NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Mike Salinas, Robert Hight, and Karen Stoffer ended Friday's qualifying as the leaders in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle respectively, and both managed to hang on to their positions following both of Saturday's qualifying rounds while Robert Hight knocked Jack Beckman from the top spot in Funny Car to earn his fourth pole in six races.

Salinas, who set the zMax Dragway track record on Friday, will lead the field for the second time in three races and the third time in his career after his 3.687 was not bettered. Salinas is still riding high after winning the first race of his career three weeks ago in Las Vegas.

Hight, who has been on a tear this season with his Auto Club Camaro, made his best run of the event in Saturday's final session with a 3.883 to bump Jack Beckman back a spot. Hight has now been the low qualifier 64 times in his career.

The last time Stoffer was the low qualifier in a Pro Stock Motorcycle field was the Atlanta race in 2015. She made the quickest run of her career on in Saturday's first with a 6.793 and it was not bettered. Ironically, Stoffer is riding the same Tim Kulungian-tuned Suzuki that LE Tonglet rode to the top spot a year ago at the Charlotte Four-Wide race.

TOP FUEL LOW QUALIFIER MIKE SALINAS: "The system that [crew chief Alan Johnson and crew] have; it’s amazing to watch what they’re doing. We’re expected to win. Alan Johnson expects nothing but the best. Nothing else. The man has the credentials for it. We’re all trying to please him and step up to the level he’s at. I can’t say enough good things about him. I’m just the guy driving the car. They let me drive that car that’s kind of cool. On the flip side, I’m the owner and the guy who signs the checks. I expect a lot. We expect a lot from each other. It’s a happy marriage.

“When we started this, I knew I would be a person that needed to learn a lot about their methods and ideology. This is a work in progress. We actually tried something on the second pass and it didn’t work. We’re working to learn how to race together. I’m older than most of the guys he’s raced with so I told him to put yourself in my position. I’m sure he sees some faults in me, but I do my best to correct them.”

FUNNY CAR LOW QUALIFIER ROBERT HIGHT: “It’s pretty amazing to have 64 No. 1 qualifiers; that’s a lot, but I don’t think I’ve ever had in my career a car that’s this dominant, especially when you look at how competitive the class is. It’s not like when John [Force] was going it in the 1990s and early 2000s when he had a car that was a tenth of a second ahead of everyone else; you don’t have that anymore. From 1 to 12 there’s just a few hundredths between them.

“Having a car like this makes my job really easy. I just know it’s going to go down the track unless you screw it up, like I did Friday night. We were going to run an .88 there but I got a little inside and it kept pulling me, so I lifted and ran .93. For us to run 3.88 today when the track was 115 degrees, that’s impressive.”

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE LOW QUALIFIER KAREN STOFFER: “This is pretty big for me, I’ve only done this a few other times and I think it’s impressive that we did it with a 6.79, which is a record for me elapsed time-wise. To get that green hat was pretty huge. Right now, the words that best describe me is pure happy but tomorrow I’ll be serious.

“Tim [Kulungian, crew chief] has data for both day and night runs and he reached into his bag of tricks and found the night tune-up. We struggled a bit early this year but he turned it around and we had the best 60-foot time we’ve had and he parlayed that to a 6.79. I think now he’s got a lot of data on me as a light rider. The four-wide is a little confusing, especially with staging. If you’re in lanes two or three you have to look across the tree to see your stage lights and then go back to your side of the Tree. It’s definitely more challenging.”

QUALIFYING ROUND RECAPS

TOP FUEL

Q2 recap: Reigning world champ Steve Torrence had the best run of the second Top Fuel session, racing his Capco Contractors dragster to a 3.756. Doug Kalitta backed up his Friday pass of 3.733 with a solid 3.779 as did Terry McMillen, whose 3.794 was a nice follow up to his 3.728 in Friday night’s cool conditions.

Friday leader Mike Salinas stayed atop the pack with his 3.687 but he was one of nine cars who couldn’t get a grip on the zMAX surface. Cameron Ferre, who sat out the session, sits on the bump spot with a 10.640.

Q3 recap: Incoming qualifying leader Mike Salinas didn’t better his 3.68 Friday field leader, but the Scrappers Racing pilot let everyone know he was ready for Sunday eliminations with a best-of-session 3.728.

The fuel dragsters seemed to finally find their footing as eight drivers ran in the 3.70s after struggling Friday. Behind Salinas in the performance parade were Doug Kalitta (3.749), who made his third straight 3.7-second pass, and Leah Pritchett (3.750).

Brittany Force (3.757), Steve Torrence (3.758), Antron Brown (3.777), Austin Prock (3.782), and Terry McMillen (3.793) also ripped the timers in the last qualifying efforts.

First-round quads (lane choice in order):
Mike Salinas vs. Austin Prock vs. Clay Millican vs. Cameron Ferre
Doug Kalitta vs. Leah Pritchett vs. Richie Crampton vs. Lex Joon
Antron Brown vs. Brittany Force vs. Scott Palmer vs. Dom Lagana
Terry McMillen vs. Steve Torrence vs. Spencer Massey vs. Audrey Worm

FUNNY CAR

Q3 recap: Robert Hight, Jack Beckman, and Tommy Johnson Jr. were the quickest drivers in the third Funny Car qualifying session. Hight, the current points leader and winner of three of the first five events of the season, backed up last night's 3.93-second run with a 3.920, the best run of the round. Hight was not able to unseat Beckman, who ran 3.931 in his Infinite Hero Dodge. Beckman's 3.891 from Friday night remains the quickest Funny Car run of the weekend.

The rest of the three-second qualifiers include Johnson, Matt Hagan, and Kalitta Motorsports teammates J.R. Todd and Shawn Langdon.

Q4 recap: Robert Hight earned his fourth No. 1 start in six events this season by stealing the pole from Friday leader Jack Beckman with a 3.883.

Hight's Auto Club Chevy had the best run of a strong session in which his boss, John Force, was next quickest with a 3.905 and Shawn Langdon was third with a 3.944. Matt Hagan (3.959), Tim Wilkerson (3.960), and Bob Tasca III (3.979) also ran in the three-second zone. In all, nine drivers qualified with a three-second pass.

The nailbiter of the session was Ron Capps making the field after being on the verge of not qualifying. Crew chief Rahn Tobler made the decision to park the car they started the event with and bring out a new chassis. A soft tune-up got them into the field in the No. 10 spot with a 4.025.

First-round quads (lane choice by order):
Robert Hight vs. J.R. Todd vs. Bob Tasca III vs. Bob Gilbertson
Tommy Johnson Jr. vs. Shawn Langdon vs. Terry Haddock vs. Jeff Diehl
Jack Beckman vs. Tim Wilkerson vs. Ron Capps vs. Dave Richards
John Force vs. Matt Hagan vs. Jonnie Lindberg vs. Cruz Pedregon

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Q2 recap: Karen Stoffer's Friday run at zMax Dragway was obviously no fluke after she rode Jerry Savoie's Suzuki to a 6.793 to lead Q2. Stoffer picked up an additional three bonus points after making the best run of her long career. She held off four-time champion Eddie Krawiec, who moved to the No. 2 spot after a 6.825.

Almost every rider in the field improved on Saturday including Reed Motorsports teammates Joey Gladstone and Cory Reed, who moved into the top half of the field with runs of 6.829 and 6.845 respectively. With one run remaining, the bump is held by Jimmy Underdahl at 6.944.

Q3 recap: Karen Stoffer captured the fourth pole of her career, and her first since the 2015 season at the NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Stoffer's 6.793 from Saturday's first session withstood a barrage of strong runs in Q3 but held up for the top spot. The best run of the round came from Las Vegas winner Hector Arana Jr., who powered to a 6.802 on his Lucas Oil EBR.

Reigning champ Matt Smith finished as the No. 7 qualifier but he reset the zMax Dragway track speed record in the final session with a 200.32-mph run, the track's first double-century pass.

First round quads (lane choice in order):
Karen Stoffer vs. Angelle Sampey vs. Cory Reed vs. Jimmy Underdahl
Hector Arana Jr. vs. Matt Smith vs. Angie Smith vs. Scotty Pollacheck
Andrew Hines vs. Jerry Savoie vs. Hector Arana Sr. vs. Kelly Clontz
Eddie Krawiec vs. Joey Gladstone vs. Steve Johnson vs. Ryan Oehler