NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Almost everything has gone according to plan for Ron Capps during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship and now the Funny Car standout is on the verge of clinching his first career world title.

Predicting it would take a finish of the semifinals or better at each of the NHRA’s six playoff races, Capps has done just that at the first five stops and takes an 86-point lead over Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan into historic Auto Club Raceway in Pomona for the Auto Club NHRA Finals, Nov. 10-13.

On the precipice of that elusive first world championship, Capps, whose 50 wins are the most in NHRA history for a driver without a title, is enjoying the moments and build-up heading to what would be the biggest highlight in his spectacular career.

“I’m just trying to stay busy and we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” said Capps, who has finished second on four different occasions (1998, 2000, 2005, 2012). “As close as we’ve been before, you don’t want to take anything for granted so we just have to keep going. You can tell and feel that there’s a lot of excitement but it boils down to you just have to keep staying busy and stay in your normal mode. But there’s no doubt Pomona is going to be a lot of fun.”

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), Del Worsham (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were last year’s winners of the season-ending event that will aired for the first time on FOX Sports 1 this November. On Sunday, FS1 will televise three hours of live finals coverage starting at 4 p.m. (ET). It is the final race in the Countdown to the Championship and would mark the perfect location for Capps’ first career world title in his 10,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T.

The California native has a number of fond memories at Pomona, but being able to clinch a championship – and possibly win the race in the process – would overtake them all for Capps, who has five wins and 10 final round appearances in 2016.

“Pomona is such an important track to me personally,” Capps said. “I’ve driven for two legends in Don Prudhomme and Don Schumacher, and the fact that Wally Parks’ name is there when you make a run, there’s just so much history there. It’s such a big race to begin with and then you add all the excitement of what’s going on, to clinch there and be crowned champion there would be surreal.”

Capps has envisioned those scenarios leading up to the 2016 finale, but he and his team, led by crew chief Rahn Tobler, remain just as focused on the task at hand.

That means holding off two-time world champ Hagan, finishing strong, and taking the same aggressive approach that has led to incredible results in 2016. Capps has posted an impressive 53 round wins in 2016 and has two final round showings in the Countdown. He has also delivered standout runs almost every race weekend, with that qualifying consistency leading to huge results this year.

“Every November when the season ends and you look at why you didn’t finish better or what you could have done better, we haven’t had to look far,” Capps said. “We had lost a lot of points in qualifying and we worked really hard on that. That’s been a big difference. To get 50-plus round wins in a season you know you’re going to be in the hunt, and I knew if we kept going rounds we would be okay. We’ve just stayed aggressive, haven’t changed our approach and tried to take care of business.”

Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying feature two rounds at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11, and two final qualifying rounds on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13.
  
Tickets are available at NHRA.com/tickets or by calling 1-800-884-NHRA. Kids 12 & under can see it all for free with a general admission ticket, while all students can save 50 percent on general admission at the gate with a student ID.