NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Austin Prock (Funny Car), and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) claimed No. 1 qualifiers at the third of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series on a busy Saturday at Firebird Motorsports Park in Phoenix.

Torrence and Prock stayed atop their packs with their Friday runs while Coughlin stole the pole from teammate Erica Enders on his final qualifying pass.

“It’s very exciting and a big testament to this team,” Coughlin said. “To be on the pole, it feels fantastic. We unloaded off the trailer with a good run right off the bat. I had my hands full the first three gears and we tuned it up for Q2. It was the quickest of the session and went straight down the track. They tuned it up for Q3 and gave me a little more and it felt really nice. The car feels good and the team is gelling, and that’s what it takes. The guys fine-tuned the car throughout the day and that really helped us.”

Funny Car legend John Force picked up his first victory in two years, powering past Matt Hagan of Tony Stewart Racing to win the postponed Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, which was completed on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd. Justin Ashley (Top Fuel) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the postponed Pomona race . 

Force, the winningest driver in NHRA history, went 4.033 seconds at 318.24 mph in his Chevrolet Camaro SS, slipping past Hagan’s 4.048 to claim his 156th career victory and first since April of 2022.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), J.R. Todd (Funny Car), and Enders won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge specialty race.