UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Top Fuel round one

Heading into Championship Sunday, Justin Ashley led Shawn Langdon by 42 points and Antron Brown by 46. Doug Kalitta is 78 points back, Steve Torrence 79 behind, Clay Millican at -95, and Brittany Force at 108 back. 

After an hour and 50-minute delay from a plane crash at the facility, Brown defeated Ashley in a great race, and one of the most important of the season, 3.69 to 3.70. Ashley still leads the points

"We had to keep digging deep," said Brown. "To race Justin in round one — I was cheering for him to get the championship — I won't lie to you -- but we wanted to qualify better and that was a tough first round,"

Langdon then defeated Josh Hart and with Brown and Langdon now matched in round two, Ashley's championship hopes are over as Langdon is 13 points behind him and Brown 16 points back and 30 points awarded to the round-two winner.

Torrence's dream of a fifth title ended in tire smoke against his former clutch specialist, Gary Pritchett, who gets his first round-win in his class debut in Travis Shumake's entry.

Earlier in the round, Millican kept his slim hopes alive by beating Tony Schumacher with a strong 3.654. It was the 54th all-time meeting of the two veterans and the score now stands at 38-18, favoring Schumacher. Low qualifier Brittany Force also kept her season going with a 3.69 victory over Krista Baldwin.

Jasmine Salinas put a little more polish on her Rookie of the Year resumé with a 3.69 to 3.67 holeshot win over Shawn Reed, taking the stripe by just .003-second but punctuated by yet another blown supercharger for her Scrappers team this weekend.

New father Tony Stewart, who his wife, Leah Pruett, welcomed their first child, 8-pound 3-ounce Dominic James, into the world early this morning, flew back into Pomona a few hours ago to be ready for the final race of his first Pro season.

"Dad" turned on his first win light as a father and locked himself into a Top 10 finish with a 3.74 victory over Billy Torrence.

Second-round Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Clay Millican vs. Antron Brown; Shawn Langdon vs. Antron Brown; Gary Pritchett vs. Tony Stewart; Doug Kalitta vs. Jasmine Salinas

Just as Ashley and Brown were preparing for their crucial first-round race, the action was halted due to an apparent plane crash at the facility. Brackett Field is just west of the track.

NHRA released the following statement

Today, a small single-engine airplane crashed at the Pomona Fairplex. The pilot and three occupants of the aircraft all suffered minor to moderate non-life-threatening injuries and are being treated at a nearby hospital. The NHRA has been working closely with the Pomona Police Department and L.A. County Fire Department and has been guided to continue racing.

Funny Car round one

Austin Prock's historic championship-winning season got even bigger emphasis as he powered the Auto Club Camaro to the first 340-mph Funny Car pass on a run of 341.68 on a 3.82 pass to defeat Jason Rupert.

"To run 3.80 last night [in qualifying] and back it up with 341, unbelievable," said Prock."Right when you think we’re done, we keep one-upping everyone."

Ron Capps and Jack Beckman kept pace with Prock with respective 3.84 victories over Jeff Diehl and Terry Haddock, while Matt Hagan cruised to a 3.87 against red-lighting Steven Densham. It's Capps' 13th straight win against no losses against Diehl while Beckman ran his lifetime record against Haddock to 8-0.

J.R. Todd was also quick with a 3.85 to beat Cruz Pedregon and Blake Alexander also ran in the 3.80s with a 3.87 win against Alexis DeJoria while Daniel Wilkerson ran "just" 3.91 in trailering Bob Tasca III. Defending event champ Chad Green clocked a 3.99 to upset better-qualified Paul Lee to lock in a Top 10 finish.

Second-round Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Austin Prock vs. J.R. Todd; Matt Hagan vs. Daniel Wilkerson; Ron Capps vs. Chad Green; Jack Beckman vs. Blake Alexander

Pro Stock round one

The battle for the 2024 Mission Foods Pro Stock title will carry on to at least the second round as contenders Aaron Stanfield, Dallas Glenn, and Greg Anderson each advanced. As noted in our preview, each of the three controls their own destiny and can win the title by winning the event.

Anderson scored a statement win over Kenny Delco with a 6.492 that is the quickest run of the event this far. Anderson will easily have lane choice when he races Cory Reed in round two.

Glenn got the win over Derrick Reese, but was likely not thrilled to run 6.544. Regardless, Glenn will retain lane choice in his round two race against Cristian Cuadra. Stanfield remained the points leader thanks to his 6.500 win against Elite teammate Troy Coughlin Jr.

The rest of the round also provided plenty of drama as Cristian Cuadra pulled off an improbable holeshot win against Jeg Coughlin Jr., 6.555 to 6.532 while Cory “Caveman” Reed put down a solid 6.555 in his win against Jerry Tucker.

Six-time champ Erica Enders gave up a slight lead against Eric Latino, but had more than enough performance to make up the difference with a solid 6.523.

The KB Titan team put another car in the quarterfinals after Camrie Caruso, the third-quickest qualifier, topped Chris McGaha with a 6.523 to set up a round two race against Enders.

Second round Pro Stock pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Cory Reed; Aaron Stanfield vs. Matt Hartford; Dallas Glenn vs. Cristian Cuadra; Camrie Caruso vs. Erica Enders

Pro Stock Motorcycle round one

The championship that has long been a nearly forgone conclusion became reality when Gaige Herrera rode to a 6.779 in his win against Aaron Pine, who made it interesting with a .009 reaction time. Herrera came into the round with a 119 point lead and with just three rounds remaining, Matt Smith cannot catch him.

Smith admitted on Saturday that he was almost certain to finish No. 2, and he sealed that spot thanks to his victory over Aaron Pine in round one. Smith isn’t going quietly as he set low elapsed time of the round with a 6.764.

Marc Ingerwersen continued his recent string of impressive performance with a 6.821 in his win over Hall. Even so, Ingwersen needed a holeshot to take the win and got it with a .014 to .035 reaction time advantage.

Geno Scali scored a win after Hector Arana Jr’s GETTRX Buell fell silent at half track while Angie Smith has been quick all weekend and continued that trend with a 6.787 on her Denso Buell to defeat Lance Bonham.

Steve Johnson left well ahead of Jianna Evaristo and made that stand up for a 6.803 victory. Johnson is wrapping up his 37th season as a Pro Stock Motorcycle racer. Johnson will race Richard Gadson, who advanced after a foul start by Ryan Oehler.

Second round Pro Stock Motorcycle pairings (lane choice first): Angie Smith vs. Geno Scali; Steve Johnson vs. Richard Gadson; Matt Smith vs. Marc Ingwersen; Chase Van Sant vs. Gaige Herrera.