Mopar Drivers Capps and Schumacher Each Qualify No. 2 for NHRA FallNationals 

Ennis, TX – During the majority of qualifying for the 32nd annual NHRA FallNationals, it looked as if Ron Capps would finally break through to start No. 1 during Sunday elimination rounds for the first time this year. In the end though, Capps and his Mopar HEMI®-powered Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) had to settle for the No. 2 qualifying position at Texas Motorplex, the site of the fourth event in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship playoffs this weekend.

Capps’ DSR teammate Tony Schumacher meanwhile turned in a solid second-place qualifying effort in the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster featuring Mopar power.

Capps, the 2016 NHRA Funny Car champion and current Countdown points leader, laid down his best lap during the second qualifying session early on Friday evening at the all-concrete drag strip near Dallas. Capps and his DSR team made a 3.872-second pass at 329.58 mph, which held as the top time until Q4 on Saturday when Robert Hight bested Capps by just .001. Capps still netted three qualifying bonus points for setting the lowest elapsed time of Q2, meaning he gave up just one marker overall to Hight, who sits second in the standings.

In the Top Fuel category eight-time champion Schumacher qualified No. 2 in the Mopar-powered U.S. Army dragster from DSR after turning in a lap of 3.692 at 327.66 during Q2 on Friday evening. Schumacher earned two bonus points for making the second quickest run of the session. His teammate Leah Pritchett also had a solid weekend of qualifying and will begin Sunday from the sixth position in the Papa John’s Pizza/Mopar Pennzoil Top Fuel dragster. She earned a total of seven bonus points over the course of the four qualifying sessions.

Two of the remaining three DSR Mopar Funny Cars qualified in the top seven. Jack Beckman turned in a third-place effort in the Infinite Hero Dodge and earned five bonus points overall, while Tommy Johnson Jr.’s Make-A-Wish-branded Dodge Funny Car will start from the seventh spot. Last year’s event winner, Matt Hagan, qualified an uncharacteristic 13th in the Mopar Pennzoil Dodge from DSR. He defeated Capps in an all-Mopar final in 2016.

The qualifying sessions were conducted under primarily hot and humid conditions, but overnight rains are expected to lower temperatures to the mid to high 60s by Sunday afternoon.