Thus far in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season, 19 races have been run and there’s only two remaining: this weekend’s 23rd Nevada NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the 58th In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on the same-name dragstrip the second weekend of November.
While this week’s races pay “normal” points, 1.5 points are on offer for the season closer, which could make the Vegas competition even more important to get a leg up on competition.
Rolling into Sin City, second-year team Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) is leading the nitro classes. Following her second win of the year at Texas, Leah Pruett has a four-point advantage on Kalitta Motorsports’ Doug Kalitta and 13 points over four-time class champion Steve Torrence. Matt Hagan, driving TSR’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a six-win (so far) 2023 season, has a 36-point advantage on Bob Tasca III’s Ford Mustang and has 69 points in hand over John Force Racing’s Robert Hight and his Chevrolet Camaro SS.
While she’s got every reason to fear both drivers hot on her high heels, Pruett should turn her attention to Torrence, peaking when teams and drivers are supposed to be at their best, on a track where the Texan has found enormous success. He’s been to the finals in Sin City seven of his last nine starts on this track. “We are four points ahead. That means literally nothing,” Pruett said. With 12 NHRA national event wins in Top Fuel, Pruett is looking forward to the fight but taking nothing for granted.
Last year’s Nevada Nationals dragster title belonged to Brittany Force of John Force Racing, as she made her way to a second national championship. Things change quickly in NHRA drag racing, as Justin Ashley can attest; he led all comers during the regular season that ended in Indianapolis during the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals but now holds fourth-place points, 108 behind Pruett, followed by his Toyota technical partner Antron Brown (-108) and Mike Salinas, who’s 131 points behind the leader. Force is currently 165 points behind Pruett in seventh place, followed by Clay Millican, Tony Schumacher, Austin Prock, Shawn Langdon and Josh Hart.
Many teams and drivers are wondering where the season went… they all started with the belief that they could win this year but visits to the Winners Circle have been the exclusive domain of only a few. In Top Fuel, looking at Josh Hart, who began his dragster career as a winner and replicated that in his first season of racing, 2023 has been a head-scratcher that has seen the Floridian out in too many first rounds.
Hart will have to contend with many others looking to make their way to the final rounds on Sunday and, with 17 dragster on the grounds, Hart needs to get in gear if he wants to add a “W” to his standings this year. Kalitta Motorsports’ Langdon, too, is looking to get two better results in the last pair of races, as he debuts the livery of Future Energy Solutions. Also on the entry list are Canadian Dan Mercer, Illinois-based T.J. Zizzo and Luigi Novelli, Arizonan Kelly Harper and Rob Passey of Salt Lake City, UT. Zizzo, making his seventh appearance in Las Vegas and fourth of this season knows, “The stakes are undeniably high at the NHRA Nevada Nationals with the looming pressure of the playoffs, but our focus remains firmly fixed on the race at hand,” he said.
Hagan, the defending Funny Car champion of this race, is a five-time winner at The Strip and has been runner-up an additional five times. With his six 2023 wins in eight final round appearances, Hagan has some confidence heading into Las Vegas. “Funny Car racing is very humbling,” he reminded, “so you never know what you’re going to get. When we’re in Vegas, we’re halfway to Denver’s altitude as far as making power goes. You have to change a lot on the car. We have a lot of momentum; we just have to keep it going.”
Keeping tabs on the drivers behind him, Tasca and Hight, Hagan must also look to reigning Flopper champ and former teammate Ron Capps in fourth place (-99), whose Toyota GR Supra has been running pretty consistently this year and has won at this track six times, four in the fall race, as well as being a four-time runner-up and three-time No. 1 qualifier. Despite his first-round departure in Texas, Capps knows he’s got “another chance to win a world championship.” While he wishes he were closer to the front of the field, “It makes me extremely proud that our Ron Capps Motorsports team has put our Toyota GR Supra in a position to win a championship pretty much every season. You can’t ask for more than that as a driver.”
Behind this quartet are John Force and his Camaro in fifth place, J.R. Todd’s Supra in sixth, Chad Green and Tim Wilkerson’s Ford Mustangs in seventh and eighth, respectively, with Alexis DeJoria (Toyota GR Supra), Alex Laughlin in Jim Dunn’s Flopper and Cruz Pedregon, 312 points behind Hagan in his own Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, the final driver eligible for the title. Seventeen drivers have signed up to race in Funny Car this weekend, including Paul Lee’s Charger, Blake Alexander in Jim Head’s Mustang, Steven Densham driving a Mustang for his family squad, the Surfer Jeff Diehl’s Toyota Camry and Bobby Bode III’s Mustang.
Will there be sufficient space in the NHRA Las Vegas pits for all the Pro Stock entries? Fully 23 cars are entered in this penultimate race, including a few returnees and ringers. The battle between two five-time champions rages on as Elite Motorsports’ Erica Enders tries to beat KB Titan’s Greg Anderson to be the next six-time titleholders in this class. She’s got 85 points on him and secured her fifth title here last year, while Anderson’s got two squad-mates behind him: Dallas Glenn (-93) and Matt Hartford, who is 108 points in arrears and has Elite’s Aaron Stanfield in fifth place, with 123 points to make up, breathing down his neck, along with Troy Coughlin Jr., 145 points back for Elite.
Behind this group of six are drivers who can’t win the title but can definitely shake it up: Deric Kramer, Kyle Koretsky and Camrie Caruso from KB Titan are followed by Elite’s Cristian Cuadra (Mustang), Bo Butner III, Fernando Cuadra Jr. (Mustang) and rookie Jerry Tucker. The final drivers eligible for the Countdown but definitely making up the rear of that field are Chris and Mason McGaha, as well as patriarch Fernando Cuadra, 474 points behind Enders. Returning to Pro Stock competition this weekend under the Elite umbrella, six-time champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. is racing a Camaro, and ready to shake up the standings. Was he enlisted to be a blocker for Enders? No one wants to talk about that. Also look for Alan Prusiensky’s Dodge Dart, Val Smeland and Kenny Delco’s Camaros, Eric Latino, Joey Grose and Steve Graham in their Camaro race cars.
The questions in Pro Stock Motorcycle are two: Will Gaige Herrera of Vance & Hines secure the two-wheeler’s title this weekend or have to wait until Pomona? Will the five-pound addition to Vance & Hines Suzuki riders and the five-pound weight reduction to Monster Suzuki riders make any difference in how this race rolls out? Herrera, who absolutely suits the motorcycle prepped for him by V&H’s Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec, to a T, has accumulated 156 points on teammate Krawiec, both riding Suzuki Hayabusa3 motorcycles. Reigning and six-time titleholder Matt Smith’s Suzuki is third, albeit 174 points back, with last year’s Las Vegas winner, Hector Arana’s Buell just five points behind him.
The luckless White Alligator Racing (WAR) rookie on a Suzuki, Chase Van Sant, whose knee injury at Texas will keep him out of these two final contests is sixth, followed by also-injured Angie Smith and her Buell. Both are on the entry list for this weekend but won’t be competing. Jianna Evaristo, riding a Suzuki for Matt Smith Racing, Marc Ingwersen’s Buell, Steve Johnson on a Monster cylinder head-equipped Suzuki, Kelly Clontz and her V&H-equpped Suzuki, Chris Bostick’s Suzuki and Ryan Oehler’s Buell. are set to compete The latter rider is a full 506 points back but a good result this week and two weeks hence could get him back in the top 10.
There are 17 motorcycles on the entry list, but actually 15 on-site, as both Van Sant and Angie Smith are unable to compete. That allows 2016 champ Jerry Savoie to bring his White Alligator Racing Suzuki back to the game, as well as always competitive Karen Stoffer, returning on a Suzuki. Blaine Hale is making his second straight run on a Suzuki GSXR and John Hall has the second White Alligator Racing Suzuki in the pits this weekend. Last year Hector Arana Jr. was the winner at Las Vegas and this is a strong track for him and for the Buell motorcycle, so there could be some wrenches thrown into Herrera’s victory dance.
The NHRA Nevada Nationals mark the season-closer for Pro Mod and Top Alcohol Dragster. While the latter’s championship has been decided for Julie Nataas, eyes will be fixed on three-time NASCAR Cup Series champ and Tony Stewart Racing owner Tony Stewart, as well as three-time Pro Stock champion Angelle Sampey. Sampey is making her second-ever four-wheeled start; she earned two win lights in Texas (the second against Stewart) and is definitely getting more comfortable in the car. Stewart is completing his first full season (well, pretty much) in Top Alcohol Dragster, which has a 22-car entry list!
Nineteen FuelTech Pro Mod racers are scheduled to compete this weekend in the category’s final race of the 10-contest season. Kris Thorne leads Justin Bond by only 31 points, with Mike Castellana third and only 19 points behind Bond. Jason Lee, Stan Shelton, Dmitry Samorukov, Khalid Al Balooshi, JR Gray Jr., Sidnei Frigo and Manny Buginga complete this top 10 listing, with Buginga needing to make up 210 points.
The Camping World Drag Racing Series has four qualifying attempts scheduled for this weekend, two on Friday and two on Saturday before eliminations begin at 11AM PT on Sunday. While Friday is scheduled to be the warmest day of the weekend at 78 degrees with intermittent clouds, Saturday will only be slightly cooler yet Sunday is scheduled to have sunny skies at temps edging 70 degrees. The change from qualifying to racing should be a challenge for all crew chiefs and drivers on-hand, but isn’t that what they live for?
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