NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Alex Laughlin snatched the provisional Pro Stock pole at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals following a disastrous start to the Western Swing. The driver of the Havoline Chevy Camaro earned six bonus points on a fabulous Friday for the Texas-based racer, who is No. 1 with a 6.520-second pass at 210.8-mph. 

Elite Performance unleashed the first salvo in Pro Stock qualifying. Laughlin ended up on top of the sheet, earning three points with a 6.552-second pass that put him ahead of a pair of K.B. Racing competitors. Jason Line and Fernando Cuadra earned the rest of the qualifying bonus points in the first session. 

Things didn’t start out so well on the Western Swing for Laughlin, who experienced nothing but failure at the Dodge NHRA Mile-High Nationals in Denver. He bounced back quickly with his Elite Motorsports team, who put drivers in the No. 1, No. 3, No. 5, No. 9, No. 11, and No. 13 positions at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. 

"Coming from Denver last weekend where it was our first time going out in the first round all season... we just had everything going against us all weekend," said Laughlin. "This was a huge confidence booster for us. This should be a really good weekend for us. You have to have the confidence that you're going to run better than everyone that's going in front of us, but man hearing that elapsed time over the radio definitely got me and my guys fired up." 

K.B. Racing didn’t do too shabby themselves. Deric Kramer is just .003-sec behind Laughlin at 210.93-mph. His teammate, Bo Butner, is in fourth with a 6.534 after stepping up in a big way. Butner is also driving in Super Gas at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Greg Anderson, one of the house cars at K.B. Racing and the most recent winner on tour, is in sixth, just ahead of teammate Jason Line. 

Kenny Delco, bouncing back from a scary crash at the Dodge NHRA Mile-High Nationals presented by Pennzoil, ended up qualified 10th with a 6.563. He has not qualified higher than sixth all season (Phoenix, February). Delco qualified seventh in Denver after a long stretch of bottom-half qualifying efforts. He is looking for his first round-win since reaching the semifinals at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. 

Alan Prusiensky held on to the bump spot with a 6.704-second pass, just .002-second quicker than Tom Huggins. The New Jersey native is well off the pace set by Steve Graham, who is in 15th place with a 6.521-second pass. 
They’ll get another two shots at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday as the 20-car field is whittled down to the final 16. The first session of professional racing is set for 1:15 p.m. Pacific and can be caught live on NHRA.tv.