NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q1

Coming into the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals powered by Direct Connection, Richard Gadson leads his Vance & Hines teammate Gaige Herrera by 72 points. Herrera picked up three bonus points with a 6.823 to kick off qualifying. Gadson was fourth-quickest of the session with a 6.855.

Clayton Howey has shown significant improvement this year, and that continued in Q1 with a 6.894 that led the way for quite a while. Angie Smith finally knocked Howey from the pole with a 6.824 on her Denso Buell. Angie Smith picked up two bonus points while her MSR teammate, John Hall, was third with a 6.850.

Behind the leaders, there was a flood of 6.9-second runs, including Matt Smith (6.909), Ryan Oehler (6.922), Jianna Evaristo (6.938), Chase Van Sant (6.942), Kelly Clontz (6.975), and Chris Bostick (6.975).

Popular NHRA pro Karen Stoffer made her first appearance since the 2023 season and showed no signs of rust with a quick .009 reaction time and a 7.016 on her Suzuki, tuned by her husband, Gary.

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Pro Stock Q1

Prior to the first round of Pro Stock qualifying, there was an emotional tribute on the starting line to the late KB Racing team owner and longtime Las Vegas resident Ken Black. The return road on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was renamed Ken Black Way, and each of the KB Titan team cars carried a tribute to black and his Vegas Construction company.

Dave Connolly, pinch-hitting for the KB Titan team this weekend, was first out and posted a 6.642 that held up for the top spot for several pairs until rookie of the year contender Matt Latino ran 6.614.

Erica Enders, who suffered an extremely rare DNQ earlier this year in Las Vegas, stole the top spot from Latino with a 6.606, alongside Jeg Coughlin Jr., who ran 6.618. Aaron Stanfield finished as the No. 2-ranked driver with a 6.608.

Championship contenders Dallas Glenn and Greg Anderson ran side-by-side, with Glenn running 6.612 to Anderson’s off-pace 6.619.

Deric Kramer challenged for a spot in the top half of the field with a 6.619 in his Get Bio Fuel Camaro, while Greg Stanfield, already a winner this year, made one of the more impressive runs of the round with a 6.638.

After one run, the bump is Kenny Delco at 6.668.

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Funny Car Q1

With 21 Funny Cars entered, it’s going to be a four-session fight for the 16 spots, which could have some sort of impact on the points battles should one of the top teams get behind the 8-ball early.

Reigning world champ and points leader Austin Prock, whose incoming lead was 112 points over four-time world champ Matt Hagan, showcased that dominance with a 3.925 to lead the first session. Hagan was third with a 3.951, with a surprisingly strong Alexis DeJoria between them with a 3.948.

Bob Tasca III, Rookie of the Year frontrunner Spencer Hyde, and Del Worsham fill out the top six, all of whom are already qualified in the three-second zone. Paul Lee (4.00) and Blake Alexander (4.01) round out the top half

Worsham, in his first time in the driver’s seat in NHRA competition since the 2023 Finals, was the early leader with his J&A Service-sponsored entry with a 3.99.

Buddy Hull, making his first start in the Jim Dunn entry since he was injured in Sonoma, got a warm welcome when the KGC car erupted in flames at halftrack. Not a huge flare-up, just enough to get his feet warm.

Jack Beckman sits on the bump with a 4.62 after losing traction at midcourse.

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Top Fuel Q1

Points leader Doug Kalitta has the potential to clinch his second world championship this weekend but it’s going to take catastrophic weekends for second-place Justin Ashley and third-ranked Shawn Langdon to make that a possibility.

Ashley shaved two points off that lead with a 3.796 in the Scag team’s much-watched first run since dismissing crew chief Mike Green last week, a run that was second only behind Brittany Force’s 3.752 at 337.92, just a few ticks off her 388.17-mph track record set way back in 2019.

Kalitta, meanwhile, qualified just 10th with a traction-plagued 5.705.

Canadian Dan Mercier is an impressive third with a 3.801 with Josh Hart fourth at 3.811. Clay Millican (3.879) and Shawn Reed (3.881) were the only other drivers to make full passes.

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PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q2

Brayden Davis set the early pace in the Ted Wiens Complete Auto Center Trick or Traction program that rewards the Friday afternoon low qualifier with bonus funds. Davis rode to a 6.875 that wasn’t bettered for

Fred Camarena improved with his first six-second run of the weekend, a 6.995 while Marc Ingwersen slowed to a 7.145.

Jianna Evaristo and Kelly Clontz took aim at Davis, but both fell short with Evaristo running a 6.887 on her JHG Buell while Clontz ran 6.950.

Surprisingly, “Flyin Ryan” Oehler bumped Davis from the top spot for the session with a 6.872, one of his best runs of the season.

Oehler was quickly displaced by Matt Smith, who also made a dramatic improvement from Q1 with a 6.855.

The top spot once again changed hands after Richard Gadson rode to a 6.834 with Angie Smith recording a 6.855 in the other lane.

The final round of the session produced the best numbers when Gaige Herrera lowered the boom at 6.800 with John Hall also in the mix at 6.836.

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PRO STOCK Q2

The second session of Pro Stock opened with Mason McGaha running a 6.665 to land on the bump spot. One run later, his father, Chris, ran 6.657 to bump him out.

David Cuadra was the first driver to set the pace for the Ted Wiens Comple Auto Center bonus program, but Eric Latino was quick to take over with a 6.624.

Matt Hartford went from not qualified to solidly in the field with a 6.633 in his Total Seal Camaro while Kenny Delco just missed the show with a 6.664.

Fernando Cuadra Jr. took a shot at Latino and came up just short with a 6.628 in his Corral Tequila entry. At the time, that was good for the No. 10 spot in the ever-tightening field.

Deric Kramer also ran 6.628 while Dave Connolly powered to a 6.637.

Greg Anderson did what he’s done most of the season with a 6.598 to take over the top spot in the field and the top spot in the Ted Weins Complete Auto bonus program. Anderson was just a tick ahead of Greg Stanfield’s 6.616.

Anderson looked to have the top spot in hand, but Cory Reed had other ideas with a 6.597. Reed held on to win the $2,000 bonus after Erica Enders (6.607) and Aaron Stanfield (6.614) fell just short.

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Funny Car Q2

Typically, the low e.t. cash-bonus sessions, like the battle for the $3,500 “Ted Wiens Trick or Traction Award,” go through several leaders from the slower cars to the top dogs, trading hands five, six, even seven times throughout a session.

In just the second pair of the session, Ron Capps, who had to shut off in Q1 with some dropped cylinders, was all over his lane but used his driving savvy to power his Carlyle Tools Toyota to a 3.919. at 329.91, an e.t. later matched by Daniel Wilkerson but at a slower speed, 329.02 mph.

Capps remained in the top spot for most of the session – seven subsequent pairs as it turned out -- before being displaced by Spencer Hyde’s 3.917, which was quickly replaced by Matt Hagan’s 3.897.

Then, as he did in earlier bonus sessions this season in Epping, Seattle, and Dallas, Austin Prock swooped in on the final pass to take the No. 1 spot and the cash with a 3.895.

Like Capps, Jack Beckman also recovered from a sub-ideal first pass to clock a 3.937 in the Peak Chevy as did Chad Green, who uncorked a 3.974.

We ended up with 13 cars in the three-second zone as the pack continues to hunt for that elusive first all-three-second field. Of the eight drivers not in the threes, Cruz Pedregon (4.01) and Jason Rupert (4.02) can easily get there. Tom Gibbons is in Gary Densham’s three-second capable ride, and Dave Richards, Jeff Diehl, and Buddy Hull have also run under four seconds in the past but haven’t found their groove yet in this event.

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Top Fuel Q2

Points leader Doug Kalitta, who didn’t make it down in Q1, raced to the No. 1 spot early (second pair) in the session with a 3,711, a run that was four-hundredths better than Brittany Force’s Q1-leading pass, whetting the appetite for what was still to come.

And it was Force, much like her Funny Car teammate Austin Prock, who wouldn’t let that number ride all session as she busted out a 3.697 at a track-record 338.85 mph to take the provisional No, 1 spot.

Almost every one of the 13 cars who ran improved on their Q1 time. Behind Force and Kalitta sit Shawn Langdon (3.715) Shawn Reed (3.737< Tony Stewart (3.741), Justin Ashley (3.744), Antron Brown (3.750), and Clay Millican (3.771) to round out the top eight.