadying hand for Rupert the last three seasons helping the privateer Southern California run in the three-second zone and compete for round wins.

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Greg Anderson and Dallas Glenn go into Sunday eliminations qualified first and second respectively. And three races in, the duo has set the mark in Pro Stock having appeared in every final round. They lead the points chase with 355 and 317 markers, while Cory Reed has the third position with 206 points.

Glenn scored a win at the opener in Gainesville, with Anderson earning back-to-back wins in Arizona and Pomona. The KB Titan Racing teammates will be looking to continue that dominance in Las Vegas today, and their biggest rivals seem to come from within the team.

“Obviously, it's more fun on my end when it's like that, because even if I lose, it's a KB Titan car that wins,” said Anderson. “So that feels great. I've certainly been on the other side. I know how bad it feels for the competition. I told you guys yesterday, when you're in a spot like that, where you’re just a little bit behind, you press harder, you try to do things that maybe you shouldn't do. And the other teams are doing that right now. They're making mistakes. They should not be running like they're running. They are not that far behind in performance as us, they're just making mistakes because they got a little bit behind."

Holding the second qualifying spot and the second in points, Glenn is equally confident. “I've always had good luck at this racetrack. This is where I got my first national event win and it's where I got my first round win in Pro Stock,” said Glenn. “I have a lot of good moments here. I got to win the 1,000th NHRA race, which was the last race that my grandma was with us. So, it's a pretty special place. I love this track, and it hopefully agrees with me.”

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This will be the first Pro Stock race day in nearly nine years that does not include Erica Enders. Mustering a best of 6.696, Enders failed to make the field. Enders has qualified at the last 158 91���� Pro Stock events, a streak that goes back to late 2016.

“We changed everything but putting the back tires on the front,” said Enders. “We changed everything electrical and the entire fuel system. From front to back, we have swapped everything on this car. I'm in my old girl [car] from seven years ago, so we've won a lot of championships together. We're just fighting through some mess right now, and it's super freaking frustrating. We're gonna keep our heads held high; we’ve accomplished a lot out here, but this sucks.”

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Top Fuel Round 1

Tony Stewart’s love affair with Vegas continued as he won his first-round quad on a holeshot ahead of six-time four-wide winner Steve Torrence, 3.864 to 3.846. Steve Chrisman hung in there with a seven-cylinder 4.09 while Rob Passey stepped off the throttle early to finish fourth.

Antron Brown, one of the most successful four-wide drivers, won his quad, driving around Jasmine Salinas’ holeshot to win with a 3,779 to her second-place 3.930. Scott Palmer backfired the blower at halftrack and coasted to third while points leader Shawn Langdon went up in smoke and finished fourth.

Salinas, who won just four rounds in her rookie season last year, has now won at least one round in each of the year’s first four events and already has six round wins this season.

Shawn Reed blasted to a 3.851 to win his quad, finishing ahead of Josh Hart’s flagging 4.190 with Brittany Force (4.29) and Terry Totten (5.26) finishing third and fourth.

Low qualifier and defending event champ Doug Kalitta added another notch to his safety belts and roared to a 3.774, low e.t. of the round to easily win. Despite having a cylinder out, Justin Ashley finished second with a 4.022 ahead of Winternationals winner Clay Millican, who ran into trouble at haltrack. The round win is the 150th in Top Fuel competition for Ashley, coming on his 100th career raceday start.��

With Langdon's loss, teammate Kalitta could take over the points lead with an event win.

Second-round quads (lane choice in order):
Doug Kalitta vs. Steve Torrence vs. Tony Stewart vs. Justin Ashley
Antron Brown vs. Shawn Reed vs. Jasmine Salinas vs. Josh Hart

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Funny Car Round 1

Traction was hard to come by in the Funny Car class, as evidenced by their e.t.s as there was only one three-second pass, and that was 3.994. World champ Austin Prock, who made his best run of the event in Q4 to qualify No. 2, appears to be regaining his form after a solid round-one victory in his quad, running 4.10 and finishing ahead of Cruz Pedregon, Ron Capps, and Jason Rupert.

Low qualifier Paul Lee escaped into round two despite running just 4.07 with Winternationals runner-up Daniel Wilkerson finishing second and Chad Green third. Bob Tasca III could not reverse his car after the burnout due to an apparent problem with the neutral safety switch. The car was so badly locked up that it had to be removed from the track on dollies.

Saturday’s Mission Challenge winner Spencer Hyde turned on another win light in his opening round, posting a 3.99 to finish ahead of Dave Richards, Buddy Hull, and rookie Hunter Green. It was an interesting quad as Richards, with just 75 career races to his credit, was the elder statesman with Buddy Hull having 23 previous Funny Car starts, Hyde just three, and Green none before his class debut. Hyde’s Head Inc. Mustang was running the backup body after damaging their No. 1 shell in winning the Mission Challenge.

There was an almost inverse situation to the inexperience in that quad when Matt Hagan (359 starts), Jack Beckman (346), and J.R. Todd (321) went off against Bobby Bode, with just 43 previous raceday starts. Hagan and Todd advanced despite sub-par passes of 4.14 and 4.38.

Beckman's fourth-place finish could cost him his points lead if Lee makes the final and/or Hagan wins the race.

Second-round quads (lane choice in order):��
Paul Lee vs. Matt Hagan vs. Daniel Wilkerson vs. J.R. Todd
Spencer Hyde vs. Austin Prock vs. Dave Richards vs. Cruz Pedregon

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Pro Stock Round 1

Round one of Pro Stock brought every bit of anticipated excitement with staging madness, quick elapsed times, and holeshot wins to the party.

Greg Anderson continued his dominance with a 6.612 and a win in his quad that featured Cristian Cuadra advancing. Cuadra used a .012 reaction and 6.664 pass to beat Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Eric Latino to the stripe.

They will face Matt Hartford and Cory Reed in round two. Reed won his quad using a 6.69, while defeating the quicker Hartford, who ran 6.631. Fernando Cuadra Jr. ran 6.719 and Brandon Foster was timed out at the tree when he failed to stage on time.

The other side of the ladder showcased more clutch-dropping action with Mason McGaha scoring a holeshot win. He used an .012 light and ran 6.670 to get there first, with Dallas Glenn taking the runner-up after running the quickest lap of the quad at 6.640. David Cuadra and Aaron Stanfield did not advance.

The final quad saw Matt Latino use another holeshot to win his grouping. Latino was .037 on the Tree and ran 6.679, which was the third quickest pass of the quad. Deric Kramer was second quickest at 6.669, but his .059 reaction allowed him to get the runner-up spot. Cody Coughlin was quickest of the four at 6.657, but his .112 light cost him the chance to advance.

Second-round quads (lane choice in order):
Greg Anderson vs. Matt Hartford vs. Cristian Cuadra vs. Cory Reed
Dallas Glenn vs. Deric Kramer vs. Mason McGaha vs. Matt Latino

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Top Fuel semifinals

Jasmine Salinas will get a chance to win her first Top Fuel Wally after reaching the final round with a second-place finish behind Antron Brown, 3.90 to her 3.99. Shawn Reed finished third and Josh Hart fourth. If Brown wins the final quad, he will be tied for the points lead with Shawn Langdon.

Tony Stewart will also get another crack at a first Top Fuel Wally after winning his quad on a holeshot with a 3.943. Justin Ashley finished second with a 4.090, but all of that was prefaced by the madness of veteran Doug Kalitta’s rare double-step foul and Steve Torrence’s late reaction (.230) based on that, to the point where Steve-o’s late-leaving 3.928 finished third.

Final-round quad (lane choice in order): Antron Brown vs. Tony Stewart vs. Jasmine Salinas vs. Justin Ashley

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Funny Car semifinals

Dave Richards will also get a chance for his first career NHRA national event win after reaching the final with a second-place finish behind Austin Prock’s otherworldly (by comparison) 3.964. Richards’ 4.35 came despite his towing the parachute the last hundred feet (shades of his nightmarish Phoenix outing), but he kept the pedal down and finished ahead of Cruz Pedregon and Mission Challenge winner Spencer Hyde, who got way out of shape after smoking the tires in Jim Head’s entry.

Matt Hagan will get a chance to collect his fourth four-wide win and become Funny Car’s most successful racer in the format after winning his quad with a 4.126 just ahead of Paul Lee’s 4.140; J.R. Todd and Dan Wilkerson were sent to the trailer.

Paul Lee can take the points lead with a runner-up finish. If Lee doesn't finish in the top two, Hagan could take the points lead by winning the final.

Final-round quad (lane choice in order): Austin Prock vs. Matt Hagan vs. Paul Lee vs. Dave Richards

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Pro Stock Semifinals

The holeshot theme continued in Round two of Pro Stock with Matt Latino, in his just his second start, dropping a .019 light and 6.697 elapsed time on his quad to prevent Deric Kramer who ran a quicker 6.694 from reaching the final. It will be Latino’s first final round. Meanwhile, Dallas Glenn won the quad running 6.636.

Glenn’s Fellow KB teammate Matt Hartford took the win in his semifinal quad against tough competitoin. His .039 reaction and 6.638 provided enough performance to hold off Greg Anderson’s quicker 6.635. Anderson ran the quickest lap of the round and will have lane choice in the final in the all-KB Titan final.

Final-round quad (lane choice in order): Greg Anderson vs. Dallas Glenn vs. Matt Hartford vs. Matt Latino

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Lucas Oil Series final rounds

Top Alcohol Dragster
Shawn Cowie def. Matt Cummings, Mitch Myers, and Joey Severance

Top Alcohol Funny Car
Maddi Gordon def. Brian Hough, Annie Whiteley, and Ray Martin

Comp
Taylor Chomiski def. bye (semifinalist unable to stage for bye run)

Super Stock
Chad Guilford def. Justin Lamb

Stock
Scott Burton def. David McGaugh

Super Comp
Kris Whitfield def. Cooper Chun

Super Gas
Ken Mostowich def. Mark Philbrick

Super Street
Larry Paden def. Nicholas Pressimone

Top Dragster
Steve Will def. John Richardson

Top Sportsman
Bryan Warr def. Ed Olpin

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Mission Foods final-round results story

Stewart scores first Top Fuel win; Prock, Glenn also hit the jackpot in Las Vegas