NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Las Vegas was blasted by heavy rain last night, so the NHRA Safety Safari presented by Simpson was out early this morning grooming the track and looking for any instances of the rain getting under the rubber. To give them extra time on the track, the traditional SealMaster Track Walk was canceled, and the pre-race ceremony was also scrubbed. If you believe the weather forecasters, there's a 40% chance of rain all day. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS FOR THE DAY

Top Fuel: The big deal of the day, of course, is that Shawn Langdon has the opportunity to clinch his second Top Fuel world championship. The scenario is pretty simple: Langdon is 147 points ahead of Doug Kalitta, meaning he’d need to go three rounds further than Kalitta to clinch today. For example, if Kalitta loses in the first round, Langdon can clinch by reaching the final. If Kalitta loses in the second round, Langdon needs to win the race to clinch.  If Kalitta advances to the semifinals, Langdon cannot clinch today and will be decided in Pomona.

Pro Mod: This is the final Pro Mod race of the season. Justin Bond leads Mike Stavrinos by 13 points, so Stavrinos would have to go a round further than Bond to pass him, and Derek Manholt needs to go two rounds further than Bond and Stavrinos. J.R. Gray needs to go three more than Bond but only two more than Stavrinos. Billy Banaka needs Bond to lose round one or he’s eliminated, but, like Gray, is a round closer to Stavrinos should Bond go out early.

Top Alcohol Dragster: After beating his closest points rival, Shawn Cowie, in round two last night, Jamie Noonan can clinch his first world championship by winning his semifinal race.

Super Stock: Justin Pucillo can clinch the championship by winning the final round against Carl Youngstrom.

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TOP FUEL ROUND 1

The air temperature is 63 degrees, the track temperature is 79 degrees, and the very first pair gave us some indication of what we might see today as Billy Torrence reset low e.t. with a 3.660 at 340.65 against tire-smoking Spencer Massey. Torrence's run is the 50th 340-mph pass in NHRA history, 48 of which have happened in Top Fuel. Surprisingly, neither of those are career bests for Billy-Billy, who has run as quick as 3.655 and as fast as 341.43.

Points leader Shawn Langdon posted a workmanlike 3.672 over Cameron Ferre but will not have lane choice against Torrence in round two. Doug Kalitta kept their championship battle alive with a 3.682 victory over Will Smith's game 3.74. Smith was out first with a .034 light (better than his .044 season average) but couldn't match the Alan Johnson horsepower.

In a rematch of their Dallas final, Antron Brown again beat Maddi Gordon (now 3-1 on the season) in a great race, 3.690 to 3.693. Gordon's speed of 340.82 resets Torrence's minutes-old track record. AB was first of the line, as he has been 34 of 42 races this year.

Clay Millican added another 3.6-second pass (3.699) to our collection, but it wasn't enough for the win against holeshot artist Justin Ashley, who won by .002-second with a 3.740. It's Ashley's fifth holeshot win of the season. In 34 rounds this year, Ashley has only been left on twice.

Tony Stewart, whose first NHRA win came here in Top Alcohol Dragster back in 2023, advanced to Round 2 with a solid 3.678 against rookie Chris Powers, whose parachute deployed early and whose head gaskets exited late.

After first-round losses at the last three events, Josh Hart got the W over Shawn Reed with a 3.719.

This is Tony Schumacher’s 600th race, making him just the seventh Pro driver to hit that mark. Also in that exclusive club are John Force, Cruz Pedregon, Ron Capps, Warren Johnson, Larry Morgan, and Doug Kalitta. In that 600-race span, he's only had nine DNQs. Pretty impressive. All things considered, though, this has been the worst active season of his storied career, with just four round wins in 18 events; he hasn't turned on a win light since the Norwalk event in June and stunningly DNQ'd at Indy, a race he once dominated.

Interestingly, Schumacher's opponent in round one is the driver whose seat he will take next year, Leah Pruett. Schumacher is up in smoke right away, and Pruett steams to a 3.714 for second-round lane choice over Hart.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Billy Torrence vs. Shawn Langdon; Doug Kalitta vs. Justin Ashley; Tony Stewart vs. Antron Brown; Leah Pruett vs. Josh Hart