NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

If you listen to the people who know — that being the racers who were the quickest on Saturday — Sunday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals could be a record-shattering day of racing.

“These conditions are A++,” said Mission Challenge winner Jack Beckman. “It’s as good as it gets out there, and in all likelihood, all the runs [Sunday] are going to be in those type of conditions.”

“The conditions [Sunday] are going to be hateful. If you think the runs that you've seen over the last four runs were good, wait until [Sunday]. The cars are all going to pick up.”

That’s some pretty lofty promises after two days of sensation qualifying that yielded some of the best passes ever seen down In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, including a record-quick Pro Stock field, a near-record Funny Car field, and the second fastest speed in Top Fuel history.

Brittany Force, who has led the Top Fuel field in Sunday battle five of the last six years, will be looking for her first Winternationals win as will her John Force Racing Funny Car teammate, Austin Prock, who was the quickest qualifier there.

Ten Top Fuel drivers made runs in the 3.6-second zone during qualifying, from Force’s No. 1 3.64 to Shawn Reed’s 10th-ranked 3.698, so races are likely to be decided by driver reactions as much as horsepower.

Shawn Langdon won Saturday’s Mission Challenge in Top Fuel, just as he did in Phoenix, where he also won the NHRA Arizona Nationals race title, meaning he’s on an eight-race win streak and will look to extend that on Sunday.

Seven Funny Car drivers qualified in the 3.8-second range, and 15 of the 16 spots in the field went to three-second elapsed times. Prock went 338 on his low qualifying run, and after he made the sport’s first 340-mph pass at this track last fall, who knows what Sunday might bring?

Pro Stock’s bump spot of 6.554 is the quickest in event history, and with a field this tight, upsets are sure to happen.

“Running 6.40s seems to be the price of poker out here this weekend,” low qualifier Greg Anderson said. “You better run 6.40 or you're probably going to go home. Unfortunately, there's a lot of cars that can do it. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a hell of a race.”

2024 EVENT WINNERS

Justin Ashley, Top Fuel; John Force, Funny Car; Dallas Glenn, Pro Stock

MOST EVENT VICTORIES

Don Garlits, 6, TF; Doug Kalitta, 4, TF (active driver); John Force, 7, FC; Matt Hagan and Ron Capps, 4 (active drivers) Bob Glidden, 7, PS; Greg Anderson, 6, PS (active driver).

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.628 seconds by Clay Millican, Feb. '18; 338.94 mph by Brittany Force, Nov. ‘22.
Funny Car - 3.804 seconds by Austin Prock, Nov. '24; 341.68 mph by Prock, Nov. '24
Pro Stock - 6.480 seconds by Erica Enders, Nov. '14; 213.84 mph by Drew Skillman, Nov. '15.

NATIONAL RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.623 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept. ‘19, Reading, Pa.; 338.94 mph by Brittany Force, Nov. ‘22, Pomona, Calif.
Funny Car - 3.793 sec. by Robert Hight, Aug. '17, Brainerd, Minn.; 341.68 mph by Austin Prock, Nov. ’24, Pomona, Calif.
Pro Stock - 6.443 sec. by Greg Anderson, Mar. ’25, Gainesville, Fla.; 215.55 mph by Erica Enders, May ’14, Englishtown N.J.

SCHEDULE

SUNDAY, March 30
Pre-race ceremony, 9:45 a.m.
Mission Foods Drag Racing Series eliminations begin at 11:00 a.m.

TELEVISION

SUNDAY, March 30, FS1 will televise one and half hour of qualifying highlights at 12:00 p.m. (ET)
SUNDAY, March 30, FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 6:30 p.m. (ET)