DSR’s top world championship contenders lose ground at Vegas; Schumacher, Beckman with No. 3 spots heading into Sunday

LAS VEGAS, NV – Only eight rounds of championship eliminations remain in the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season beginning with Sunday’s final day of the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

And time is running out for Don Schumacher Racing’s Spencer Massey in Top Fuel and Matt Hagan in Funny Car – DSR’s best chances to catch the points leaders – as the penultimate event of the series leaves only the NHRA Finals in two weeks at Pomona, Calif., on the 24-event schedule.

In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon arrived at Las Vegas as the Top Fuel leader and only padded his margin after being the quickest dragster in three of four qualifying sessions and was second in the other to earn 11 of a possible 12 bonus points. He extended his lead over No. 3-ranked Massey’s Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster from 86 to 101.

Hagan and the Rocky Boots/Mopar team remain second to John Force, whose lead over Hagan has gone from 65 to 72 after Force earned six bonus points by being the quickest in sessions one and four. Force, who has won the past two event titles, earned the No. 1 qualifying spot on his last run with a track-record time of 4.011 seconds.

Reigning Funny Car world champion Jack Beckman, ranked third in points in DSR’s Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Dodge, qualified a DSR-best third but fell from 126 to 131 behind the leader.

It was DSR’s overall best qualifying effort in Funny Car for several events. Following Beckman are Ron Capps in fourth, Hagan in fifth and Johnny Gray in sixth.