NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The regular season for the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series will wrap up this weekend at the 70th annual Toyota U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The sport’s most prestigious event features more than 900 professional and sportsman competitors. Special features also include the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and the Pep Boys Allstar Funny Car Callout on Sunday.

The Toyota U.S. Nationals isn’t just the sport’s marquee event, it also marks the final event before the start of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs which will determine the season champions in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Reigning world champion Doug Kalitta comes into Indy as the top seed in Top Fuel, and he’s also a past Indy winner in 2019. Kalitta leads his Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon by 84 points while Justin Ashley, fresh off a win in Brainerd, is third, 105 points back.

One particularly interesting storyline this weekend involves two-time world champion Brittany Force, who currently sits tenth in the standings. Since Force missed the Norwalk event, she must remain in the Top 10 in order to maintain her spot in the Countdown. Currently, Force and her Monster Energy team are 55 points clear of 11th ranked Josh Hart.

In Funny Car, Ron Capps is the defending event winner while young phenom Austin Prock is the top seed after a strong regular season. Prock enjoys a healthy 218 point advantage over Bob Tasca III, which means he’s locked up the top spot heading into the playoffs.

There are 14 Funny Car drivers that are currently playoff eligible including Jack Beckman, who is returning as the substitute driver for 16-time world champion John Force, who continues his recovery from injuries suffered earlier this year in Richmond.

The Pro Stock field is wide open as nearly any of the 22 drivers who are pre-entered are capable of making noise during eliminations. Greg Anderson, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Erica Enders, Matt Hartford, and Chris McGaha are all past U.S. Nationals winners who would very much like to relive their past Indy glory.

Anderson is the top seed followed by his KB Titan teammate Dallas Glenn while reigning world champ Enders is the No. 3 seed.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gaige Herrera is the reigning world champion and defending Toyota U.S. Nationals winner, and he’s already won six events this season. Herrera has been dominant, however, he has not won the last two Pro Stock Motorcycle events in Seatte and Sonoma. Reigning rookie of the year Chase Van Sant picked up his first win in Seattle while six-time world champ Matt Smith turned in a dominant performance in winning the Denso Sonoma Nationals.

In addition to the four professional categories, Indy winners will also be crowned in the Congruity Pro Mod Series, Holley EFI Factory X, FlexJet Factory Stock, and nine Lucas Oil Series Sportsman categories.

2023 EVENT WINNERS: Antron Brown, Top Fuel; Ron Capps, Funny Car; Matt Hartford, Pro Stock; Pro Stock Motorcycle, Matt Smith.

MOST VICTORIES: Tony Schumacher 10, TF; John Force, Ed McCulloch 5, FC; Bob Glidden, 9, PS; Dave Schultz, 6, PSM.

TRACK RECORDS
Top Fuel - 3.640 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept., ’22; 337.75 mph by Brittany Force, Sept. ‘22.
Funny Car – 3.799 sec. by Matt Hagan, Sept, ’17; 338.77 mph by Hagan, Sept. ‘17.
Pro Stock – 6.538 sec. by Jason Line, Sept. ’11; 211.13 mph by Mike Edwards, Sept. ’12.
Pro Stock Motorcycle – 6.746 sec. by Gaige Herrera, Sept. ’23; 201.16 mph by Matt Smith, Sept. ‘22.

SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, August 30 (All times EDT)
LUCAS OIL SERIES qualifying and eliminations at 8 a.m.
NHRA MISSION FOODS SERIES qualifying at 6:45 (Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle) and 8 p.m. (Top Fuel, Funny Car).

SATURDAY, August 31
LUCAS OIL SERIES eliminations at 8 a.m.
NHRA MISSION FOODS SERIES qualifying at noon and 2:30 p.m.
GETTRX ALLSTAR CALLOUT rounds, 12 noon, 1:45 p.m., 2:45 p.m.

SUNDAY, Sept. 1
LUCAS OIL SERIES eliminations at 8 a.m.
NHRA MISSION FOODS SERIES qualifying at noon and 2:30 p.m.
PEP BOYS ALLSTAR FUNNY CAR CALLOUT at 1 p.m.

MONDAY, Sept. 2
Pre-race ceremonies, 9 a.m.
NHRA MISSION FOODS SERIES eliminations begin at 10 a.m.

TELEVISION
Sunday, Sept. 1, FS1 will televise two hours of professional qualifying at 1 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, Sept. 1 FOX TV will televise 90-minutes of the Pep Boys Allstar Funny Car Callout at 5 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 1, FS1 will televise two hours or professional qualifying at 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 2, FS1 will television two hours of eliminations at noon
Monday, Sept. 2, FOX will televise two hours of finals coverage at 2 p.m.