NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Final eliminations for the NHRA Arizona Nationals kicks off Sunday at Firebird Motorsports Park to determine the second winners of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Low qualifiers Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) will lead their respective fields into battle under what are expected to be high 80-degree temperatures that will put the drivers and crews to the test to settle the annual “duel in the desert” outside of Phoenix.

Kalitta, the 2023 Top Fuel world champ, will be considered a strong favorite after his SealMaster team made four successful passes in a variety of conditions during qualifying and will probably get his toughest challenge fro his Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon, who won Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge.

Two-time world champ Brittany Force also looked strong in her Monster Energy-fueled entry, qualifying No. 3 while four-time and reigning world champ Antron Brown finished fourth.

Tasca didn’t make it down the track on either run Saturday, but there was no chance he could better his Friday low qualifying run, so the team set about testing the limits of grip on the track in advance of raceday.

World champ Austin Prock, coming in off a disappointing outing at the season opener two weeks ago, is qualified solidly in the No.2 spot, just ahead of his John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman. Out of those top three drivers, Beckman certainly looks like he has the car to win as the Peak Chevy had the best run of two qualifying sessions, the second-best of another, and the third-best of the fourth.

Three-time world champ Ron Capps, who won the Mission Challenge Saturday, will also be a big factor and sits fourth in the field.

Hartford, who lives and works in the community here at Total Seal, had dozens of friends, family, and co-workers cheering him n and would love to parlay his pole position into his first win at his hometrack race. He was runner-up here in 2019 and would love to go that extra round.

Like Tasca in Funny Car, Hartford didn’t light up the scoreboard with big numbers Saturday but that was by plan as his team used the two passes Saturday to break in new sets of tires, a common requirement in Pro Stock usually done during test sessions, to set him up for eliminations,

Behind Hartford are a trio of his KB Titan Racing teammates in world champ Greg Anderson, Cory Reed, and Dallas Glenn. Reed will have a tough draw in Jeg Coughlin Jr., who despite his low qualifying position (14th) won Saturday’s Mission Challenge on holeshot victories over Anderson and Glenn.

2024 EVENT WINNERS 

Shawn Langdon, Top Fuel; Austin Prock, Funny Car; Greg Anderson, Pro Stock

MOST EVENT VICTORIES

Tony Schumacher, 5, TF; John Force, 8, FC; Bob Glidden, 5, PS.

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel
3.643 seconds by Brittany Force, Feb. '20; 337.92 mph by B. Force, Feb. ‘20.

Funny Car
3.823 seconds by Matt Hagan, Feb. '22; 337.16 mph by Courtney Force, Feb. '18.

Pro Stock
6.498 seconds by Mike Edwards, Feb. '13; 213.77 mph by Mike Edwards, Feb. '13.

NATIONAL RECORDS

Top Fuel
3.623 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept. ‘19, Reading, Pa.; 338.94 mph by B. Force, Nov. ‘22, Pomona.

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 Enders, May ’14, Englishtown N.J

SCHEDULE

Sunday March 23
Pre-race ceremony, 10:00 a.m.
Lucas Oil Series eliminations at 8:30 a.m.
Congruity NHRA Pro Mod qualifying at 9:30 a.m.
Mission Foods Drag Racing Series eliminations begin at 11:00 a.m.

TELEVISION

SUNDAY, March 21, FS1 will televise one and half hours of qualifying highlights at noon (ET)
SUNDAY, March 21, FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 6:30 p.m. (ET)

Or watch live all weekend on NHRA.tv