Massey scores third title of 2014 season at Las Vegas to move Red Fuel team up to No. 2 in Countdown heading to Pomona finale

LAS VEGAS – The Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher team was on a mission when they arrived at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the NHRA Nationals.

And on Sunday evening, that mission was accomplished when the Red Fuel team with driver Spencer Massey and crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler scored their third victory of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the 239th for the Don Schumacher Racing organization, the winningest team in the NHRA series.

Coming off their best run of the season in qualifying, a 3.744-second lap at 330 mph that placed them second for Sunday’s 16-car eliminations, Spencer and the team ousted Terry McMillen, Shawn Langdon, Leah Pritchett and J.R. Todd to move into second place in NHRA Countdown to the Championship points standings after entering the event in seventh.

“It’s huge going into the last race of the season off of a win,” Spencer said. “We always do well here in Vegas but this makes it so much better because we’ve been in a slump. To walk away with a Wally in Vegas, it’s huge. We moved from seventh in the points to second, that’s just awesome.”

The slump Spencer is referring to is the stretch of 10 races from the Englishtown, N.J., event in June to the September event in Indianapolis where the team did not advance past the second round of eliminations.

Spencer and the Red Fuel team are now 109 points behind DSR teammate Tony Schumacher in Countdown to the Championship standings.

“It’ll be tough to catch Tony,” he said. “Mathematically it’s possible but let me tell you that U.S. Army car is going to be tough in Pomona. We’re going after the win there. I want to win four races this season because we’ve done that the past few years and we don’t want to fall short of that goal.

“I at least want that No. 2 on the side of my dragster. This is amazing. The guys have just done an outstanding job and they’ve stuck with it even when we were in a slump. I can’t thank Don (Schumacher) enough for the opportunity and letting me carry the colors of his Red Fuel brand on the side of my car.

“It’s also a nice little early birthday gift for Don who has a birthday coming up on Tuesday.”