Today is not just about crowning champions at the most prestigious drag race in the world, it's also about setting the fields for the Countdown to the Championship that starts in two weeks in Reading, Pa. It's race time!

Top Fuel E1

With her playoff fate in the balance, Brittany Force got the job done, defeating three-time Indy winner Shawn Langdon by just .005-second, Langdon got away first but Force's David Grubnic horsepower got her to the stripe first, albeit in a ball of fire. The good news for Force is that, despite the conflagration, she deposited no oil on the track, as she had during qualifying.

Josh Hart, the only one who could bump Force from the playoffs, advanced past tire-smoking Tripp Tatum but his 4.021 was nothing to write home about and won't give him lane choice in round two against Clay Millican, whose 3.695 was the best run of the round in beating tire-smoking Antron Brown.

Tony Schumacher has a chance to win his 11th U.S. Nationals Top Fuel title after beating Shawn Reed on a holeshot, 3.73 to 3.72, but will cede lane choice to Force in round two. The field's other T.S., Tony Stewart, also advanced. Stewart made his Indy debut last year in Top Alcohol Dragster and went out in round two.

Stewart has captured feature wins at the 5/8-mile oval adjacent to the world’s most famous drag strip, earning victories in USAC Silver Crown, Sprint Car, and Midget events during his career. He also took top honors at the North Central Regional event here last year in Top Alcohol Dragster and won the North Central Division event here in May.

Rookie Ida Zetterström is now 2-for-2 in first-round races in her rookie campaign, defeating T.J. Zizzo with a 3.759. She will take on four-time world champ Steve Torrence, who beat his tire-smoking father Billy in round one. Justin Ashley defeated Dan Mercier to pass Shawn Langdon for second place in the standings and could pass points leader Doug Kalitta (DNQ)  by reaching the final round.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Brittany Force vs. Tony Schumacher; Clay Millican vs. Josh Hart; Tony Stewart vs. Justin Ashley; Steve Torrence vs. Ida Zetterström 

Funny Car E1

Funny Car racing started with a bang — literally — as Daniel Wilkerson's Scag Ford kabooms at mid-track against Bobby Bode, whose fine 3.93, his best run of the weekend, surely will go unappreciated next to D-Wilk's boomer.

"I just hate tearing [stuff] up and we tore a lot of stuff up this weekend," said Wilkerson. "We had such a good car last night. I don't know what happened to the thing, but because I'm dumb and we're racing. I just held my foot on the floor, so I feel pretty personally responsible for a ton of work we've got to do now."

Bode will cede lane choice to Blake Alexander, who ran 3.88 to beat Chad Green and secure the Head Inc. team's spot in the Countdown to the Championship. Green was two spots behind Alexander and could have knocked him from the playoffs with a win there and a long day.

There was more championship drama as yesterday's Pep Boys Callout winner Paul Lee lost on a holeshot to Cruz Pedregon, 3,92 to 3.91. Lee was10th and does not have the "perfect attendance" pass into the playoffs. In a rematch of yesterday's first round in the Callout, Alexis DeJoria upset tire-smoking Matt Hagan with a great 3.88, which knocked Lee from the Countown plaoyffs.

Jack Beckman reset low e.t. of the meet with a 3.842 against Dale Creasy Jr., who fell despite a career-best 3.95 while low qualifier Austi Prock ran 3.850 to beat Chris King, whose mount dropped a cylinder at the green.

In the feel-good win of the round, new father Buddy Hull finally got his first career round win after going 0-28 in his combined Top Fuel and Funny Car career, upsetting heavily-favored No. 2 qualifier Bob Tasca III, whose engine went sour at halftrack. Hull's e.t. was just 4.06 but got the win light.

"Thanks to all our sponsors; they're keeping us out here, keeping us going, and people that believe in me," said Hull. "It's been a while since I won a round of racing and they've stuck by me."

Hull won't have lane choice because Ron Capps. the defending event champ, drove his Don Prudhomme tribute/Army car to a 3.94 win over J.R. Todd.

The Countdown to the Championship field is now set, with these 12 drivers ready to fight for the championship beginning in Reading: Austin Prock, Bob Tasca III, Matt Hagan, J.R. Todd, John Force/Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, Blake Alexander, Dan Wilkerson, Chad Green, Alexis DeJoria, Cruz Pedregon, and Buddy Hull

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Austin Prock vs. Alexis DeJoria; Blake Alexander vs. Bobby Bode; Ron Capps vs. Buddy Hull; Jack Beckman vs. Cruz Pedregon

Pro Stock E1

This is a very different day than any we’ve had before this week at the U.S. Nationals, and the Pro Stock crew chiefs are going to have the opportunity to make some real magic out there in this much cooler and drier conditions — but this is the Big Go, and there is a lot on the line. It’s not just about throwing down big numbers, it’s about getting the win light. Sometimes, that means playing it safe, and other times, that means batting for the fences because your opponent is probably doing the same. 

In the first pair, Cristian Cuadra — who has missed races attending to the family business — really needs to go rounds to keep himself in the championship chase. He throws down a .008-second reaction time next to points leader Dallas Glenn and lands on the winning side by .008. In the next pair, twin brother David Cuadra kicks out Mason McGaha with a .005 light and killer 6.557 to smooth the path for his brother. Glenn is still guaranteed to start the Countdown to the Championship as the No. 1 seed. 

Troy Coughlin Jr. defeated Fernando Cuadra Jr. by .008 with an identical e.t. but a better reaction time, then Pro Stock rookie Cory Reed, in his third race, defeated Jerry Tucker on a holeshot by .003. Their lights, though, weren’t anything to brag about. Tucker was .051 and Reed was .048.

“That’s pretty wild,” said Reed. “In Sonoma, that was my Achilles’ heel; I couldn’t cut a light. We’ve almost figured that out, but if I go .048 all day long, I’m going to lose.” 

Defending event champion Matt Hartford posts a gutwrenching loss on a holeshot to championship hopeful Aaron Stanfield, and then it’s Eric Latino who falls next to Jeg Coughlin Jr. Cristian Cuadra is officially locked into the Countdown to the Championship with Latino’s departure.

Erica Enders defeats teammate Sienna Wildgust with the quickest run of the weekend, 6.529 at top speed 210.37.

No. 1 qualifier Greg Anderson is advancing over Camrie Caruso on a 6.542. It’s the first time this weekend that Anderson doesn’t have low of the round.

“That wasn’t a bad run, but this is a different day,” said Anderson. “A lot of things changed overnight, it was a major weather swing, and it’s probably going to take a little bit to get her right.” 

Four holeshot wins out of eight races. These drivers are keyed up and ready to get that U.S. Nationals trophy.

It’s official: Dallas Glenn, Greg Anderson, Erica Enders, Aaron Stanfield, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Troy Coughlin Jr., Jerry Tucker, Cristian Cuadra, Deric Kramer, Mason McGaha, and Matt Hartford will race in the 2024 Countdown to the Championship.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first):  Greg Anderson vs. Cristian Cuadra; Cory Reed vs. Aaron Stanfield; Erica Enders vs. David Cuadra; Jeg Coughlin Jr. vs. Troy Coughlin

Pro Stock Motorcycle E1

The Pro Stock Motorcycle’s enjoyed a similar performance improvement compared to their four-wheel counterparts. Chase Van Sant, fresh off his first career win in Seattle, opened eliminations with a 6.838 to score a win against Chris Bostick, who also made his best run of the weekend with a 6.894.

Angie Smith’s trip to the Indianapolis Raceway Park sand trap, and subsequent decision to skip Q5, apparently had little effect on her performance as the Denso Buell rider was strong with a 6.826 to easily cover Steve Johnson.

Hector Arana Jr. has had a love-hate relationship with the Christmas Tree at times but he found the sweet spot with a perfect .000 light in his 6.846 to 6.90 win against Kelly Clontz.

Jianna Evaristo banked the first 200 mph run of the weekend and also temporarily set low elapsed time of the event with a 6.804, 200.41 to beat Geno Scali, who took some consolation in making the best run of his long career with a 6.877 on the Vance & Hines Suzuki. Evaristo will have a tough draw in round two when she faces, Richard Gadson, who was just four thousandths slower with a 6.808 in his win over Ryan Oehler.

The first upset of the round came when Marc Ingwersen took out Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty champion John Hall with a 6.969. Ingwersen came into the U.S. Nationals at the No. 12 ranked rider in the field and needs to reach the semifinals in order to become eligible for the Countdown to the Championship.

Matt Smith took over low E.T. with a 6.787 to beat Ron “the Rat” Tornow, but that number held for only a few moments as Gaige Herrera followed with a 6.772 in his win against Wes Wells.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. Chase Van Sant; Jianna Evaristo vs. Richard Gadson; Matt Smith vs. Hector Arana Jr.; Angie Smith vs. Marc Ingwersen.

Top Fuel E2

Brittany Force needed a round won here to stay ahead of Josh Hart and her draw was a tough one, the winningest Top Fuel driver in U.S. Nationals history, Tony Schumacher, and got it done with a 3.779 after Schumacher almost double-stepped the gas as was late off the line. When Josh Hart fell to Clay Millican in the pair behind her, the two-time champ earned a chance to run for a third. Hart had a great light but smoked the tires and Millian roared to a 3.75 win,

"We've been working so hard all season long, and it's been a roller coaster, said Force, who needed to make the Coutndown on points after missing the Norwalk event to be with her father John after his accident in Virginia. "It's been ups and downs all season long, and we want a shot at this championship and to be sitting there 10th in position coming into this weekend we know it's on the line. It's been a crazy emotional year, so to be able to lock it up here, the final race, and we're in the hunt for the Countdown. I'm very proud of the Chevrolet team, Monster Energy, all of our sponsors, Cornwell Tools. I'm just excited to be here and we're not done. We still have more racing to do."

Justin Ashley came into the round with a chance to pass Doug Kalitta for the points lead heading into the Countdown if he reached the final, but he's up in smoke against Tony Stewart, who rips to a 3.747 in the heat. Stewart will take on Steve Torrence, who drove around Ida Zetterström's holeshot with a 3.742, which earned him semifinal lane choice by .005-second. Kalitta will enter the Countdown as the top seed, but second place is still up for grabs between Ashley and Torrence.

"Every win is special here," said Stewart. "I don't know what it is about IRP, but there's just something special when you win at this property. It doesn't matter whether it's on the oval or here on the dragstrip, uh, and I've even run a go-kart on the road course, so it's just three really cool race tracks and it's the big goal, man. We want to win this."

The 12 cars racing for the Top Fuel championship will be Doug Kalitta, Justin Ashley, Shawn Langdon, Steve Torrence, Antron Brown, Clay Millican, Tony Stewart, Tony Schumacher, Billy Torrence, Brittany Force, Josh Hart, and Shawn Reed.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Clay Millican vs. Brittany Force; Steve Torrence vs. Tony Stewart

Funny Car E2

No one ever has won three consecutive Indy Funny Car titles -- seven different drivers have won two straight -- and Ron Capps is looking to change that after taking his Don Prudhomme/Army tribute car to the semifinals with a 3.94 to 4.02 win over Buddy Hull. That's 10 straight round wins at Indy for Capps.

Prudhomme’s Army car that Capps is celebrating this year won the U.S. Nationals twice, in 1974 (Plymouth Barracuda) and 1977 (Plymouth Arrow). Oddly enough the famed Army Chevy Monza (above) never won Indy, settling for runner-up honors in 1975 and ’76. “Snake” also reached the final in 1978, losing the unforgettable final round to longtime friend and partner Tom “the Mongoose’ McEwen.

Low qualifier Austin Prock advanced to the semifinals, but he needed a holeshot to get it done over Alexis DeJoira, 3.879 to 3.876. It was 10 years ago that DeJoria won the U.S. Nationals but, for now, a second win eludes her.

Jack Beckman, running for John Force, makes it a third John Force Racing car to reach the semifinals at the Big Go, defeating Cruz Pedregon with a 3.870, low e.t. of the round. Brainerd winner Blake Alexander extends his win streak to six rounds with a 3.91 victory over Bobby Bode.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Austin Prock vs, Blake Alexander; Jack Beckman vs. Ron Capps

Pro Stock E2

Troy Coughlin Jr. locks into the No. 6 spot in the Countdown to the Championship although he does not win this round. Uncle Jeg Coughlin Jr. gets the nod with a 6.576. 

Cory Reed breaks on the burnout and cannot make the run, and that gives Aaron Stanfield an automatic win. His 6.555 is strong and bettered just a bit by Greg Anderson in the next pair. Anderson uses his to knock out Cristian Cuadra, who is still smiling because he’s already earned his spot to race for the championship. 

Low e.t. of the round again goes to Erica Enders and the Elite Motorsports team as she puts up a 6.537, 210.47 next to a tire-rattling David Cuadra. 

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Aaron Stanfield; Erica Enders vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr. 

Pro Stock Motorcycle E2

Marc Ingwersen’s quest to make the playoffs ended in the quarterfinals at Indy when he lost to Angie Smtih. Ingwersen left first and made his best run of the weekend with a 6.927 but it wasn’t quite enough to hold off Smith, who has made steady progress with her new Denso Buell to the tune of a 6.834. “Unfortunately we’re a few points short of the countdown,” said Ingwersen. “We’ve got a bit of a hurt motor, and we’ve band-aided it all weekend.”

Richard Gadson’s game continues to improve and his quarterfinal win against Jianna Evaristo may just have been his best run of the season. Gadson got off the starting line with a .013 light and his RevZilla Suzuki delivered with a 6.819. Evaristo was behind at the start and couldn’t make up the difference with a  6.891.

The Smith’s will renew their husband-wife rivalry in the semifinals when Matt and Angie race for a shot at the Toyota U.S. Nationals final. Matt rode to a 6.827 to earn lane choice. “This Denso bike is running good. We’re not up to the potential we need to be,” said Smith. “We’ll see what happens next round. We know there will be a Denso bike in the final and we know there will be a RevZilla bike in the final.”

Gaige Herrera lowered the boom (again) in the quarterfinals with a crushing 6.755 in his win over Chase Van Sant. Herrera’s run was not only the quickest run of the event, but it also earned lane choice for his semifinal run against teammate Richard Gadson.

The Countdown to the Championship field is now set in Pro Stock Motorcycle with Gaige Herrera, Matt Smith, John Hall, Richard Gadson, Chase Van Sant, Angie Smith, Jianna Evaristo, Hector Arana Jr, Steve Johnson, and Chris Bostick in the playoffs.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Gaige Herrera vs. Richard Gadson; Matt Smith vs. Angie Smith

Top Fuel semifinals

Clay Millican will get his first chance to win the U.S. Nationals after racing to a strong 3.75 to beat tire-smoking Brittany Force. It'll be Millican's 24th career final, but his first here at the U.S. Nationals. It would also be a first Indy win for crew chief Jim Oberhofer  

Steve Torrence, runner-up at last year's event, has raced in the U.S. Nationals Top Fuel title six times in the last 12 years -- winning twice -- and will get another shot as Tony Stewart smokes the tires. Torrence's 3.769 will mean lane choice for Millican. Torrence's win moves him past Shawn Langdon into second place in the standings heading into the Countdown. he cannot catch Doug Kalitta,

Not only does Torrence have a pair of Top Fuel victories in The Big Go, he has four more wins at the famed racetrack: Top Alcohol Dragster in 2005, the Traxxas Nitro Shootout in 2017, the Dodge Indy Nationals in 2020 CIVID-19 event, and the inaugural Pep Boys All-Star Callout, which was completed in Indy during the 2022 U.S. Nationals after the first round was contested at Gainesville, Fla.

Two other drivers – Darrell Gwynn and Morgan Lucas – have won in both nitro and methanol dragsters at Indy, and eight others also have a Pro win and a Sportsman win at the Big Go:  Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel and Super Gas), Ashley Force Hood (Funny Car and Top Alcohol Dragster), Greg Stanfield (Pro Stock and Factory X), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock and Super Gas), Larry Morgan (Pro Stock and Super Stock), Pat Austin (Top Fuel and Top Alcohol Funny Car), and Ronnie Sox (Pro Stock and Super Stock).

Funny Car semifinals

In a famous racing town in which his great-grandfather Jimmy placed 10th in the 1931 Indy 500 as a ride-along mechanic, in which his grandfather, Tom, reached the Funny Car semifinals at the 1977 U.S. Nationals, and in which his dad, Jimmy, tuned Robert Hight to a trio of Labor Day victories, Austin Prock will get a chance to win the U.S. Nationals after beating tire-smoking Blake Alexander.

Prock's 3.887 will give him final-round lane choice over Ron Capps, whose tire-hazing 4.31 got around Jack Beckman's up-in-smoke entry, giving Capps a chance to make U.S. Nationals history as the first driver to win Funny Car at Indy three straight years and a chance to hand his legendary mentor Don Prudhomme another victory in a "Snake" tribute car, as he did last year.  This will be Capps' 150th career final-round appearance.

Pro Stock semifinals

It’s going to be an all-Elite Motorsports final after Aaron Stanfield powers to a low of the round 6.574, 209.62 next to a troubled Greg Anderson. 

Erica Enders has the same trouble as Anderson and her .014 light is negated. She’s out of it and Jeg Coughlin Jr. gets the win on a 6.580, 209.10. 

Stanfield moves around Enders into the No. 3 position in the points. If he wins this race, he will start the NHRA Countdown to the Championship in the No. 2 position. 

Stanfield is going for a second U.S. Nationals win — his first was in 2020 in Factory Stock. He’s also going for the double as he has reached the final round in Holley EFI Factory X. 

Coughlin has five previous Indy wins — one in Super Gas and four in Pro Stock. 

Pro Stock Motorcycle semifinals

One of the biggest rivalries in the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing series will be renewed in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final as Matt Smith Racing and Vance & Hines will continue their recent battle, that has been waged both on and off the track.

Vance & Hines rider Gaige Herrera will take on MSR’s Angie Smith in a pairing that guarantees a first-time Indy winner. Herrera has lane choice after a 6.804 in his win against teammate Richard Gadson. Herrera will be racing in his 20th career final.

“I’m going against a tough competitor. You can never take any of the MSR bikes lightly,” said Herrera. “You can’t take anyone out here lightly. Angie just took out her husband and we’re going to have a fun final.”

Angie Smith pulled off what can best be described as a mild upset when she rode to a 6.820 to 6.843 win over husband, Matt in a race that was decided by just .01-second at the finish line.

FINAL RESULTS

Prock, Millican, Stanfield and Herrera roll to wins at 70th Toyota U.S. Nationals

Lucas Oil Series Sportsman results

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER
Hunter Green def. Angelle Sampey

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR
Sean Bellemeur def. Stan Sipos

COMP
Kayla Mozeris def. Joe Carnasciale

SUPER STOCK
Larry Hodge def. Jacob Delaune

STOCK
Joshua Decker def. Dan Fletcher

SUPER COMP
Trene Cressonie def. Jason Kenny

SUPER GAS
Bo Butner def. Dalton Deffenbaugh

RIGHT TRAILERS TOP DRAGSTER
Zach Sackman def. Darian Boesch

RIGHT TRAILERS TOP SPORTSMAN
Bill Yates def. Curt Fredrich

FLEXJET FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN
Kevin Skinner def. Raymond Nash

HOLLEY EFI FACTORY X
Aaron Stanfield def. Lenny Lottig