NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Updated throughout the day

PRE-RACE NOTES

Before we get rolling with final eliminations for Race 3 of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, let’s do a massive notebook dump of facts and figures to set the stage.

A Winternationals title can be elusive, just ask three of the sport’s biggest stars: Antron Brown, Brittany Force, and Austin Prock.

Although Force has been the No. 1 qualifier in five of her last six Winternationals starts – including this year -- she’s lost in the semifinals the last three years, twice to JFR teammate Prock, who now is driving the Cornwell Tools Funny Car.

Force’s No. 1 here is the 54th of her career and the 43rd since crew chief Dave Grubnic came on board in 2019.

Brittany’s father, John, of course, has won the Winternationals eight times, and her younger sister, Courtney, also won it in Funny Car in 2013.

Brown, who earned his first No. 1 qualifier in the Top Fuel at the 2008 Winternationals, has won the NHRA Finals four times in Pomona but never the Winternationals.

Brown begins raceday just two competition rounds away from his 950th Top Fuel elimination round and 1300th race day round overall. By advancing past the first round on race day, he will reach both of these milestones.

Prock has been in the final five times in nine starts in Pomona with just one win, in Top Fuel at the 2022 Finals. He was runner-up three times in Top Fuel at the Winternationals (2020, 2022, and 2023) and awas runner-up to teammate Jack Beckman at last year’s Finals.

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Justin Ashley, on the other hand, has had no such problems and has won the Winternationals the last three years running, and will be looking to join Funny Car legend Don Prudhomme, who dominated he race from 1975-78, as the only other four-straight Pro winner.

Top Alcohol Dragster stars Rick Santos (1998-2001) and Shawn Cowie (2018-21) also have won the event four straight years.

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Three members of the Kalitta family have won the Winternationals. Patriarch Connie scored his first career Top Fuel win at the 1967 Winternationals in his Ford-powered dragster, and his late son Scott won Top Fuel at the 2995 Winternationals.

Connie’s nephew, Doug, is by far the most successful at the Pomona track with seven wins in 15 final rounds between the track’s two annual races, with four Winternationals titles and three NHRA Finals wins.

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Two-time Funny Car world champ Cruz Pedregon grew up in nearby Chino, and even though he now lives in Indiana, the track, where he’s won in three different classes, remains special to him.

“I’ve always considered Pomona my home track and have managed to win some big races along the way here, even going back to my Top Alcohol days in the late 1980s. My most memorable victories here were back-to-back Winternationals victories in two different types of cars, Top Alcohol Dragster in 1989 and in a Top Alcohol Funny Car in 1990, and then we had a huge win at the 1995 Winternationals in our nitro Funny Car.

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Four-time Funny Car world champ Matt Hagan has been a finalist in six of his last 11 appearances in the Winternationals, including the last two. He has won more races (7) and more rounds (56) at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip than he has at any other venue in the series.

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Mother Nature did a little Pomona housekeeping this morning, with a little dose of light rain that will no doubt help cleanse the fabled Parker Avenue dragstrip of dirt and dust and help set the stage for what is expected to be a record-breaking day of racing. Stay tuned .. Top Fuel fires off at 11 a.m. PT.

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Top Fuel round one

After a morning sprinkle, the air temperature in Pomona is a brisk 59 degrees and the track temp is 83 degrees as Top Fuel kicked off eliminations.

After 12 straight round wins over three straight victories at the Winternationals, Justin Ashley’s unbeaten streak ends with early tire smoke against Josh Hart, whose R+L Carriers dragster continues to improve, matching his qualifying time of 3.675. Hart said earlier this morning that he expects his car to be in full championship-capable mode by the time the next event is done.

Hart will have a tough draw in round two against Arizona Nationals winner Shawn Langdon, who also has won the season’s first Mission #2Fast2Tasty events, and racked up his ninth straight win light (including the four in 2F2T) and 12 of 13 to start the year at the expense of Ida Zetterström. Langdon’s 3.668 was low for the round for one pair as his teammate, Doug Kalitta, followed with a 3.660 to defeat Scott Palmer.

Tony Stewart won his opening-round matchup for the third straight event when Antron Brown lost traction early against “Smoke’s” 3.71, and for the second straight race, low qualifier Brittany Force defeated her former babysitter, Steve Chrisman, and will now get a bye into the semifinals due to the 14-car field.

Clay Millican skillfully pedaled through tire shake against Shawn Reed, whose car went up into smoke but his 3.87 won’t give him lane choice against Jasmine Salinas, who also advanced past round one for the third straight event after four-time world champ Steve Torrence uncharacteristically double-stepped the throttle and fouled.

With Brown's first-round loss and Kalitta's win, "Air Doug" moved into second place in points behind Langdon.

Second-round Top Fuel matchups (lane choice first): Brittany Force vs. bye; Jasmine Salinas vs. Clay Millican; Doug Kalitta vs. Tony Stewart; Shawn Langdon vs. Josh Hart

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Funny Car round one

Blake Alexander, who barely stayed in the field in the final spot, upset low qualifier Austin Prock as both struggled for traction downtrack and Alexander barely kept his car off the guardwall. That’s the world champ’s second first-round exit in the year’s first three races and his second straight first-round exit at the Winternationals. He could plummet in the points as a result.

The upsets continued as Spencer Hyde, in his first raceday start after DNQs at the first two events of his rookie season, ran 3.88 to beat traction-plagued Ron Capps, who loses in the first round for the second straight event following his Phoenix explosion. Hyde told us earlier this morning that a 3.8-second run has been in the Head Inc. car since Gainesville when he crossed the centerline in qualifying and lost a great run.

Bobby Bode ran a career-best 3.88 in Del Worsham’s car, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Arizona Nationals champ Paul Lee’s sterling 3.83. The season’s other winner so far, Gators winner Chad Green, also advanced with a 3.96 against Dave Richards.

Green’s crew chief, Dean Marinas  put a fine point on the excellent conditions of this morning: “This track will take everything, but if you miss it by a little bit, you’re going home.”

“Fast Jack” Beckman, now John Force Racing’s only hope for a milestone 300th team Funny Car win, advanced with a 3.84 over Jeff Diehl, and Cruz Pedregon advanced easily with a 3.89 after local favorite Steven Densham smoked the tires. That’s “Cruzer’s” third 3.8-second pass in five tries this weekend in the Snap-on Tools entry.

Daniel Wilkerson, who, like Alexander, only made the field in his final pass Saturday, ran a 4.165 to beat J.R. Todd's tractionless Toyota.

Matt Hagan made his best run of the weekend, 3.884, to beat Alexis DeJoria, and with the losses by Prock and Capps, Hagan vaults from sixth place to fourth and will have lane choice over Alexander in round two.

Second-round Funny Car matchups (lane choice first): Matt Hagan vs. Blake Alexander; Jack Beckman vs. Chad Green; Paul Lee vs. Daniel Wilkerson; Spencer Hyde vs. Cruz Pedregon

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Pro Stock round one

Low qualifier Greg Andeson continued to be relentless, running 6.477 to break Erica Enders’ 11-year-old track record of 6.480 to handle Mason McGaha, who had transmission woes.

Saturday’s Mission Challenge winner Matt Hartford raced to a 6.482 to defeat Troy Coughlin Jr., while Dallas Glenn ran 6.490 to defeat Enders. As impossible as it seems, Enders lost in the first round for the third straight race. Cory Reed, was right behind Glenn with a 6.491 to drive around Greg Stanfield’s holeshot, and Deric Kramer, in another KB Titan entry, went 6.50 on a solo after Cody Coughlin was shut off with a water leak on the starting line.

Matt Latino scored his first career Pro Stock round win in his first start and did it against his father, Eric, on a holeshot, 6.535 to 6.508, while Jeg Coughlin Jr. welcomed another newcomer, Stephen Bell, to Pro Stock by slapping a .007 reaction time and his best run of the meet, 6.524, to defeat the Factory Stock Showdown star. Brandon Foster also pulled off an upset when No. 4 qualifier Aaron Stanfield shook the tires.

Second-round Pro Stock matchups (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Cory Reed vs. Brandon Foster; Matt Hartford vs. Dallas Glenn; Deric Kramer vs. Matt Latino

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Top Fuel round two

Indy champ Clay Millican go it done behind the wheel with a holeshot victory over Jasmine Salinas, 3.71 to 3.70, the second great job Millican has done on raceday after a first-round pedal job.

While the air temp for the round only went up four degrees, the sun that’s been playing peek-a-boo boosted the track temperature more than 20 degrees to a near-perfect 102 degrees.

On her bye run, low qualifier Brittany Force, still looking for her first Winternationals win, blasted to a 3.693 even with a cylinder out at the top end and will have lane choice over Millican in their final-four faceoff.

Phoenix winner Shawn Langdon racked up his sixth straight round win and his third straight semifinal berth this season after Josh Hart blew the tires off at the hit, but the 3.691 may have come at a mechanical expense for the Kalitta Air Careers team. After a pair of second-round exits to start the season, Tony Stewart reached his first semifinal of the year with a 3.70 after Doug Kaitta, whose Mac Tools car was sporting the air deflectors for the first time at this event, yet still smoked the tires at midtrack, no doubt raising a few eyebrows among their peers.

Kalitta's exit builds teammate Langdon's lead to 77 points, and Langdon will leave Pomona as the points leader no matter what happens the rest of the day.

Semifinal Top Fuel matchups (lane choice first): Brittany Force vs. Clay Millican; Shawn Langdon vs. Tony Stewart

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Funny Car round two

Cruz Pedregon smoked the tires early, and Spencer Hyde is into the semifinals on his first raceday start in Funny Car. Pedregon’s team was late back to the lanes for round two and still wrenching on the engine, but Jim Head and team graciously waited for them. Asked about being a great sportsman, Head drew a laugh from the crowd when he said, “It’s not sportsmanship; if someone didn’t wait for me, I’d knock them out.”

Paul Lee’s win streak ends at five rounds after he pulls the tires loose, and Daniel Wilkerson will face Hyde in the semifinals, meaning that one of the upstarts, who started the day in 13th and 16th place, respectively, will be in the final round.

Jack Beckman ran an impressively workmanlike 3.85 to end Chad Green’s hopes for a second season win despite a fine 3.91. The win gives Beckman the points lead, his first since the fall of 2020. He’ll take on four-time world champ Matt Hagan, who defeated Blake Alexander. Hagan is up to third place after starting the day in sixth.

Semifinal Funny Car matchups (lane choice first): Jack Beckman vs. Matt Hagan; Daniel Wilkerson vs. Spencer Hyde

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Pro Stock round two

Deric Kramer, back in the hunt after a troubled 2024, is back in the semifinals for the first time since the fall Charlotte event in 2023 after Matt Latino was a little light on his clutch foot and rolled the beams and fouled. Brandon Foster red-lighted right behind Latino, advancing Cory Reed.

Holeshot artist Dallas Glenn lived up to that reputation, beating Matt Hartford off the line, .023 to .040, which paid off at the other end when the two ran identical elapsed times of 6.505.

The round closed with a classic Greg Anderson vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr., duel that went to Anderson with low e.t. of the round at 6.492.

It'll be another all-KB Titan final round as all four semifinalists come from that North Carolina-based engine camp. It'll be the four straight race that the powerhouse Elite Motorsports team has been shut out the final, which has featured Anderson vs. Glenn in the last three events dating back to the 2024 season finale.

Semifinal Pro Stock matchups (lane choice first): Greg Andrson vs. Cory Reed; Dallas Glenn vs. Deric Kramer

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Top Fuel semifinals

Tony Stewart, who reached the final round last year in Sonoma in his rookie season in the class, will get another chance at his first Top Fuel trophy after handing Shawn Langdon a rare loss this season. Stewart’s Rinnai dragster ran 3,72 to beat Langdon’s cylinder-dropping 3.83.

Clay Millican, who had just one round win in the first two events this season, will race for his eight career Top Fuel Wally after defeating Brittany Force, 3.75 to 3.81. It will be Millican’s 26th career final as he looks to continue tilting his final-round success record back towards 50%.

Stewart will have lane choice.

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Funny Car semifinals

Daniel Wilkerson will have another chance to collect a Wally as the son of veteran Funny Car driver/tuner Tim Wilkerson ran 3.89 to end Spencer Hyde’s Cinderella day. Wilkerson has one previous runner-up, finishing second behind Matt Hagan at last year’s 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.

It won’t be Hagan in the other lane this time as the four-time world champ lost in the other semifinal to Jack Beckman, backfiring the supercharger in the lights in the process. Beckman will be the heavy favorite after a 3.86 pass, his third straight 3.8-second clocking of eliminations, as he tries to win John Force Racing’s 300th Funny Car Wally.

It's been a good Sunday for Wilkerson, who already has climbed from 13th place to 7th and could get to fifth if he can win the final.

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Pro Stock semifinals

Dallas Glenn extends his Winternationals win record to 11 rounds after reaching his third straight final round here, and he's looking for a third straight Winternationals Wally on Parker Avenue. Glenn won easily with a 6.509 after Deric Kramer shook hard. Still a good weekend for Kamer, who started the day 11th in points and now sits seventh.

And, for the fourth straight race dating back to last year's Finals here, the final will pit Glenn against Greg Anderson, who defeated Cory Reed with a 6.489 to earn final-round lane choice.

Anderson has now been part of the last six final rounds since September of last year, though he's only won two of the last five: the Finals last year to win the championship over glenn and the NHRA Arizona Nationals last weekend.

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Legends Nitro Funny Car final

Derrick Moreira defeated Shane Westerfield on a final-round holeshot to win the Extreme Steel Legends Funny Car final, 4.77 to 4.70 after a near-telepathic .014 reaction time. It was a tough loss for former Top Alcohol Funny Car world champ Westerfield, who is in the final round of that class and was looking for a historic Funny Car-style double up.

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Lucas Oil Series final rounds

Top Alcohol Dragster
Anthony Troyer (pictured) def. Joey Severance

Top Alcohol Funny Car
Brian Hough def. Shane Westerfield

Super Stock
John Winslow def. Justin Lamb

Stock
Joe Sorensen def. Jeff Adkinson

Super Comp
Bill Webber def. Toby Payne

Super Gas
Jerron Settles def. John Parrino

Top Sportsman
Aaron Steinkey def. Chris Newman