{"id":67237,"date":"2019-11-17T09:44:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T17:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=67237"},"modified":"2019-11-17T09:44:53","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T17:44:53","slug":"stakes-are-high-at-todays-nhra-finals-at-pomona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/stakes-are-high-at-todays-nhra-finals-at-pomona\/","title":{"rendered":"Stakes Are High at Today’s NHRA Finals at Pomona"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NHRA
Andrew Hines vies for Pro Stock Motorcycle Champ at Pomona. Photo: Anne Proffit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today\u2019s Auto Club NHRA Finals at historic Auto Club Raceway in Pomona will be a hot one, and not only the weather is expected to contribute to the heat. With all four class championships up for grabs: Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, the scenarios call for oddsmakers\u2019 best guesses.<\/p>\n

Probably the only class that could be decided in the first round is the two-wheeled set. Andrew Hines is in control of his destiny in seeking a sixth Pro Stock Motorcycle championship, aboard his Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Screamin\u2019 Eagle FXDR. Hines qualified fourth after the four sessions were complete and faces improving rookie Jianna Salinas\u2019 Suzuki in the No. 13 slot.<\/p>\n

Hines\u2019 top-half result in qualifying eliminated teammate Eddie Krawiec and WAR Racing\u2019s Karen Stoffer. Still in the hunt are No. 1 qualifier Matt Smith, the reigning title holder and Jerry Savoie, who qualified third. In order for Hines to take his sixth championship he\u2019s got to beat Salinas in the first round. If the rookie wins, either Savoie or Smith have to win the race. It\u2019s pretty simple.<\/p>\n

\"Erica
Erica Enders and Elite have a real chance this year. Photo: Anne Proffit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pro Stock isn\u2019t quite as easy, as KB Racing\u2019s Greg Anderson, already eliminated from the title chase in this six-race Countdown to the Championship, played a strategy game throughout the four qualifying rounds. He\u2019s in 15th place and meets points-leader, No. 2 qualifier Erica Enders in the first round. If he wins the round, then his teammates Jason Line and Bo Butner have a chance to earn their fourth and second titles, respectively – if they win the race.<\/p>\n

That scenario doesn\u2019t take into account No. 1 qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr., trying for his sixth Pro Stock title. Coughlin needs to go three rounds farther than Enders and would have to win the race if Enders defeats Anderson in Round 1. Right now Enders holds 81 points on Coughlin; she\u2019ll earn her third championship if she wins the second round.<\/p>\n

\"Robert
Funny Car driver Robert Hight vies for the championship. Photo: Anne Proffit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The marquee matchup in Funny Car takes place in the first round, pitting points leader Robert Hight against his team owner John Force. Hight\u2019s trying for a third championship; Force wants his 17th. Those John Force Racing (JFR) teammates, driving Chevrolet Camaro SS floppers, have to contend with No. 1 qualifier Matt Hagan\u2019s Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody and teammate, No. 2 qualifier Jack Beckman\u2019s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, both of whom are still eligible for the title.<\/p>\n

Bob Tasca III is still in the hunt as well, but he\u2019s got to win the race and hope Force defeats Hight in the first round. Hight automatically wins if he makes it to the final round; if Force beats him the stakes are high. He needs to go two rounds farther than Hight, while Beckman and Hagan have to go at least two rounds farther than Hight to earn their second and third titles, respectively.<\/p>\n

\"Steve
Steve Torrence goes in to the race as the #1 qualifier in Top Fuel. Photo: Anne Proffit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Top Fuel, Steve Torrence is, once again in the catbird seat, while not as dominant as in his first, 2018 championship year. The No. 1 qualifier takes his second consecutive title by going the same number of rounds as competitor Brittany Force of John Force Racing, who qualified eighth. If he beats Cameron Ferre in round one and Force takes out DSR\u2019s Antron Brown, the two meet in the quarterfinals this afternoon.<\/p>\n

Force would achieve her second title if she wins her first and second round matchups, as she\u2019d go a round farther than the Texan. Doug Kalitta, who qualified sixth, dropped to a 63-point deficit to Torrence; both he and Billy Torrence have to go three rounds beyond Steve Torrence to attain their first world championships. But if Steve wins in the second round against Brittany, they\u2019re both out of the game.<\/p>\n

Racing begins, under sunny and rapidly-warming skies, at 11AM PST,<\/p>\n

today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stakes are high in all categories in the NHRA Mello Yello series finals at Pomona.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":67240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029,22],"tags":[6595,2,38,7,4801,74,73],"class_list":["post-67237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","category-event-coverage","tag-2019-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-season","tag-drag-racing","tag-funny-car","tag-nhra","tag-pro-stock","tag-pro-stock-motorcycle","tag-top-fuel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Robert-Hight-Pomona2-min-e1574012636775.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-hut","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67242,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67237\/revisions\/67242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}