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DSR Vegas Qualifying Report

Dodge NHRA Finals Presented by Pennzoil
Event No. 11 of 11
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nev.
October 31 - November 1, 2020

DSR Qualifying Highlights:

  • Ron Capps will begin the Dodge NHRA Finals presented by Pennzoil atop the Funny Car ladder after earning his first pole of the season and 25th in his career on Saturday
  • The 2020 Funny Car crown is poised to come down to an intense three-way final showdown between No. 2 qualifier Matt Hagan, No. 4 qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr., and No. 10 qualifier Jack Beckman on the last day of the season.
    • Updated point totals heading into race day:
      • Hagan – 900 
      • Johnson – 855 
      • Beckman – 848 
    • If Beckman and Hagan win their first-round match-ups, they will square off in round two
  • DSR’s four Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat pilots will be battling it out to pick up one last 2020 Funny Car event trophy for drag racing’s winningest organization on Sunday as they aim to ‘sweep the season’ by going undefeated on the year and extend the record streak to 14 consecutive victories 
  • In Top Fuel, Antron Brown and Leah Pruett earned starting positions in the top half of the dragster field
  • Brown is set to square off against last week’s race winner Tony Schumacher in round one
  • Pruett ran a solid Factory Stock Q2 to run to nab the No. 3 FSS starting position 
Matt Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr., Jack Beckman will battle it out for the 2020 NHRA Camping World Drag Race Series Funny Car trophy on Sunday
 
Ron Capps No. 1 Qualifier at Dodge NHRA Nationals Presented by Pennzoil
 
LAS VEGAS (October 31, 2020) – Fresh off a runner-up finish from the previous event, Ron Capps kept his momentum going by racing the Pennzoil/NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the No. 1 spot on Saturday at the Dodge NHRA Finals presented by Pennzoil. Capps earned the pole position when he sped through the 1,000-foot timers in 3.902 seconds at 327.98 mph during the second and final qualifying session to secure his first No. 1 qualifier of the season, and 25th of his career.
 
Capps will start Sunday with a first-round matchup against No. 16 qualifier Cruz Pedregon in pursuit of a third 2020 triumph. Not only will Capps be racing for the Vegas hardware, but he’ll be aiming to keep DSR’s Funny Car ‘hot streak’ alive. DSR’s four Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat pilots have been unstoppable all season, and each, including Capps, will be battling to pick up one last 2020 trophy for drag racing’s winningest organization on Sunday as they aim to ‘sweep the season’ by going undefeated on the year.
 
“A great job by (crew chief) Rahn Tobler, Dustin Heim and the guys,” remarked Capps regarding the team’s Q2 pass achieved in the NAPA back-up car. “We brought this car out under extreme circumstances for the final round in Gainesville and won, and then we brought it out again in Houston and came close to winning last Sunday. Honestly, we had never warmed the car up until today. Both those final rounds we didn’t get to warm the car up because we were under such pressure and time constraints. Tobler decided to run this car and I kept telling him how much I like this car and I love driving it and my lights are good and it feels right. Low and behold, it went out and made a nice, safe run. We had some DSR parts we wanted to try on the first lap, so we had to back it down a bit and just get down there. And then everything was right to plan with the ‘NAPA Know How’ we talk about. We went up there and leaned on the tune-up and that number popped up. It probably had more in it, but at the time that’s what Tobler was trying to do. For me, I wanted to get a Camping World hat and obviously a win would be great, but to steal the No. 1 spot at the last race of the year is a big feather in the cap. Now time to do some big stuff tomorrow.”

Qualified: No. 1 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 16 Cruz Pedregon

The Results:
Q1: 3.958 E.T. at 324.20 MPH
Q2: 3.902 E. T. at 327.98 MPH (Four bonus points for quickest run of the session)

Bonus Points: Four 

Driver Information:

Top Fuel:
 

ANTRON BROWN
Driver of the Matco Tools 'Tools for the Cause'/Global Electronic Technology/Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
 
Qualified: No. 4 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 11 Tony Schumacher

The Results: 
Q1: 3.965 E.T. at 248.07 MPH (Two bonus points for third-quickest run of the session)
Q2: 3.762 E.T. at 322.81 MPH (One bonus point for fourth-quickest run of the sesion)

Bonus Points: Three

Quotable:
“We’re feeling good. We’re making gains and getting better and better. We wanted to get the No. 1 qualifying spot, but that will have to wait until next year. Tomorrow is a new day. It’s going to be just like today. It’s going to be tricky out here at Vegas with the bright sun. We’re coming on and let’s see if tomorrow can be our day. We’ll give it all we got and we want to go some rounds.”

LEAH PRUETT
Driver of the Mopar Dodge SRT Hellcat Redeye Top Fuel Dragster
 
Qualified: No. 6 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 9 Chris Karamesines

The Results: 
Q1: 3.791 E.T. at 322.04 MPH (Three bonus points for second-quickest run of the session)
Q2: 6.414 E.T. at 103.29 MPH

Bonus Points: Three

Quotable:
“One of our favorite things to do is race at Las Vegas. We have a strong history of qualifying well and going deep into the rounds. We laid down a solid Q1 pass and were excited about the foundation that allowed us to put the coals to it for Q2. Unfortunately, we had about 24 extra seconds on the line idling which drowned more than a gallon of fuel and these cars are very sensitive to weight. I had the front tires in the air much longer than normal and when they came down we smoked the tires. We had it set up to run a high .60, low .70 and go to the No. 1 spot. We can’t change the variables from that Q2 run, but we are ready for a very long Sunday and finish the season in a strong manner.”

TONY SCHUMACHER
Driver of the Okuma/Sandvik Coromant Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
 
Qualified: No. 11

The Competition: No. 4 Antron Brown

The Results: 
Q1: 6.051 E.T. at 109.02 MPH
Q2: 5.249 E.T. at 112.46 MPH

Quotable:
“We didn’t want to be one of the ones to struggle. People do struggle here and our first round there was a long wait period where I sat in the car and the track dried out a little bit. You try to push it and it spun the tires. I pedaled it and it had some cylinders out, and then it pushed a head gasket out on the second lap. I hate to race my teammate tomorrow and we don’t want to qualify 11th. We’re coming off such a great weekend last race. We went down the track every run. We’ll get it figured out and give it a good race. We raced some good cars last weekend and we’ll go out and give it 100-percent.”
Funny Car:
JACK BECKMAN
Driver of the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Qualified: No. 10

The Competition: No. 7 Paul Lee

The Results:
Q1: 4.983 E.T. at 153.37 MPH
Q2: 3.996 E.T. at 309.70 MPH

Quotable:
“You can strategize and worry yourself into the ground trying to figure out where you should qualify to be the most advantageous. Sometimes it’s easier to put your blinders on and go up there and try to get data for the car. Low and behold, the ladder turned out exactly the way we needed it. If we go out and win the race we will be the champions. We will get to face Matt Hagan early in eliminations and if they beat us more power to them. And if we beat them, we’re going to keep marching on. This is going to be one of the most exciting Sundays of my entire career. This is the site where I got my first nitro win back in 2006 and if this is the end of my career this would be the perfect place to close it out.”

MATT HAGAN
Driver of the Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye

Qualified: No. 2 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 15 Terry Haddock

The Results:
Q1: 3.911 E.T. at 327.82 MPH (Four bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q2: 6.026 E.T. at 113.06 MPH

Bonus Points: Four

Quotable:
“We made a great first run out here at Vegas and ended up No. 2. If we get there, we could see Jack Beckman second round. We just need everything to fall in place. We have a great opportunity with a great race car and Vegas has been very kind to me. We’ve been lucky. We want to keep that going, but it’s drag racing and you just never know and that’s why the fans buy tickets to see what’s going to happen. This Dodge SRT Redeye Hellcat is hauling the mail and I’m fortunate to be driving it.”

TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Qualified: No. 4 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 13 Jim Campbell

The Results:
Q1: 3.939 E.T. at 310.98 MPH (One bonus point for fourth-quickest run of the session)
Q2: 3.915 E.T. at 319.14 MPH (Two bonus points for third-quickest run of the session)

Bonus Points: Three

Quotable:
“I’m happy with how qualifying played out. We have a really good, consistent race car and we’re okay for tomorrow to go some rounds. So far, everything is going as planned and we’ll go out tomorrow and see if we can click off four more like we did the last race and see how it all falls after that.”
Factory Stock Showdown Series:

MARK PAWUK
Driver of the Empaco Equipment Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak

Qualified: No. 15

The Competition: No. 2 Aaron Stanfield

The Results:
Q1: 9.346 E.T. at 168.22 MPH 
Q2: 21.467 E.T. at 47.63 MPH

Quotable:
“Coming into the last race of the season, we were really looking forward to making some good laps, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the car to hook up either session today. So, the car is going to have to go down the race track tomorrow. We qualified way down in the field and we’ll be running one of the fastest cars in round one. I’m going to do the best I can. I know my crew will be there for me and we’ll tune this Drag Pak Hemi up and try to knock out one of the top qualifiers.”
 
LEAH PRUETT
Driver of the Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak

Qualified: No. 3 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 14 Kevin Skinner

The Results:
Q1: 7.989 E.T. at 170.17 MPH
Q2: 7.976 E.T. at 170.00 MPH

Quotable:
 “The car ran really good on both runs and that puts us deep in the field like we want. We’ve never raced El Bandito in Vegas before. We need some win lights on Sunday and a little gold man. We’ve got the car and the setup for it just like we’ve been preaching all season and it’s finally here. This would be a good way to wrap up this 2020 Factory Stock Showdown season. We have a lot of confidence heading into Sunday. We want a strong day in both Factory and Top Fuel and I feel good.”

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