Capps Leads Mopar and Dodge During NHRA Qualifying at Englishtown

Ron Capps led the way for the Mopar-backed DSR Funny Car contingent, turning in a best pass of 3.883 seconds at 329.67 mph on Friday evening, good enough for the third qualified spot in his Dodge Charger R/T. The 2016 winner of the Summernationals, Capps made four consecutive runs in the three-second range and also was in the top three during all four rounds of qualifying. His teammate Jack Beckman qualified fourth overall in the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T after an eventful two days of qualifying which included an explosion during his third attempt. The other Mopar Funny Car drivers from DSR, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Matt Hagan, put the Make-A-Wish and Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars in the seventh and ninth qualified spots, respectively.

Tony Schumacher made the best pass in the Top Fuel category with a machine featuring HEMI power to claim the sixth position in the U.S. Army car, turning in a lap of of 3.763 seconds at 323.19 mph in session two. His Mopar and DSR teammate Leah Pritchett qualified ninth. The two drivers will face off in round one of eliminations on Sunday, an intriguing matchup as each have shown throughout 2017 that they can go deep into the afternoon on Sunday from a variety of qualifying spots. Pritchett is carrying Dodge Challenger SRT Demon colors on her dragster again this weekend after unveiling them last week at New England Dragway.

In contrast to the last two races on the NHRA national event calendar, qualifying at Englishtown was contested under warm conditions, leading to the hottest racing surface teams have seen in over a month. While times were not in the record-setting category, nearly all competitors made a number of clean passes without overpowering the track.