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DSR Topeka Final Qualifying Report by the Numbers

Topeka, KS – Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals

DSR Topeka Saturday Highlights:

Last week’s Funny Car winner, Tommy Johnson Jr., will start race day from the top-half of the field for the fifth consecutive event and eighth time in the past ten races
Antron Brown will start from the top-half of the Top Fuel field in the No. 4 spot
Ron Capps and Matt Hagan, who is celebrating his 250th Funny Car event, also secured top-half starting positions
Round one of Funny Car eliminations features a DSR intramural battle between Hagan and Jack Beckman
DSR is seeking its fourth consecutive Funny Car victory and first Top Fuel win of the season

Driver Information:

Top Fuel:

ANTRON BROWN
Driver of the Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster

Qualified: No. 4 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 11 Scott Palmer

The Results:
Q1: 5.672 E.T. at 123.28 MPH
Q2: 3.798 E.T. at 292.33 MPH
Q3: 10.793 E.T. at 68.66 MPH
Q4: 4.526 E.T. at 176.51 MPH

Quotable:
“Good deal qualifying fourth. The heat got us a little bit today, but we’re getting ready for race day, and Topeka has always been a good race for us. We’re starting from a good position, we’ve just got to take advantage of it, take it one round at a time, keep holes from going unlit and I think we’ll be just fine.”

LEAH PRITCHETT
Driver of the Shell ROTELLA Top Fuel Dragster

Qualified: No. 10

The Competition: No. 5 Doug Kalitta

The Results:
Q1: 3.883 E.T. at 318.47 MPH
Q2: 4.669 E.T. at 159.76 MPH
Q3: 7.685 E.T. at 91.14 MPH
Q4: 4.122 E.T. at 233.03 MPH

Quotable:
“We feel pretty good going into race day. We had a solid start with our 88 in the heat, and we were pushing for low in Q2. It’s a unique situation with this 14-car field, the No. 1 qualifier gets a bye in the second round, so we were hunting for low. We had a little bit of a tornado today with both driver and some fuel issues to where the tornado just keeps on spinning, and it’ll turn right back around on Sunday. We’re definitely looking forward to running against Doug Kalitta. He’s a fierce competitor. We’re thankful to be here and racing for Shell ROTELLA Gas Truck and hope to go rounds. It’ll start in the morning, and this team is ready to take on the action.”

Funny Car:

JACK BECKMAN
Driver of the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Qualified: No. 10

The Competition: No. 7 Matt Hagan

The Results:
Q1: 4.134 E.T. at 304.80 MPH
Q2: 4.018 E.T. at 319.14 MPH
Q3: 4.216 E.T. at 239.36 MPH
Q4: 4.100 E.T. at 292.71 MPH

Quotable:
“I think the motto for this weekend is ‘survive qualifying and thrive on race day.’ We won’t have lane choice, and we will have to dig ourselves out of a bit of a hole, but we’ll face totally new conditions tomorrow, and I love our chances.”

RON CAPPS
Driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Qualified: No. 5 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 12 Jim Campbell

The Results:
Q1: 4.006 E.T. at 310.41 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q2: 3.952 E.T. at 317.19 MPH
Q3: 4.340 E.T. at 208.30 MPH
Q4: 4.038 E.T. at 307.79 MPH

Bonus Points: Two

Quotable:
“We ran the NAPA Brakes car, and we saw how consistent our Dodge Hellcat got starting in Atlanta, and I just feel the excitement (crew chief) Rahn Tobler has over how the car is reacting. It’s listening to what he wants it to do, and the confidence in him is growing. It was fun running the black-and-gold car, but it’s been really fun to get back to our blue car here in Topeka.

“The conditions we’ve seen this weekend are as abstract and as different as you can get every qualifying run, and that’s when I brag about the NAPA Know How Rahn Tobler has. He can adapt to each qualifying session. Everyone in the Funny Car category has really stepped their game up lately. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. This place has been great to me in the past – four wins – and we look forward to making it five tomorrow.”

MATT HAGAN
Driver of the Shelor Motor Mile Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Qualified: No. 7 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 10 Jack Beckman

The Results:
Q1: 4.060 E.T. at 300.13 MPH
Q2: 3.987 E.T. at 319.60 MPH
Q3: 4.152 E.T. at 298.93 MPH
Q4: 8.626 E.T. at 75.54 MPH

Quotable:
“It’s just going to come down to making good decisions on the race track. We’re working hard, my lights are good, our Dodge Hellcat is driving good so it should be a long race day.”

TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Qualified: No. 4 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 13 Terry Haddock

The Results:
Q1: 9.322 E.T. at 78.01 MPH
Q2: 3.948 E.T. at 316.60 MPH
Q3: 4.090 E.T. at 274.94 MPH
Q4: 4.028 E.T. at 310.48 MPH

Quotable:
“Coming off of a win, you hope to keep the momentum going. We made three out of four really good runs during qualifying. Today we were fourth-quick both sessions. We have a solid car, it’ll be a little bit different conditions tomorrow, and I think if we can keep that consistency, our chances are good that we’ll go two for two.”

Factory Stock Showdown Series:

MARK PAWUK
Driver of the Empaco Equipment MOPAR Dodge Challenger Drag Pak

Qualified: No. 11

The Results:
Qualifying:
Q1: Broke, No Time
Q2: 8.197 E.T. at 168.24 MPH
Q3: 8.109 E.T. at 169.91 MPH

Eliminations:
E1: 9.959 E.T. at 114.56 MPH defeated by Randy Taylor 8.125 E.T. at 169.93 MPH

LEAH PRITCHETT
Driver of the MOPAR Dodge Challenger Drag Pak

Qualified: No. 8

The Results:
Qualifying:
Q1: 9.010 E.T. at 163.91 MPH
Q2: 8.162 E.T. at 168.66 MPH
Q3: 8.105 E.T. at 169.23 MPH

Eliminations:
E1: 10.674 E.T. at 115.06 MPH defeated by Joseph Welch 8.661 E.T. at 166.97 MPH

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