NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Ron Capps got a step closer towards defending his NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals title with a second-round win against Shawn Langdon. He made a 4.039-second pass at 312.28-mph, the quickest of the second round, and will have lane choice against Bob Tasca III in the semifinals. Capps has won in Bristol two years in a row and is chasing his third win of 2019. 

Related: Funny Car Ladder

The matchup between Tasca and Capps is especially intriguing because of who tunes the respective Funny Cars. Eric Lane, the tuner of Tasca’s Ford Motorcraft Funny Car, was formerly the assistant crew chief of the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car piloted by Capps and tuned by Rahn Tobler. For Lane to get his first Wally as a crew chief, he’ll have to defeat his old boss. 

John Force also moved closer to a major milestone, defeating Tommy Johnson Jr. to book a semifinal matchup against Jack Beckman. Johnson absolutely annihiliated the tires of his Make-a-Wish Funny Car right at the step, allowing Force to drive to a comfortable victory in his PEAK Performance Chevy Camaro. Force will have lane choice over Beckman. 

Beckman defeated defending world champion J.R. Todd, who dropped a cylinder and ran a 4.397-second pass. The two left at the identical time (.059-second reaction times) but Beckman made a solid 4.076-second pass to get to the stripe first. Beckman reached the final at the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties a week ago and came up short against Robert Hight. He’s looking for his first win of the season after a pair of runner ups. 

The semifinals are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. You can catch all the action live on NHRA.tv.