POMONA, CA – Two-time and defending NHRA Camping World Series Funny Car champion Ron Capps took his NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra on a blistering 3.837-second ride at a track record speed of 337.33-mph during the final qualifying session on Saturday night at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona to launch to the No. 1 spot on the NHRA Finals elimination ladder. The run gave him four crucial bonus points, which narrowed the point deficit between No. 2-ranked Capps and No. 1-ranked Robert Hight to 57. With the event’s unique points-and-a-half scoring format, Capps is now within two round wins of Hight as he looks to surpass him for the lead and claim a third Funny Car championship, and first for Ron Capps Motorsports in its rookie season.

Capps began the race sitting 61 points behind Hight and with the goal of capturing as many bonus points as possible throughout the weekend’s four qualifying sessions to bring the margin down to below 60, which would mean he’d have to go two rounds further than Hight on race day, as opposed to three. The weekend got off to a rocky start, with Capps’ machine struggling to get down the track in both of Friday’s qualifying sessions. By the time qualifying had come to an end on Friday night, Capps was sitting in the No. 17 spot on the ladder, Hight still carried a three-round lead, and Matt Hagan, who started the weekend ranked third, had gained two points on Capps. But, Saturday was a new day. Crew chiefs Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli and John Medlen tuned Capps’ machine to a 3.864 E.T. at 334.15-mph in Q3, launching Capps up from 17th to fifth, and earning two bonus points in the process. Feeling comfortable knowing they were safely qualified, the crew chief duo turned up the wick for Q4 and sent Capps rocketing down the track on the record-setting ride to claim his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 35th of his career.

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Pomona, CA – Two-time and defending NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps enters the weekend ranked second in the standings and with a 61-point deficit separating him from No. 1 ranked Robert Hight.

No. 3 ranked Matt Hagan trails Capps by two points Capps is pursuing a third series championship, and the first for Ron Capps Motorsports in its rookie season. If Capps and the NAPA team can stave off Hagan, and outperform Hight during qualifying to lower the point difference to less than 60, Capps’ road to a second consecutive championship will require him to go two rounds further than Hight on race day.

A five-time winner in 2022, Capps has two triumphs and one runner-up finish in the Countdown. Capps kicked off his first season as an NHRA team owner by powering to a runner-up finish (def. by Hight) from the pole position at the 2022 season-opener in Pomona, Calif. earlier this year.

Capps’ championship-winning co-crew chief John Medlen will enjoy his final weekend competing on the NHRA circuit as he has announced his retirement following the end of the season.  As a lifelong Californian and resident of Carlsbad near San Diego, Capps considers Auto Club Raceway at Pomona to be a home track.

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LAS VEGAS – Two-time and defending NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps entered the NHRA Nevada Nationals race weekend ranked second in the Countdown to the Championship standings and 10 points behind No. 1 ranked Robert Hight. Capps was focused on the mission at hand during qualifying at the season’s penultimate event – earning bonus points to narrow the margin heading into race day at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he contends for his first series title as an NHRA team owner. While Capps made quick and consistent passes throughout the weekend’s four qualifying sessions, his only bonus point was awarded during the second round when he posted a 3.889 E.T. to secure a qualifying position within the top half of the field.

Starting race day from the No. 6 seed, Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra team sat 21 points behind Hight, and ready for a long day of going rounds and putting points up on the leaderboard. The Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli/John Medlen-guided team has visited the winner’s circle at two of the last three events (Charlotte, Dallas), and with their runner-up finish in St. Louis, looked prime to advance to the final round for the fourth consecutive race weekend.

The NAPA team quickly took care of business in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday morning, posting a 3.891 E.T. to defeat opponent Jim Campbell’s 4.008-second effort. In the quarterfinals, Capps faced Bob Tasca in a close contest. The 73-time race winner scored the slight jump off of the starting line, and the two drivers charged hard down the track, but Tasca pulled ahead and held a slight lead through the finish line lights to end Capps’ day early.

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Las Vegas  – Two-time and defending NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps enters the weekend ranked second in the standings and with only 10 points (less than one round win) separating him from No. 1 ranked Robert Hight. The NAPA AUTO PARTS team has visited the winner’s circle at three of the last five events – Indianapolis, Charlotte, and the most recent race contested near Dallas.

Capps has successfully advanced to the final round at three of the first four playoff events. In addition to his Charlotte and Dallas triumphs, Capps also raced to a runner-up finish versus Hight in St. Louis. The Carlsbad, Calif. resident will be looking to advance to his fourth consecutive final round this weekend in Vegas as he and Hight continue to slug it out for the points lead. Additionally, Capps and the NAPA team have raced to a runner-up finish at the last two Fall Las Vegas events – 2020, 2021

Capps on Vegas,“Two races left and we’re headed to the Nevada Nationals. Everyone starts off the season with the goal of still being in the championship hunt by the time we get to the Fall Las Vegas race. I can’t say enough about our NAPA team. Yes, there’s a lot of momentum coming off of our win in Dallas, but we’ve got to stay humble. We’ve got our small goals that we try and achieve every weekend, and this weekend is like no other. We’re going to show up and try to qualify, the second goal is you try and qualify with lane choice, and gather up every single bonus point you can, and then of course the Sunday goal is round wins. We need to make sure we position ourselves to still be in contention to win another world championship by the time we get to Pomona.

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ENNIS, TX – In an epic final-round feud between two NHRA Funny Car world champions, Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra team came out ahead as the winners of the Texas NHRA FallNationals Sunday night at the Texas Motorplex. Capps defeated former teammate Matt Hagan in the final to claim his fifth win of the season. The two-time and defending world champion is now just 10 points behind No. 1 ranked Robert Hight as he chases his first world championship as a team owner.

Capps went into the FallNationals 46 points behind Hight. His mission to shrink that gap started in qualifying, where 12 bonus points were available across four qualifying sessions. Capps and the Dean “Guido” Antonelli and John Medlen-led team pushed a little too hard on the first session, but jumped from 13th to third with a 3.865 E.T. at 335.40-mph pass in Q2 for one bonus point. Capps was third-quickest again in the fourth session for another bonus point, locking in the third spot in qualifying.

“We talked about gaining those little bonus points coming in and we only got two of them this weekend,” Capps said. “We missed it Q1, but Guido, he threw down a 3.86 Friday night and that was incredible until Hagan ran that 3.82. So, we didn’t accomplish that goal to gain some on (Hight) during qualifying and the margin went from 46 points to 50 going into race day, so we needed to take care of business today.”

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Ennis, TX –  Two-time and defending Funny Car world champion Ron Capps enters the weekend ranked second in the standings and 46 points behind No. 1 ranked Robert Hight.  The NAPA AUTO PARTS team has visited the winner’s circle at two of the last four events (Indianapolis, Charlotte), and raced to a runner-up finish versus Hight at the most recent event near St. Louis.

Capps enters the Texas NHRA FallNationals as the defending event championCapps went 23 years between Dallas wins, but he came through last year to win for the second time at Texas Motorplex. He used that momentum to claim his second world title and is within striking distance of claiming his third Camping World Series championship, and first for Ron Capps Motorsports in its rookie season
Oct. 14-16, 2022.

“The Stampede of Speed and what the Texas Motorplex and Billy Meyer have done, and continue to do, for the sport of drag racing is just incredible. Things seem so eerily familiar to our 2021 season at this point. We had a tough loss last year in St. Louis and bounced back with the unbelievable win at the Motorplex right after. It just showed the championship moxie this team has, and here we are, going to the Motorplex once again after a gutting final-round loss to Robert Hight in St. Louis. Now, we’re headed to the FallNationals where we’re the defending champions, and with three races left and a little over two rounds separating us, we have a chance to make up ground once again.

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MADISON, IL – Ron Capps’ success in NHRA Funny Car competition continued with another final-round appearance on Sunday during the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. The two-time and defending world champion took runner-up honors to points leader Robert Hight, holding on to the No. 2 spot in the standings with just three races left in the Countdown to the Championship.

Capps in his NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra struggled in Friday’s lone qualifying session, but co-crew chiefs Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli and John Medlen bounced back on Saturday. Capps powered to low E.T. of both sessions, collecting the maximum of six bonus points for the day. His 3.863 E.T. at 331.94-mph was good for the No. 3 spot, setting up a first-round race with Daniel Wilkerson.

Capps’ road to the final round started with a solid 3.938-second pass to knock out Wilkerson. Capps then squared off against fellow two-time world champion, Cruz Pedregon, using a 3.927 at 328.30-mph to beat Pedregon and his 3.938 E.T. in a side-by-side race in the second round. In the semifinals, Capps lined up against John Force, the only Funny Car pilot who has collected more wins than Capps, for the 120th time. Capps got the win, firing off a booming 3.884 -second at 332.02-mph pass that stood for low E.T. of race day.

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Madison, IL – Capps, the winningest Funny Car driver at World Wide Technology Raceway, will look to add to his four St. Louis wins as he pursues a third Camping World Series title, and first championship for Ron Capps Motorsports in its rookie season. The NAPA AUTO PARTS team has visited the winner’s circle at two of the last three events (Indianapolis, Charlotte), and will be looking to carry that momentum into the Midwest Nationals.

Capps moved into second following his Carolina Nationals victory last weekend and is currently 27 points behind the No. 1 ranked driver.

Capps talks about the chase for the championship, “Obviously, we talked about coming out of Indy and how important it is to stay up there in the points and make sure you’re within striking distance before we get to Pomona. And, part of that is just what our NAPA team did last year, which is stay consistent and put the pressure on our opponents.

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CONCORD,NC – Ron Capps raced to victory for the fourth time this season on Sunday afternoon during the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals, defeating Alexis DeJoria in the final round to move up to second place in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship standings.

Including his runner-up finish in Brainerd, Minn. and Indianapolis triumph, Capps has now taken his NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra to the final round at three out of the last four events, placing him solidly in the championship hunt after the second of six playoff events, but the 28-year NHRA veteran is careful not to get ahead of himself.

“I try not to get that jacked up about it,” Capps said during his post-race interview. “I’ve been around the block, and I’ve driven for the ‘Snake’ (Don Prudhomme), and one of his favorite quotes is, ‘don’t drink your own bath water,’ meaning don’t start reading your own press and getting too high and mighty on yourself. I knew in Indy we had a great car, but we weren’t going to live off of that. I’ve been around long enough to know to keep my mouth shut because you look at what happened where we won the U.S. Nationals, and then went out second round last weekend in Reading (Pa.); we were humbled. That’s drag racing, you can’t get cocky, you can’t mouth off because that sort of thing will happen to you in a heartbeat.”

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Concord, NC – Capps is 84 points out of first, and will be looking to narrow the deficit as he pursues his second consecutive Funny Car title, third overall, and first for Ron Capps Motorsports. The second-winningest Funny Car driver of all time has victories from Las Vegas, Bristol, and Indianapolis in 2022.

Ron reflects on Charlotte and the countdown, “I think everybody can take a deep breath now that we’ve got one race under our belts with the Countdown. Obviously, a lot of emotions go into racing all season long and having the points reset, and then it all comes down to battling it out for six races.

“We had an unbelievable NAPA AutoCare car in Maple Grove, qualified No. 2 and then ran low E.T. of the weekend in the first round. Of course, second round was disappointing but there’s good news along with the bad news. The good news is, we know why it smoked the tires, and the great news is, we’re going to a fantastic race track like zMAX. We love going there for the Four-Wides, we love racing there in the Countdown, and it just takes a lot of the guesswork out for these crew chiefs when you go up there and know it’s going to be a great race track surface. Same for the drivers; we can focus on trying to do the best we can with keeping the car in the groove. I’m excited, I’m glad we get to go right back at it with these three races in a row, and to be sandwiched here in between Reading and St. Louis, I couldn’t think of a better place to go, and we’ll see if we can’t climb ourselves back into the top spot in the points.”

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