DSR NHRA Las Vegas 2 Post-Race Recap
Las Vegas, NV – Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals Presented by Pennzoil
DSR Elimination Highlights:
– Funny Car point leader Ron Capps raced to a runner-up finish in Las Vegas at the Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals Presented by Pennzoil
By advancing to the finals for the fifth time in 2021, and second time during the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, Capps extended his lead over No. 2 ranked Matt Hagan by 58 points
– Despite his first-round loss, defending world champion Hagan remains solidly in the Funny Car title conversation as he enters the final showdown in Pomona, Calif. less than two rounds behind Capps
– After four years of competing in the Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown series, double-duty driver Leah Pruett closed out her FSS career with a runner-up performance – her third of the year – and a third place finish in the category
– Mark Pawuk recorded a quarterfinal finish, and also secured a Top 10 ranking to close out his 2021 Factory Stock Showdown campaign
Top Fuel:
ANTRON BROWN
Driver of the Matco Tools ‘Tools for the Cause’ Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 8 (3.748 E.T. at 327.74 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 4.967 E.T. at 155.11 MPH defeated by Leah Pruett 3.752 E.T. at 318.32 MPH
Race Recap:
Antron Brown qualified the pinked-out Matco Tools ‘Tools for the Cause’ dragster eighth during its final outing of the 2021 season and drew DSR teammate Leah Pruett as his first-round competitor. Against Pruett, Brown was up in smoke early into the run, he gave it a quick pedal but his machine let go with a small fireball shortly after, denying the defending event champ any opportunity to chase his teammate down.
Quotable:
“We did pretty well in qualifying this weekend with the pink Matco Tools for the Cause colors making two good runs on Saturday. We just pushed too hard today. This certainly isn’t how we wanted to end this race given we won here a year ago, but we have two weeks to until Pomona. We have one race left to go out and show out. We have to lick our wounds and get ready for the Finals to end on a strong note.”
LEAH PRUETT
Driver of the Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 9 (3.769 E.T. at 314.61 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.752 E.T. at 318.32 MPH defeated Antron Brown 4.967 E.T. at 155.11 MPH
E2: Foul (red light); defeated by Brittany Force 8.087 E.T. at 82.88 MPH
Race Recap:
Flying the colors of the Direct Connection livery for the first time, Leah Pruett was looking for a long day of going rounds aboard her new-look Top Fuel dragster. By qualifying ninth for the Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals Presented by Pennzoil, Pruett drew teammate Antron Brown as her E1 competitor. Pruett was quick on the throttle to beat her opponent off the line and clocked her quickest pass of the weekend (3.752 seconds) to defeat Brown who was up in smoke early into the run. In round two, Pruett was prepared to go head-to-head with Brittany Force, and knowing Force was going to be armed with an uber-quick machine, Pruett was set on giving herself every advantage possible. An amped-up Pruett staged her car, but it was immediate heartbreak for the double-duty driver as she stood on the throttle early and activated the red light, allowing her competitor the automatic round win.
Quotable:
“We had quite the Direct Connection facing Antron Brown, our teammate, this morning. We had a .044 light and I’ve been doing everything by the book that you should do as a driver from sleep schedule to eating right to preparing right to nutrition. You name it, I’ve been trying to refine it. We had a solid first round pass with that 3.75 to get the win. Before and after the first round of Top Fuel, we had Factory Stock. When you start your day at the track at 8 am it makes for a long day. We got wins in Factory Stock and Top Fuel to start the day and another round win in Factory Stock before the second round of Top Fuel. I felt in a good head space and we went up to repeat what we had just done the round before. I thought I had seen yellow and slapped the pedal and there was that bright red light right in my face. I’m sure the fans could probably hear the cuss words in the stands coming out of my mouth at the moment. It used to eat me and bog me down, but comparing it to other lights in that lane at that time of the day it shows me what I need to work on to really be at tip-top condition as a driver. It being the last Factory Stock race with DSR, I think I just expired myself mentally.”
Funny Car:
RON CAPPS
Driver of the Pennzoil Synthetics/NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
Qualified: No. 8 (3.926 E.T. at 324.51 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.915 E.T. at 323.74 MPH defeated Tim Wilkerson 3.947 E.T. at 330.72 MPH
E2: 3.884 E.T. at 332.10 MPH defeated Alexis DeJoria 3.998 E.T. at 315.05 MPH
E3: 3.904 E.T. at 326.87 MPH defeated Robert Hight 5.520 E.T. at 130.85 MPH
E4: 6.854 E.T. at 80.86 MPH defeated by Cruz Pedregon 4.257 E.T. at 225.03 MPH
Race Recap:
Ron Capps is chasing his second Funny Car world championship and Don Schumacher Racing’s 19th series title, and by powering to a runner-up finish at the Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals Presented by Pennzoil, Capps extended his lead to 58 points over his No. 2 ranked teammate, Matt Hagan, departing the penultimate event of the 2021 NHRA Camping World Series season.
The 2016 Funny Car world champ entered the weekend carrying a one-point advantage over Hagan but by the time qualifying wrapped up on Saturday night at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Hagan had reclaimed the No. 1 position and held a two-point margin on Capps heading into Sunday’s elimination rounds. While Capps sat strapped into the Pennzoil Synthetics/NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat ready to take on his round-one opponent, he watched as Hagan bowed out early, putting Capps in prime position to make a major move in his championship campaign.
As the No. 8 seed, Capps faced tough competition early in the day drawing fellow Top 10 contender, Tim Wilkerson in E1. Crew chiefs Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli and John Medlen used their NAPA Know How to tune Capps’ machine to low E.T. of the round, effectively defeating Wilkerson and allowing Capps to move back into the points lead in the process. Capps and the NAPA team continued their race day dominance in rounds two and three. After notching the holeshot advantage and rocketing to low E.T. of the session in both rounds, Capps defeated Alexis DeJoria and Robert Hight to set up a bid to the finals, his fifth of the season and second in the first six Countdown to the Championship playoff events.
The final round featured a showdown between Capps and championship-challenger Cruz Pedregon who placed himself solidly back into the title hunt conversation on Sunday after fellow top-five contenders J.R. Todd and John Force were defeated in the first round. The veteran drivers lined up, and Capps launched hard off of the starting line but his machine suffered an explosion shortly after, ending his chances at capturing a sixth Vegas Wally trophy.
One race remains in the 2021 NHRA Camping World Series season before a champion is crowned in Pomona, Calif., and with the NHRA Finals’ unique points-and-a-half format, the stage is set for what is sure to be an exciting showdown for the final prize. Capps will enter the event with a 58-point lead over Hagan, and an 83-point cushion between him and Pedregon.
Quotable:
“Being the Dodge//SRT Nationals Presented by Pennzoil, we were motivated to put this Pennzoil Dodge SRT Hellcat into the final round and winner’s circle. You look at qualifying and look around and we didn’t qualify as well as we’d liked. It was one of our worst positions all season and we still had lane choice. That tells you how good this NAPA team has been all season. Then you have Tim Wilkerson first round. And we’re the last pair of Funny Cars, the 16th pair of nitro cars and we’re sitting there waiting and listening to so many of the other contenders fighting for a championship, (Matt) Hagan, J.R. (Todd), (John) Force, go out. It’s Halloween, but you think ‘how strange of a day.’ And we had to wait and wait for our first round match-up with Tim. He beat us in the final at Indy and that’s such a tough car and team. We got by a close one there in that first round and that was huge. Then we had Alexis (DeJoria), the No. 1 qualifier, then Robert Hight, a three-time world champion, and Cruz Pedregon, another champion. That’s a ‘murderer’s row’ on race day. We had to fight every round and this Pennzoil/NAPA car was just so fun to drive. We had a lot of friends and folks from NAPA headquarters in Atlanta and from GearWrench and family members here all weekend, and that was huge to go rounds in front of all of them.
“We’ll take any amount of points and Pomona is a such an outlier with the points-and-a-half deal. There’s so many points up for grabs. I’m not even thinking about winning this thing. We’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing and it was unfortunate in the final round, but it was two Dodges battling it out and that makes our friends in Auburn Hills, Mich. proud and I can’t wait for Pomona. Two weeks cannot come soon enough.”
MATT HAGAN
Driver of the Direct Connection Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye
Qualified: No. 4 (3.905 E.T. at 321.65 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 4.087 E.T. at 316.15 MPH defeated by Chad Green 4.009 E.T. at 321.12 MPH
Race Recap:
Three-time Las Vegas winner Matt Hagan has been battling atop the Funny Car standings throughout the 2021 Countdown to the Championship, jostling between the No. 1 and 2 positions with teammate Ron Capps. Hagan arrived at the Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals just one point behind Capps, the category leader. The defending world champion retook the championship lead by two points after recording the quickest run of the final qualifying session and putting his Direct Connection Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat fourth on the eliminations ladder.
Looking to maintain his lead and defend his back-to-back 2019 and 2020 wins at the event, Hagan staged his HEMI-powered machine next to No. 13 seed Chad Green for the opening round. While he had the quicker start, a dropped cylinder right at the hit of the throttle meant a disappointing early exit for the championship contender. Despite the setback and thanks to other contenders failing to advance, Hagan maintains his second-place standing with a 58-point deficit to Capps, heading into the NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif. in two weeks for the conclusion of the NHRA Camping World series season.
Quotable:
“I don’t know how you put a positive spin on that. I haven’t put a hole out at the step in I don’t know how long. But, that’s the cards we were dealt here in Vegas. We wanted to perform well in front of our sponsors and fans, and keep things going in this championship chase, so, it’s incredibly disappointing. That’s going to be a tough one to get over. We’re not used to first-round losses like that but congrats to Chad Green and his team. They kept us honest and did a good job. It’s a major blow to us right now, but we’ll get over it and get back after it in Pomona.”
