NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

It's going to be a busy day with three nitro qualifying sessions and a pair of Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying to set the fields for final eliminations at the 11th event of the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series regular season.

Top Fuel Q2

The nitro teams get their first crack at Pacific Raceways in the daylight, and it's a gorgeous day, with the temperature at 64 degrees under partly cloudy skies with a 115-degree track temperature. This round is a pure qualifying round with Q3 and Q4 later today being the two rounds of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, and most expected it to be the best conditions of the day, given the horsepower-producing great air.

However, for the first three pairs, it was a matter of, to quote the great Don Prudhomme, "The engine said 'Go' and the tires said [BS}."

Local favorite Shawn Reed, who grew up in nearby Puyallup, was the first to make a full pull with a 3.772, which was supplanted by Friday low qualifier Doug Kalitta's 3.695 alongside Clay Millican's 3.763.

"Two-for-two so far. The track's in good shape, and I'm really proud of my guys," said Kalitta. "Hopefully, we can hold on to No. 1 for the next two rounds."

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Funny Car Q2

Paul Lee, coming off a successful week in his other hobby — big-stakes poker — had the winning hand here with a 3.959, the first Funny Car to make it down the track under power, but it didn't hold on.

Bob Tasca III and Ron Capps went 3.948 and 3.951 side by side, and world champ Austin Prock had the best run of the session with a 3.914 that was not quick enough to knock J.R. Todd's Friday-night 3.901 from the pole.

Popular Funny Car racer Buddy Hull took his second trip into the sand trap this season after a big downtrack blower explosion in the Jim Dunn Racing/Lescure entry.

"It was truckin', going on down there, and all of a sudden it went boom," said Hull, who ended up in the Bristol catch net earlier this year. "It's just terrible. This is a brand-new car, a beautiful car, and hopefully, we didn't tear it up too much." The good news is that the car ran 4.16, which will have them solidly in the show, and the pit-area inspection revealed no chassis damage, but the team will sit out Q3.

Rookie Dylan Winefsky, who lost a 4.31 last night when he clipped a finish-line block — when his Johnny West-tuned Dodge was one of just three cars to make a full-power pass in a tricky session — went even better with a 4.22. The class' other rookie, Hunter Green, got loose enough downtrack to lose some paint off the rear quarter in a slight rub against the guardwall, which led to some downtime to get the wall respositioned.

Jack Beckman, whose incoming 66% run-completion rate this season (down from a stunning 85% last season) was tops in the class, is 0-for-2 this race with a best of 6.99 registered on his Q2 pass.

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Top Fuel Q3/Mission Challenge round one

Points leader Tony Stewart, who won the Mission Challenge in Bristol, reached the final round again here with a 3.81 victory over Clay Millican. It was Stewart's best run of qualifying after a pair of six-second efforts earlier in qualifying, while Millican's aborted run followed an earlier pair of 3.7-second clockings.

Stewart will face off against three-time Challenge winner Shawn Langdon, who coasted to the stripe ahead of Justin Ashley after both cars rattled the tires early.

Racing was halted mid-session for an hour and 19 minutes right before the Challenge rounds after an on-track incident involving Shawn Reed, whose Seattle homecoming looked so promising after a Q2 3.77. Reed clocked a 3.85 at 290 mph on the run.

Official NHRA statement: During the third round of Top Fuel qualifying on Saturday at Pacific Raceways, Shawn Reed’s dragster crossed the center line and struck the left wall before coming to a stop past the finish line.Reed was alert and communicating with the NHRA Medical Team. He was examined onsite by NHRA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Surface and was transported to a local medical center for further evaluation. 

Early highlights: Brittany Force clocked a 3.830, Antron Brown 3.835, and Josh Hart a get-well 3.837.

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Funny Car Q3/Mission Challenge round one

Matt Hagan will join his boss, Tony Stewart, in the Mission Challenge finals after defeating Cruz Pedregon in the semifinals, 3.96 to 4.05; both runs were huge improvements over their earlier qualifying runs.

World champ Austin Prock will provide the opposition after surviving a pedalfest with Ron Capps. This sets up a rematch of the Noralk final that Prock won,

Outside of the Mission Challenge, we have five three-second passes led by Chad Green's 3.959 (which was low e.t. of the session) and followed by last year's runner-up, Paul Lee (3.971), Daniel Wilkerson (3.978), Alexis DeJoria  (3.988), and Spencer Hyde (3.992).

Frustrations continued for Jack Beckman and the Peak team after losing traction at halftrack, The good news was that he was far enough downtrack to coast to a 4.928 that put him on the bump spot and knocked out Cruz Pedregon.. The bad news is that Pedregon bumped his way back in and put "Fast Jack" on the outside looking in with one session to go.

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Pro Stock Q3/Mission Challenge round one

In front of a partial hometown crowd, Dallas Glenn reset the track record and tied his career-best elapsed time with a 6.466 that defeated three-time 2025 Mission Challenge winner Matt Hartford's game 6.492 and moved him into the Mission Challenge final and into the No. 1 qualifying spot.

Glenn, who won the Challenge earlier this season in Las Vegas, will take on team boss Greg Anderson, who raced to a 6.472 after Cory Reed rattled the tires. Anderson has yet to win a Mission Challenge this year.

After losing his first run to an electrical problem and his second to a fluid leak, Stephen Bell finally took the green light and sped to a 6.751 to make the field. Joey Grose (6.764) is the lone non-qualified driver behind him. Troy Coughlin Jr. also shed his early blues to post a 6.518 to solidify his spot in the field after a previous best of just 9.43. Six-time world champ Erica Enders also picked up three-hundredths but is still languishing in the No. 11 spot with a 6,547.

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Pro Stock Motorcycle Q3/Mission Challenge round one

Friday low qualifier and recent Norwalk winner John Hall just keeps on rolling, this time defeating three-time challenge winner Gaige Herrera to advance to the Mission Challenge final on a 6.72 to 6.73 count.

Hall will take on his team leader, Matt Smith, who raced his Buell to a 6.736 to defeat Herrera's teammate Richard Gadson, who clocked a 6.761.

Defending event champ Chase Van Sant and Angie Smith both picked up a solid three-hundredths to a 6.752 and a 6.816. Smith's run moved her past track record holder Jianna Evaristo for the No. 5 spot while Van Sant remained in the seventh slot.

One session remains for the motorcycle crowd.

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Top Fuel Q4/Mission Challenge final

Shawn Langdon scored his fourth Mission Challenge win of the season, tying him with teammate Doug Kalitta, and Langdon's 3.71 was also low for the round, giving him three more bonus points. Toy Stewart finished behind Langdon with a 3.759 which was his best effort of qualifying.

Justin Ashley and the Scag crew finally found the sweet spot after three previous tries with a 3.763 after one four-second and two eight-second efforts that lifted him from ninth to fifth, and Antron Brown and Josh Hart both made small incremental improvements with Hart moving around Brown and into eighth.

For those not familiar with an 11-car ladder (and who is?), it lines up like this:

Top half: No. 1 gets a bye, No. 6 races No. 7, No. 3 races No. 10, and No. 4 races No. 9

Bottom half: No. 2 vs. No. 11 and No. 5 vs. No. 8. with a bye in the semi's for whoever gets there.

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Funny Car Q4/Mission Challenge final

In a final-round battle between a pair of drivers with a previous Mission Challenge win on their dance cards already this season, Austin Prock and got the win with a 3,87 that also gave him the No. 1 qualifier's spot. Matt Hagan was right there with a 3,88 for runner-up that moved him into the No. 2 qualifier's position. A great finish to a wild day.

Facing his first DNQ in more than a decade ago, at the 2015 Winternationals in the Infinite Hero car, Jack Beckman and the Peak squad responded with a resounding 3.97 to lock himself into the field. On the worry scale of 1 to 10, Beckman said he was at an 11 before the run.

Beckman's run bumped out Dave Richards and put Jeff Diehl's 4.58 on the bump. Richards responded with a 4.026 to bump out Diehl and put Dylan Winefsky's 4.224 on the bump. Diehl looked to have a good shot at getting back in until a midtrack blower explosion, locking the rookie Winefsky into the field.

Ron Capps (3.917), J.R. Todd (3.918), and Daniel Wilkerson (3.926) looked good, and Spencer Hyde put another three-second run on the scoreboard for Jim Head. We'll finish with 11 drivers qualified in the three-second zone.

In other news, Buddy Hull and the Jim Dunn team got back to the starting line with the Mooneyes body after damaging their Lescure body in the sandtrap in Q2. Although they were shut off on the starting line due to a fluid leak, the appearance counted as a qualifying attempt, which was important to keep the team's "perfect attendance" mark for the Countdown should they not reach the Top 10 of points.

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Pro Stock Q4/Mission Challenge final

Dallas Glenn is having the hometown race of his life, winning the Mission Challenge over teammate Greg Anderson and running a quicker-still 6.462 to race away from Anderson's 6.491. It's the third time this weekend that Glenn has reset the track record.

There were a ton of other 6.4-second runs, led by Cody Coughlin's stunning 6.469, followed by Matt Hartford (6.478), Greg Stanfield (6.484), Aaron Stanfield (6.499), and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (6.499).

Veteran Kenny Delco ended up on the bump spot with a 6.591 with Joey Grose on the outside looking in.

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Pro Stock Motorcycle Q4/Mission Challenge final

There was a lot more riding on this final round than just the bonus points and cash, as Matt Smith needed to outqualify Gaige Herrera to earn the first pick in next weekend's GETTTRX All-Star Callout in Sonoma. The two came into the weekend tied in points, and Herrera was No. 2 at 6.721 when Smith pulled up to face teammate John Hall, the No. 1 qualifier.

Smith mised on both accounts as Smith's Denso Buell faltered and slowed to a 6.85 and watched Hall's 6.729 take the Mission win and Herrera take the top seed in the Callout.

The No. 1 is the first of Hall's 103-race career.