NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Two qualifying sessions today will set the final fields for Sunday’s eliminations at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, and Friday’s low qualifiers have said they don’t expect their provisional field-leading times to withstand the day.

Doug Kalitta fronts the Top Fuel field with a 3.75, hot off of his runner-up last weekend at the Mile-High Nationals in Denver, and he hopes that a good starting position will lead to favorable matchups early on due to the 13-car field. The No. 1 qualifier will get a bye into round two, which could help catapult Kalitta to his long-awaited 50th career win.

Clay Millican, winner of the Denver race, is hot on Kalitta’s heels and even if he can’t overtake him for the lead, he would get a bye in the second round if he can defeat the No. 13 qualifier in round one Sunday.

Bob Tasca III is atop the Funny Car field and hopes to stay there, even though last year’s pole position ended with a stunning first-round loss. John Force, the winningest driver in event history and the man who claimed his 150th career win at this event in 2019, sits No. 2 behind him.

As he has for almost every race this season, Gaige Herrera tops the Pro Stock Motorcycle field which is making its first ever appearance at this event. His Friday run was less than perfect according to him so there’s a good chance he can dip lower into the 6.70s today.

All three professional classes will take part in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge bonus race on Saturday, which brings competitive racing – including a bonus purse and bonus points – to qualifying. Millican races Shawn Langdon, and Doug Kalitta faces off with Steve Torrence in Top Fuel, 

Kalitta won the first ever Top Fuel Challenge earlier this season in Phoenix and Millican was the defacto “winner” in the rain-halted Epping Challenge, and with five-time Challenge winner Justin Ashley not in this competition after a first-round exit in Denver, a new winner could emerge.

The Funny Car matchups include Mille-High Nationals winner Matt Hagan against Capps and Denver runner-up Alexis DeJoria against J.R. Todd. Hagan won the Denver Mission Challenge to sweep the weekend while DeJoria just missed winning the Challenge for the second time.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Denver champ Gaige Herrera races Chase Van Sant, and mile-high runner-up Angie Smith takes on Hector Arana Jr., with the winners in all classes meeting in the final round of the specialty race during Saturday’s final qualifying session.

2022 EVENT WINNERS

Tony Schumacher, Top Fuel; Robert Hight, Funny Car.

MOST VICTORIES

Tony Schumacher and Joe Amato, 5, TF; John Force, 9, FC.

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.685 seconds by Antron Brown, August ’16; 332.43 mph by Brittany Force, July ‘22.

Funny Car – 3.832 seconds by Del Worsham, August ’16; 334.15 mph by Jack Beckman, August ’16.

SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, July 22
Lucas Oil Series eliminations at 9:30 a.m.
Camping World Series qualifying at 1:45 and 4:15 p.m.

SUNDAY, July 23
Pre-race ceremony, 9:45 a.m.
Camping World Series eliminations begin at 10:30 a.m.

TELEVISION

Saturday, July 22, FS1 will televise one hour of qualifying coverage at 2 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 23, FS1 will televise one-and-a-half hours of qualifying coverage at 1:30 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 23, FOX will televise three hours of live finals coverage at 4 p.m. (ET).

TICKETS:

To purchase tickets to the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals, fans can click here or call 800-884-6472