Beckman holds Las Vegas provisional pole with 8th track record while DSR teammate Langdon sits 5th in Top Fuel for best start

LAS VEGAS – Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team led by crew chief Jimmy Prock are on the cusp of earning their third No. 1 qualifying position in four NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing events this year with a Las Vegas track record elapsed time of 3.916 seconds set on Friday to open the NHRA Denso Nationals.

If the time holds after Saturday’s last two qualifying sessions, it will be the eighth track at which Don Schumacher Racing’s Infinite Hero team funded by Terry Chandler holds a track E.T. record with Prock and assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham.

DSR holds 40 of the possible 84 track records in both nitro categories at the 21 tracks on the Mello Yello tour.

“That record just means I didn’t screw up what Jimmy, John and Chris set the car up to do,” said Beckman, who currently holds the national-record ET of 3.879.

Beckman, who won a personal best seven event titles and seven poles a year ago, advanced to the semifinals two weeks ago at Gainesville, Fla., where he recorded his 3.879.

“It’s going to be a late day tomorrow with the (Top Fuel) dragsters running first, and if there’s cloud cover then that time definitely will be in jeopardy. Boy, have I learned the difference between a provisional pole and the final pole.

“We struggled on the first run (9.434) and were really aggressive at the starting line and the track would hold it and that meant we didn’t have data from the run. When the car doesn’t go 40 feet, you don’t know how much you missed it.

“It’s very gratifying that our crew can look at an aborted run and come right back and set the track record.”

The Infinite Hero team is the only DSR Funny Car ranked in the top-eight after Friday. Hagan is close at ninth followed by Tommy Johnson Jr. in 10th and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team with Ron Capps, who is 16th.

In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon and the Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher/Sandvik Coromant team led by crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler are in the No. 5 position which if it holds would be their best qualifying effort of the year and first time in the top half of the 16-car field with a time of 3.772 (321.50 mph).

Eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army team, which owns a record eight wins and nine poles at Las Vegas, was on a run that might have been stronger than his opening run of 3.788 that was second best of the session but a broken throttle cable broke late in the run prevented him from getting higher than No. 8.

Reigning and two-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army team are seventh with a best time of 3.777 (308.64).

Saturday’s qualifying sessions are scheduled for 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. with a highlight show at 11 p.m. Saturday on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) leading to Sunday’s championship eliminations that will air on FS1 from 5 to 8 p.m. (ET) featuring live coverage.