NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Last year’s spring event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was filled with excitement, drama, and some foreshadowing for the season.

In Top Fuel, Richie Crampton scored his first of five wins in 2015 with the Lucas Oil flagship entry, defeating Larry Dixon’s C&J Energy dragster in the final. It was the first of six runner-ups for Dixon in 2015, three of which came against Crampton.

In Funny Car, John Force claimed the first of his two wins on the season, defeating teammate Robert Hight in a tight final, 4.148 to 4.154. It was Force’s 142nd win and fifth at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Erica Enders and the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock team swept the K&N Horsepower Challenge and Sunday’s final for the second straight year. Enders beat Vincent Nobile and his Mountain View Tire Camaro in the title rounds both days.

Here’s a look at some of the story lines heading into this year’s Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals.

Nitro parity
If there’s a theme already to this young season, it’s that there’s no sure thing anymore, especially in the Top Fuel and Funny Car ranks, where we’ve crowned three different winners in both classes at the schedule’s first three stops. What’s especially intriguing about that is the list of top drivers who have not won yet: reigning world champs Antron Brown (pictured) in Top Fuel and Del Worsham in Funny Car, as well as Tony Schumacher and Shawn Langdon in Top Fuel and John Force, Matt Hagan, and Jack Beckman in Funny Car, all former world champs with a boatload of victories. How long can this last?

First-time winners: Who’s next?
The absence of expected names on the winners list is in part due to some of the surprising faces that have made their way to the winner’s circle, including a pair of first-time winners in Top Fuel, Leah Pritchett and Brittany Force, respective victors at the tour’s two most recent stops in Phoenix and Gainesville. Could another overdue driver finally break through? Top Fuel’s Clay Millican, an eight-time runner-up in his NHRA career, has looked strong lately in the Parts Plus dragster and will be flying the colors of event sponsor Denso Spark Plugs in Las Vegas – what better place to capture his first win? In Funny Car, Chad Head impressed in Gainesville with a string of three-second passes and could well join his father, former driver Jim, as a national event winner.

Upsets
Another factor in lack of familiar faces hoisting trophies has been a series of surprising early-round upsets of favored drivers. Top Fuel driver Terry McMillen, who scored just six round-wins in all of 2015, already has five this season, and, with Millican, is one of just two Top Fuel drivers without a first-round loss this season. McMillen’s first-round victims this season make up an impressive list: Schumacher, Brown, and Pomona winner Steve Torrence. The trend was especially acute in Gainesville, where five of the eight quicker-qualified Top Fuel drivers were defeated in round one.

KB Racing dominance
Three races in, and there’s no sign of anyone being able to slow the KB Racing juggernaut in Pro Stock, where team drivers Greg Anderson, Jason Line, and Bo Butner have adapted quickly, smoothly, and proficiently to the class' new fuel-injection-based rules package. Anderson has won two of the season’s first three races, Line the other one, and Butner has been a steady top-three qualifier and has a pair of semifinal finishes.

Erica Enders
While the KB team is excelling, the sledding has not been as easy in the camp of two-time reigning world champ Enders, who has yet to light the win lamp this season in her new Mopar-backed Dodge Dart and has yet to qualify in the top half of the field. With 15 national event wins in the last two years, there’s no doubt that the Elite Motorsports driver will be back in the saddle; the question is how long will that take?

K&N Horsepower Challenge
If Enders and her team are fretting over their slow start, they have to be happy that they’re heading to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Enders has not lost a round in the last two years, amassing an incredible 22-round winning streak in the process of sweeping both of the track’s annual events. The Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals also plays host to the lucrative K&N Horsepower Challenge bonus event for Pro Stock drivers Saturday, an event that Enders also has won the last two seasons. Enders’ teammate, Jeg Coughlin Jr., won the fan vote to become the eighth driver in the field, which also includes Anderson, Line, Allen Johnson, Shane Gray, Chris McGaha, and Drew Skillman.

Track records
Top Fuel
3.722 seconds, Antron Brown, October 2015
332.67 mph, Shawn Langdon, October 2015

Funny Car
3.931, Tommy Johnson Jr., October 2015
325.92, Del Worsham, October 2015

Pro Stock
6.559, Erica Enders, October 2015
210.28, Erica Enders, October 2015

Schedule
Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 1, and the final two rounds of qualifying Saturday, April 2, at 1 and 4 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, April 3.

Tickets
To purchase general-admission or reserved seats, call 800-644-4444 or log on to LVMS.com. Kids 12 and younger are admitted free in general-admission areas with a paid adult.

Television
Friday, April 1, FOX Sports 1 (FS1) will televise one hour of qualifying highlights at 11 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 2, FS1 will televise one hour of qualifying highlights at 9 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 3, FS1 will televise three hours of live finals coverage at 5 p.m. ET