POMONA 1 - Saturday Wrap Up (2024)

Sun, 01 Aug 2021, 00:45 AM Capps, B. Force, Anderson and M. Smith All Qualify No. 1 at Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals

Courtesy of NHRA Communications Photo copyright 2021 NHRA/National Dragster

Ron Capps

POMONA, Calif. - Ron Capps powered to the top in Funny Car qualifying on Saturday, earning hissecond straight No. 1 qualifier during the 61st annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented byProtectTheHarvest.com at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) alsoqualified No. 1 in their respective categories at the 10th race of the 2021 NHRA Camping World DragRacing Series season and the final event of the famed three-race NHRA Western Swing.

In the final qualifying session of the day, Capps went 3.941-seconds at 321.35 mph under the lightsin Pomona in his 11,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, racing to his fourthNo. 1 qualifier this season and 29th in his career. The former world champ is also after his firstwin of the 2021 campaign and he will open eliminations against Bobby Bode looking to grab somemomentum to close out the Western Swing on a winning note.

"Tomorrow is going to be new territory for a lot of drivers and that sort of makes it exciting,"Capps said. "That run tonight was pretty fun. You really have to be on your game and race theracetrack. It would be fitting to get our first win this year and first as a team at a home track.These are the trophies you want."

Robert Hight, who won last weekend in Sonoma, qualified second with a 3.953 at 323.27, while Friday'sprovisional No. 1 qualifier, Blake Alexander, finished third thanks to his 3.961 at 318.84.

Brittany Force

Force put on a show at her home track to close out qualifying, rocketing to a run of 3.714 at 330.72in her 11,000-horsepower Flav-R-Pac dragster to qualify No. 1 for the third straight race and fifthtime this season. It also gives Force her 25th career top spot as she now focuses on trying to gether first win of the season. To do so, Force will have to be successful in far different conditionson Sunday.

"Another No. 1 qualifier is amazing for this team," Force said. "We want to be on top, but really ourfocus is raceday. That's going to be tough coming off that run where we had great conditions and nowwe have to turn around and try to figure it out for raceday tomorrow. It's going to be really hot,but we're looking for a long day. We want to go all day and end up in that winner's circle at my hometrack in Pomona."

Leah Pruett, who was the provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday, dropped to second with her run of3.780 at 321.88 from Friday, while Mike Salinas qualified third with a 3.790 at 318.09. Points leaderSteve Torrence, who has a chance to sweep the Western Swing with a win on Sunday, qualified fourthand will open eliminations against Antron Brown.

Greg Anderson

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There is no stopping Anderson in Pro Stock qualifying this season and that continued in Pomona, as hepicked up his eighth No. 1 qualifier in nine Pro Stock in 2021, going 6.586 at 208.42 in hisHendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. The points leader improved on his run from Friday in the finalqualifying session on Saturday, earning his 114th career No. 1 qualifier. But the real numberAnderson is after is his 97th career win, which has eluded him in recent races. He has 12 career winsin Pomona and if he could add to that on Sunday, Anderson would tie Warren Johnson for the most winsin Pro Stock history.

"The important run today was in Q2 when the track was 150 degrees," Anderson said. "It's fun racingat night and it's fun to go fast, but that means nothing for tomorrow. The second run today is goingto tell it all. We weren't quite where we needed to be, but we got the data we needed, so I thinkwe'll be good. I hope we'll be good. I need a win and I need a win bad."

Defending world champ Erica Enders stayed in the second spot with her run of 6.590 at 207.15 fromFriday and Matt Hartford qualified third with a 6.593 at 207.82.

Matt Smith

Smith lowered the boom to close out Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying, staying on top and qualifyingNo. 1 with a stellar pass of 6.760 at 201.91 on his Denso Auto Parts/Stockseth/Matt Smith Racing EBR.The run set the new track speed record at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona and gave him an even biggerseparation between the next-closest competitor, as Smith qualified No. 1 for the third time in 2021and 46th time in his career. The points leader and defending world champ will look for his second winon the Western Swing on Sunday, and his impressive run to close out qualifying certainly turnedheads.

"We just have to turn on four win lights and take it one round at a time (on Sunday)," Smith said."We have the bike to beat and we've had the bike to beat all year long and I just haven't done my jobon Sundays at some of these races. We're going to do the best we can and we'll see if we can turn onfour win lights (on Sunday)."

Angelle Sampey jumped all the way to second on her final pass of the day, going 6.830 at 197.51 andteammate Eddie Krawiec is third thanks to his 6.843 at 199.70.Eliminations for the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com begin at 10a.m. PT on Sunday.