NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

And away we go on what will be an extra busy Saturday with three Pro qualifying sessions that will also include the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge in the second and third sessions.

We’ll be kicking off with Top Fuel and Funny Car, and then Pro Stock Motorcycle, then rinse and repeat twice more.

Qualifying took place yesterday and this morning in Sportsman classes as well in Congruity Pro Mod and Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle. Right now, Dymtry Samorukov leads Pro Mod with a 5.764 and to no one's surprise. world champ Larry McBride tops the nitro bikes with a 4.831.

Top Fuel Q1

Not unlike Bristol two weeks ago, there was definitely a favored lane on the opening lap, and that was the left, where the majority of successful passes were completed, including Clay Millican’s low-of-the-session 3.864

"I think in 2023 had the hot weather combo, but that changes every time you get in the race car, it changes a little bit, but I do love my chances when it's hot out," said Millican. "The hot weather doesn't bother me as bad because I am a Memphis boy and this humidity is kind of normal, but I still don't like it. It's hot. I'm sweating, but stomped on that loud pedal and the Parts Plus car right down the racetrack."

Bristol winner Steve Torrence and “them Capco boys” were among the best in the right lane with a 3.883 that has them second, but the rest of the representative runs — 3.885 by Shawn Reed, 3.893 by Brittany Force in the Chevrolet Accessories entry, and 3.896 by Doug Foley in the United Garage Doors machine — were recorded in the left lane.

In between the Bristol and Richmond events, Reed returned to his drag boat racing roots by participating in the alcohol-fueled Pro Mod class at the KDBA Summer Thunder on Lake Lucas in Wheatland, Mo., where he secured the No. 1 qualifying position but red-lighted in round one.

Englishman Smax Smith kicked off qualifying in the Leverich family’s Ant Hill Mob entry in his first showing since last year’s Reading event, but didn’t make it down the track, nor did points leader Tony Stewart in the American Rebel Light-backed machine in the right lane.

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Funny Car Q1

It was an emotional moment when the Peak Camaro went down the track one year after John Force's horrible wreck here, but the 16-time world champ was here to see it and root on his driver, Jack Beckman, to a 3.98 to take the No. 1 spot.

"A 3.98 doesn't feel that fast — It just doesn't shove you in the trunk from 200 feet to 600 feet — but it's still a tasty run and I highly recommend it," said Beckman. "We got Task Force Rahal, and we've got the boss here where his wreck was last year. We really would like some closure at the end of the weekend."

Beckman's teammate, Austin Prock, who won this race last year after Force's accident, is second with a 4.004 and J.R., Todd sits third with a 4.018. Ron Capps, who celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday, is fourth with a 4.028.

Funny Cars seem to tolerate the right lane better than their longer Top Fuel brothers as both Beckman and prock ran in the right lane.

Rookie Hunter Green is getting an unexpected start in the Chad Green Motorsports entry after Blake Alexander was unable to drive as scheduled. It's his fourth start of the year, and he opened with a 4.143.

Jim Campbell was unable to get the Capt. Paul Watson machine staged and had to shut off on the starting line while Alexis DeJoria's team coudn't get her Bandero machine to light.

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Pro Stock Motorcycle Q1

The surprise is not that Brayden Davis, the low qualifier two weeks ago in Bristol, is back on top of the pack on the Vance & Hines rental Suzuki, but that his teammates, two-time world champ Gaige Herrera and Richard Gadson, sit eighth and nonth on the grid after one session and that six-time world champ Matt Smith is just fifth.

Davis' 6.796 leads No. 2 qualifier Steve Johnson's game 6.801 with Angie Smith third at 6.813 as the first of three straight Matt Smith Racing riders followed by John Hall (6.830) and Matt Smith (6.852).

The top eight is rounded out by Ryan Oehler, with one of his best opening laps in a while, in sixth with 6.852, with another MSR rider, Jianna Evaristo, in seventh with a 6.863 and Herrera eighth at 6.868.

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Top Fuel Q2/Mission Challenge E1

Shawn Langdon, already a three-time winner in the Mission Challenge this season, beat tire-smoking Justin Ashley to reverse the results of their semifinal two weeks ago in Bristol with a 3.891

Tony Stewart, winner of the Mission Challenge in Bristol, went up against Bristol event winner Steve Torrence but can't turn the trick again as the four-time world champ erases him with a 3.888 and will take on Langdon in the final. It's Torrence's second straight 3.88.

As the John Force Racing team continues to navigate its feelings on their return to the track after last year's near-tragedy, Brittany Force put a smile on all of their faces with a 3.839 that put her Chevrolet Accessories dragster into the top spot and did in in the less-favored right lane.

"That's been our focus for the last couple of years is these hot race tracks," she said. "It's where we can't seem to perform well. So to come out here around an .89 and .83 back to back, and we still get one more. puts us in a really good position. I'm feeling confident and looking forward to tomorrow."

After skipping Q1, Cameron Ferre made his first lap in the Freeman Racing entry and charted a decent 4.070 after debugging the data-logging system that was causing the car to shut off prematurely in Bristol.

Points leader Tony Stewart sits in the 14th and final spot after a pair of 10-second passes. The good news is that if he stays there, he draws the No. 1 qualifier in round one of the 14-car field with a bye to the semifinals for the winner of that round. Doubt it's their strategy though ...

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Funny Car Q2/Mission Challenge E1

Paul Lee, whose opening lap was a wild one that featured a hard right turn onto the centerline, didn't make it down under power again, shutting off early against Daniel Wilkerson's right-lane 4,.02 as D-Wilk and the Scag Ford made it to their first Mission Challenge final of the season.

Recent birthday boy Ron Capps, coming in hot off his big win in Bristol, got a lucky break as his mount went silent alongside Dave Richards' Bluebird Turf Ford well downtrack and coasted to the win with a 4.51. Capps, the #2Fast2Tasty winner in Phoenix, will face Wilkerson in the Mission Challenge final in Q3.

Unlike in Top Fuel, the lanes seemed to have evened out for Funny Cars as Jack Beckman (4.01), Alexis DeJoira (4.05), and Hunter Green (4.08) went successfully down the left lane while Spencer Hyde and Chad Green both made 4.08 passes down the right lane.

Beckman now owns two of the three quickest runs (3.988 and 4.016) with only teammate Austin Prock's 4.004 between them.

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Pro Stock Motorcycle Q2/Mission Challenge E1

As cloud cover moved in to give the racers and fans a bit of a break from the hot and humid conditions, the Pro Stock Motorcycle teams feasted on the better conditions with wholesale improvements in performance.

Richard Gadson, who scored his breakthrough first NHRA national event win two weeks ago in Bristol, picked up nearly a tenth of a second, from his Q1 pass of 6.893 to a 6.809 to defeat Chase Van Sant and reach another Mission Challenge final to accompany his Charlotte Mission win.

Gadson will take on his RevZilla/Motul teammate Brayden Davis, who chased down teammate Gaige Herrera's slight .011 to .020 holeshot with a 6.757 to the two-time world champ's 6.793. To paraphrase John Force from decades ago, has Vance & Hines hired its own world champion's assassin?

Eleven of the 17 riders improved on their Q1 performances, including Matt Smith, whose 6.787 (after a 6.852) took him to the No. 2 spot with Herrera's 6.79 in third.

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Top Fuel Q3/Mission Challenge final

With the track temperature reaching an almost unnavigable 140 degrees, we weren't expecting much, but we still got some great racing in, capped with Steve Torrence defeating Shawn Langdon to win the Mission Challenge with a 3.877, his best run of qualifying, to Langdon's 3.927.

Clay Millican also ran 3.877 while Doug Kalitta's 3.905 was third-best of the session and a vast improvement over his 4.33 previous best. Langdon's 3.92 was the next best run.

Points leader Tony Stewart, who had a class-leading 77.7% completed-run record coming into the race, again failed to make it down the track, his Q3 8.97 being his best of the trio, which means he will face No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force in round one. The "good news" is that if he beats Force, he'll have a second-round bye run into the semifinals for the 14-car ladder.

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Funny Car Q3/Mission Challenge final

Daniel Wilkerson defeated Phoenix Mission Challenge winner Ron Capps in the final, leaving first and never looking back for a 4.03 to 4.06 victory over the Bristol race winner.  Although he previously tuned Chad Green to a Mission challenge win, this is Wilkerson's first anything win as a Funny Car driver.

Gatornationals champ Chad Green certainly looks racy with a solid trio of runs — 4.081, 4.095, and 4.109 — heading into Sunday as does J.R. Todd, who has put together passes of 4.018, 4.065, and 4.102 in the DHL Toyota.  Homestate hero Matt Hagan finally got into the 4.0s with a 4.096 after a couple of aborted passes. After losing her first pass when the car wouldn't fire, Alexis DeJoria has responded with back-to-back runs of 4.050 and 4.068.

Beckman will face Jim Campbell in round one tomorrow, leading the field at the race where last year his boss, John Force, crashed horribly. Nothing would make the team happier than an all-Force final round between Beckman and Austin Prock.

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Pro Stock Motorcycle Q3/Mission Challenge final

Brayden Davis fell short of his first career win in Bristol after qualifying No. 2 in his second career race and his first for Vance & Hines, but he looks like he's in a hurry to fix that after beating teammate Richard Gadson to win the Mission Challenge. No one is counting out a first national event win on Sunday, least of all a humble but confident Davis, who has enjoyed a great deal of success at Virginia Motorsports Park in other motorcycle associations.

Davis is the No. 1 qualifier for the second straight race with Matt Smith coming in hard for No. 2 with a Q4 6.768 -- the best run of the session -- and MSR rider John Hall also stepping up with a 6.878 for No. 3, all of them ahead of two-time world champ Gaige Herrera.