NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

If the two qualifying of qualifying at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park that set the field for today’s final eliminations for the NHRA Arizona Nationals are any indication, Sunday raceday will be a war.

The qualifying lead changes hands multiple times in Funny Car and Pro Stock and even the drivers who didn’t end up as low qualifiers showd some uncanny consistency that makes them equal co-favorites with their field’s leaders.

Although Doug Kalitta held onto the top spot in Top Fuel with his Friday career-best pass of 3.657, Mike Salinas and Steve Torrence were right on his heels with passes of 3.714 and 3.678 and 3.715 and 3.680, respectively. 

Kalitta fired off an impressive 3.700 on one run Saturday but didn’t make it down the track on his final pass as new crew chiefs Alan Johnson and Brian Husen, with nothing to lose, no doubt took a shot at rotating the earth, so don’t hold that against the Mac Tools team.

Tripp Tatum also looked great, chalking up passes of 3.68 and 3.69 while Winternationals champ Justin Ashley charted passes of 3.68 and 3.71. If the first round of Top Fuel in Pomona is any indication, all of these drivers will at least match these times.

Matt Hagan took the Funny Car lead on his final pass of 3.823 but also had runs of 3.859 and 3.861 while No. 2 qualifier Robert Hight blitzed the track with passes of 3.838, 3.839, and 3.848.

Eleven Funny Car drivers qualified in the three-second zone -- all within a tenth of a second of one another -- meaning that even the drivers with lane choice will have a three-second runner to contend with. 

The see-saw battle for Pro Stock supremacy behind the Winternationals-dominating Elite Performance duo of Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield got some pushback from KB Racing’s Kyle Koretsky, who stole the pole from Enders in Q3, improving on all three passes: 6.555, 6.539, and 6.520.

Enders also was better on every pass in her Melling Performance Camaro with passes of 6.540, 6.530, and 6.526 and will head into eliminations looking for a second straight victory.

World champ Greg Anderson’s HendrickCars.com Camaro had a mysterious gremlin that held him down into seventh place and, worst of all, gave him a first-rind date with fast-leaving rookie of the year teammate Dallas Glenn, who suffered a cut to his throttle foot that required five stitches and a visit to a local hospital but then returned and cut a perfect .000 reaction time on his final pass.

You can catch the action all weekend on FOX Sports 1 and NHRA.tv.

You can follow NHRA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to get a closer look at the action.

2020 EVENT WINNERS*

Steve Torrence, Top Fuel; Tommy Johnson Jr., Funny Car; Erica Enders, Pro Stock
*: *No event in 2021 due to COVID-19

MOST EVENT VICTORIES: Tony Schumacher, 5, TF; John Force, 8, FC; Bob Glidden, 5, PS.

SCHEDULE:

Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday

TV SCHEDULE

FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 7 p.m. (ET)

TICKETS

To purchase tickets, call 800-884-NHRA (6472) or touch here. Children 12 and under are admitted free in general-admission areas with a paid adult.