NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

For more than five decades, NHRA National Dragster's famed Tricky Tipster has tested his prognosticating skills prior to each national event, putting odds on the top eight racers he thinks have the best shot at victory in Tricky Tipster. This week, Tricky Tipster handicaps the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals.

TOP FUEL Funny Car | Pro Stock
	Tony Schumacher • U.S. Army Army team could do no wrong in Gainesville. They’ve also got an amazing record in Las Vegas with eight wins since 2004. That gives them a slight edge over a tough field. ODDS: 3-1
	Leah Pritchett • Papa John’s Pizza So far, a holeshot loss in Gainesville is the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season. As they like to say in sports, learn from it and move on. ODDS: 4-1
	Antron Brown • Matco Tools What’s wrong with the Matco team? Not a darn thing. We’re three races in and he’s got six round-wins and a runner-up to his credit. No reason to think that wins won’t come soon. ODDS: 5-1
	Brittany Force • Monster Energy This will be race No. 100 in what is already a promising professional career. Think the Monster team would like to celebrate the century mark with a win in Sin City? ODDS: 6-1
	Doug Kalitta • Mac Tools The Kalitta flagship has run 3.6s at every race this season, so horsepower is not a problem. A bit of consistency and a smidge of luck and they’ll be on the score sheet with their first win of 2017. ODDS: 8-1
	Steve Torrence • Capco Contractors Call it a hunch, but this team is overdue for a breakthrough performance, and that doesn’t even take into account that they won the most recent Las Vegas race last fall. ODDS: 9-1
	Clay Millican • Parts Plus/Great Clips Everyone already knows this is a 3.6-second race car, and once they’re able to string together a couple of them, the long wait for an NHRA victory will finally be over. ODDS: 11-1
	Troy Coughlin Jr. • SealMaster/JEGS Seat time. Seat time. Seat time. We’ve all heard it 1,000 times before. This kid has talent. He just needs to make some more runs, and he’ll get the hang of a 330-mph dragster. ODDS: 14-1
FUNNY CAR
	John Force • Peak Chevrolet How does he rate the top spot? Glad you asked. He won Gainesville and won the fall Las Vegas event last October and oh yeah, he’s John Force. ODDS: 3-1
	Matt Hagan • Mopar Express Lane Dodge Almost ran the table for a third-straight win in Gainesville but had a little tire-smoke issue. Is there any reason to think he couldn’t start another 10-round win streak this weekend? ODDS: 7-2
	Robert Hight • Auto Club Chevrolet The fact that he ran 3.82 in Gainesville is impressive; the fact that he did it on Sunday in the heat of the battle is even more impressive. That go-for-the-throat mentality will yield big results. ODDS: 4-1
	Ron Capps • NAPA Dodge A word to the wise: don’t sleep on the reigning Mello Yello champion. He’s winless so far this season, but that’s only temporary. A big weekend is coming, and it could well be this event. ODDS: 5-1
	Tommy Johnson Jr. • Make-A-Wish Dodge Back-to-back semifinals have this team trending in the right direction. Oddly enough, he has a 341-342 career record, so he needs one more round-win to even his record. Good bet that he comes out of here on the plus side. ODDS: 7-1
	Courtney Force • Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Superman has his kryptonite, and the Advance Auto team has Jim Campbell. If they can avoid another first-round showdown with Jim Dunn’s car, they may well be set for a long and prosperous outing. ODDS: 9-1
	Jack Beckman • Infinite Hero Dodge Every week someone who doesn’t deserve it gets stuck in the Nos. 7-8 spots in Tipster. This week it’s “Fast Jack.” Anything better than a semifinal will move the bar for future events. ODDS: 11-1
	Jonnie Lindberg • Head Racing Toyota The Gainesville runner-up makes it at the expense of J.R. Todd, Del Worsham, Tim Wilkerson, Cruz Pedregon, and two-time Vegas winner Alexis DeJoria. That’s how utterly insane the Funny Car class has become. ODDS: 15-1
PRO STOCK
	Jason Line • Summit Camaro Stubbed his toe in the semifinals in Gainesville against teammate Greg Anderson, but after qualifying No. 1 at three straight races, this remains the best car in the class. ODDS: 5-2
	Greg Anderson • Summit Camaro Hard to find any fault with three straight finals and a 10-2 record to open the season. Also worth noting that historically, the Summit team tends to do very well in Las Vegas ODDS: 3-1
	Erica Enders • Elite Performance Camaro Last time she raced in Las Vegas in a Camaro, she won both races in 2014 and 2015 and the K&N Horsepower Challenge. Don’t rule out another double-up. ODDS: 4-1
	Shane Gray • Gray Manufacturing Technologies Camaro Gainesville champ insists he’ll park this car shortly, and there’s no reason to doubt him. If that’s that case, why not bow out with another win or two? ODDS: 6-1
	Jeg Coughlin Jr. • JEGS.com Camaro Almost impossible to imagine he hasn’t won a Pro Stock race in nearly three years. Don’t expect that trend to continue much longer. ODDS: 7-1
	Bo Butner • Butner Auto Sales Camaro Speaking of overdue drivers. Were we? Yes, and this is Exhibit A. There’s just too much talent here for this to continue much longer. ODDS: 9-1
	Chris McGaha • Harlow Sammons Camaro Anyone else notice how he qualified solidly in the top half of the field in Gainesville, then drove a solid race to reach the semifinals on Sunday? We did. ODDS: 10-1
	Tanner Gray • Gray Manufacturing Technologies Camaro Finally had his first “bad” light in Gainesville, and it was (horrors) a .036. He’s going to do some damage in this class very shortly. ODDS: 13-1