NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Raceday morning musings

Before we get into final eliminations today, here’s a notebook download of facts and figures.

Three of Jack Beckman’s 35 career Funny Cars wins have come in Phoenix and he’d love to add a fourth, which would be John Force Racing’s milestone 300th Funny Car win.

“I’ve won Phoenix on Sunday (2008). I’ve won Phoenix on a Monday (2010). I’ve won Phoenix in the Spring, and I’ve won Phoenix in the Fall (2011),” he said. “This year, I want to win Phoenix for JFR, and it doesn’t matter if it’s Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. That 300 milestone looms large, and our Peak squad wants it!”

Danny Hood, who tunes the Peak Chevy with Chris Cunningham and Tim Fabrisi, holds an interesting stat at Firebird Motorsports Park. Hood was crew chief on Courtney Force’s Chevy when it set the current Firebird Motorsports Park speed record of 337.16 mph set way back in February 2018.

History, however, may be on the side of Beckman’s world championship teammate, Austin Prock, who scored his first career Funny Car win here last year.

The great stat is that Prock won last year’s Arizona Nationals after struggling the previous weekend in Pomona when the Cornwell Tools Camaro qualified just 15th on a rain-soaked and qualifying-shortened event and went out in round one weekend, then won in Phoenix.

Guess where Prock qualified and lost two weeks ago in a rain-soaked and qualifying-shortened weekend in Gainesville. Yep, 15th and the first round, Can history repeat itself?

Want more? Prock’s crew chief father, Jimmy, also won this event the previous two years (2022 and ’23) with Robert Hight at the wheel. 

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Should Tony Stewart win his second NHRA Wally (and his first in Top Fuel) this weekend, it won’t be “Smoke’s” first triumph in the Valley of the Sun as he also earned the second of his 49 NASCAR victories in the Checker Auto Parts 500 on Nov. 7, 1999 at Phoenix Raceway.

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The Arizona Nationals is a special event for Alexis DeJoria as she earned her first Funny Car victory during the 2014 event here and also captured the inaugural Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge trophy when she won the first running of the specialty race series in 2023.

DeJoria is in her second race with JCM Racing and crew chiefs Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff and Todd Smith. DeJoria recorded a semifinal finish at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season opener in Gainesville.

Firebird Motorsports Park also was home to the first of Cruz Pedregon’s 43 career national event wins, scoring in Top Alcohol Dragster back in 1988, years before his nitro career began. Pedregon also won here in Funny Car, in 1993, but is winless here in the 31 attempts since then,

Top Fuel racer Shawn Reed also achieved tremendous success in the facility’s lake where he spent years collecting trophies aboard a Blown Alcohol Hydro Boat in the IHBA Lucas Oil Series

Although this is Ida Zetterström’s first national event appearance in Phoenix — she didn’t start her rookie season until last August in Brainerd —  she previously made runs down the Firebird track in the JCM dragster during a 2024 test session on Monday following the race last year.

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Opening top-three favorites for raceday winners for PlayNHRA, as set by Alt Sports Data:

Top Fuel: Doug Kalitta (+199), Shawn Langdon (+435), and Antron Brown (+600)
Funny Car: Austin Prock (+130), Bob Tasca III (+617), and Jack Beckman (+684).
Pro Stock: Dallas Glenn (+390), Greg Anderson (+478), and Erica Enders (+549)
 

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Top Fuel round one

Doug Kalitta won the two-for-one special against hometown favorite Travis Shumake, running low e.t. of the round, 3.76, to move to round two, where he’ll have a bye due to the 14-car field. Shumake did run a career-best speed of 330.88 mph in his losing effort.

Tony Stewart defeated Shawn Reed for the first time in three head-to-head meetings after both cars shook early, As Reed went to pedal his car (not wearing the “mud flaps” again), it backfired and the chutes came out, allowing Stewart to move into round two with a 4.94. Stewart didn’t win a round in the first two races of his rookie season last year, but now has won one at each of this year’s first two events.

The situation is the same for Jasmine Salinas, who didn’t win in her first two events of her rookie season but now, after a semifinal in Gainesville, advanced past Clay Millican for her third round-win of the season.

In other races, Brittany Force, also running sans flaps, beat her former babysitter, Steve Chrisman, with a 3.779 to keep her perfect 5-0 record against him, Mission Challenge champ Shawn Langdon ran 3.78 to defeat Scott Palmer, Justin Ashley outran Ida Zetterström, 3.80 to 3.81, and Antron Brown bested Josh Hart with a 3.770, the second best run of the round behind Kalitta.

Second-round Top Fuel matchups (lane choice first): Doug Kalitta vs. bye; Antron Brown vs. Jasmine Salinas; Brittany Force vs. Tony Stewart; Shawn Langdon vs. Justin Ashley

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Funny Car round one

For the second time in less than a year, Ron Capps walks away from a devastating blower explosion that destroyed the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota body and sent him into the guardwall, just as happened to him last summer in Seattle. The tires spun and the cylinders went wet at halftrack just before the explosion. He crossed the finish line at 230 mph then crossed the centerline from right lane to left and into the opposite-lane wall behind Blake Alexander, who won the round with a 4.00.

“Last year's Seattle thing, I knew it was coming because were pedaling, trying to get it down there and that was my fault,” he said.”I don't know if I just didn't catch it in time this time, just didn't expect to smoke and didn't see Blake, and then it's just a blur. It banged so quick, so violently, and then it was a convertible again, and I had fire in my face.”

Earlier, Jack Beckman, who made four great laps in qualifying, made another in round one with a 3.91 to beat Dave Richards while Austin Prock ran 3,93 to beat Buddy Hull, and low qualifier Bob Tasca III went 3.94 to trailer Jon Capps.

After the cleanup, Chad Green’s win streak ended at four when he smoked the tires early against Paul Lee, whose car was shut off further downtrack when the engine went sour but still got the win with a 4.44. Alexis DeJoria fouled against Cruz Pedregon, whose 3.97 was his best run of the event, and Daniel Wilkerson also fouled against J.R. Todd, who won with a coasting 7.55 pass.

Boddy Bode, who upset past world champ J.R. Todd in round one in Del Worsham’s car in Gainesville, can’t pull the trick against four-time champ Matt Hagan. Bode left first and appeared to be outrunning Hagan until the car got loose downtrack and Hagan eased by for a 3.98 win.

With the top two points runners, Gatornationals finalists Green and Capps, going out in round one, Beckman could take the points lead with a win next round,

Second-round Funny Car matchups (lane choice first): Bob Tasca III vs. J.R. Todd; Balke Alexander vs. Paul Lee; Austin Prock; Jack Beckman vs. Cruz Pedregon.

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Pro Stock round one

Low qualifier Matt Hartford, who scored a runner-up here in 2019, continued his quest to finally win his hometown event by defeating Brandon Foster with a 6.56.

World champ Greg Anderson ran his score against tire-shaking Fernando Cuadra Jr. to 11-1 with a strong 6.55 while his teammate, Dallas Glenn, kept his record perfect through three career head-to-head matchups with Cuadra’s brother, David, with a 6.56. Greg Stanfield, meanwhile, won the first round of his Pro Stock comeback, besting Elite teammate Troy Coughlin Jr. with a 6.582.

Mason McGaha outpedaled Deric Kramer as both cars shook hard at the hit and Erica Enders, now more than a year into her pursuit of her milestone 50th career win after getting No. 49 to open the 2024 season, also shook hard and ceded the round to Eric Latino. The same right-lane fate befell Mission Challenge winner Jeg Coughlin Jr. against Cory Reed’s 6.54, which was the best run of the round.

Cristian Cuadra, who made history here two years ago as the first Mexican national to qualify No. 1 in Pro Stock, threw away a potentially winning 6.58 on a -.009 red-light against Aaron Stanfield’s 6.59

Second-round Pro Stock matchups (lane choice first): Matt Hartford vs. Mason McGaha; Dallas Glenn vs. Greg Stanfield; Greg Anderson vs. Eric Latino; Cory Reed vs. Aaron Stanfield

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Top Fuel round two

Defending event champ Shawn Langdon moved a step towards a repeat with a 3.84 against Justin Ashley, who broke traction downtrack in what had been the favored left lane. Counting his two round wins in Saturday’s Mission Challenge, he’s now undefeated in his late eight “races” at Firebird Motorsports Park.

Brittany Force set low e.t. of the round with a 3.79 to smoke Tony Stewart, who lost traction early in his gleaming blue machine. Force’s car was the only one to run without the “mud flap” air deflectors this round, so what does that say?

Jasmine Salinas reached her second straight semifinal and a berth in another Mission Challenge in Pomona with a 3.821 to chase down Antron Brown, who lost a cylinder downtrack. It was Antron’s first round loss since the second round of the fall Las Vegas event last year.

Doug Kalitta also ran 3.821 on his solo pass but her faster speed, 322.88 to 322.27, will earn her semifinal lane choice.

With Langdon's win and Browns loss, the two are tied for the points lead.

Semifinal Top Fuel matchups (lane choice first): Jasmine Salinas vs. Doug Kalitta; Brittany Force; Brittany Force vs. Shawn Langdon

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Funny Car round two

Defending event and world champ Austin Prock showed why he’s both, beating four-time world champ Matt Hagan on a holeshot, 4.010 to 4.005, with a true-win margin of just .003-second at the stripe.

Teammate Jack Beckman then ran 3.973 to earn semifinal lane choice over Prock, guaranteeing that one of the two John Force Racing Camaros will have a chance to win the organization’s 300th Funny Car Wally in the final. When he lit the win light, Beckman took over the points lead from Chad Green.

Low qualifier Bob Tasca III was right behind Beckman with a 3.979 to beat tire-smoking J.R. Todd and move into second place in the standings, but it was Paul Lee who dropped jaws with low e.t. of the round, 3.964, to defeat Blake Alexander.

Semifinal Funny Car  matchups (lane choice first): Paul Lee vs. Bob Tasca III; Jack Beckman vs. Austin Prock

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Pro Stock round two

High drama in the quarterfinals as Greg Anderson’s engine backfired at startup. While his KB Titan Racing stablemate Eric Latino patiently waited at the starting line, Anderson’s team pulled the front clip off and discovered that the intake manifold gasket had been compromised, but they buttoned it up and sent him on his burnout anyway. The engine idle was still high even after his burnout but Anderson used a holeshot to somehow defeat Latino, 6.61 to 6.59.

"It was chaos," Anderson said right after. "She backfired when I went to start it, and blew a little rubber right out of the manifold and it was idling at about Mach Nine, which made it hard to stage it, but somehow we kept our composure and the HendrickCars.com Chevy is going on. That's the good news. Now we've got to figure out what caused that because it shouldn't have done that."

Anderson will cede semifinal lane choice to Aaron Stanfield, who will have the lone Elite Performance car in the semifinals after his 6.58 win over Cory Reed.

Matt Hartford avenged his first-round loss to Mason McGaha at the Gatornationals by beating the youngster this time around after McGaha’s machine moved hard right at the launch, just as it had done in round one.

Dallas Glenn ran his 2025 win streak to six rounds with a 6.590 victory over Greg Stanfield, who shook hard at the green.

Semifinal Pro Stock matchups (lane choice first): Matt Hartford vs. Dallas Glenn; Aaron Stanfield vs. Greg Anderson

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Top Fuel semifinals

Doug Kalitta nearly matched his first-round run of 3.762 with an impressive 3.769 in the heat of the day to deny Jasmine Salinas her first Top Fuel final0-round berth despite a respectable 3.80.

Kalitta will be looking for his 56th career win with lane choice when he takes on teammate Shawn Langdon, who got s free pass of 3.83 after Brittany Force was shut off on the starting line after the team discovered a leaking valve cover after the burnout. Defending event champ Langdon now has seven straight round wins over the last two years at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, plus two more win lights from Saturday's Mission Challenge.

No matter what happens in the final, Langdon will leave here as the points leader.

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Funny Car semifinals

Paul Lee, winner of the Funny Car All-Star Callout last year and a three-time winner in Top Alcohol Funny Car, will get the chance to win his first national event nitro Funny Car crown after outlasting Bob Tasca III in a traction-challenged, cylinder-dropping battle, 4.41 to 5.21.

Lee will not have lane choice against Prock in his third attempt to beat Prock, who vanquished him in the final in both Seattle and the fall Las Vegas race last year. Prock dispatched his John Force Racing teammate, Jack Beckman, 3.96 to 3.97, and will get a chance to race for JFR’s 300th Funny Car win.

The final-round will be emotional for Lee’s co-crew chief, John Medlen, father of the late Eric Medlen, who passed away on this day 18 years ago in a testing accident, as well as for the Force team, remembering their longtime crew chief Bernie Fedderly, who died last weekend.

Also, if Lee wins the final, he will be the Funny Car points leader for the first time in his career. If Prock wins, he'll be second behind Beckman by two points.

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Pro Stock semifinals

The Pro Stock final will have two familiar faces as Gatornationals winner Dallas Glenn will take on world champ Greg Anderson. The duo have now been part of the last three Pro Stock finals dating back to last year’s season finale where Anderson beat Glenn to win the championship, but Glenn turned the table by beating Anderson in Gainesville.

Glenn defeated hometown favorite Matt Hartford on a holeshot, 6.591 to 6.586 while Anderson had a free pass to the final with a 6.586 after Aaron Stanfield shook the tires hard.

The winner will head to Pomona as the championship points leader.

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Lucas Oil Series final-round results

Comp
Jeff Taylor (pictured) def. Paul Mitsos

Super Stock
Ryan McClanahan def. Leo Glasbrenner

Stock
Justin Lamb def. Jody Lang

Super Comp
Chad Webber def. Steve Williams

Super Gas
Roger Kato def. Jerry Denton

Right Trailers Top Dragster
Mike Fuqua def. Mallory Reis

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Legends Nitro Series final

Ryan Horan drove the Infinity Plumbing Designs Camaro to a huge victory, beating past world champ Bobby Cottrell and the Speed Shop Camaro. 4.70 to 4.82.

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Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Series final

In a rematch of the final round of yesterday’s rain-delayed Gatornationals final round Mike Stavrinos made it two in a row, defeating ageless veteran Rickie Smith again, this time on a 5.72 to 5.78 count.