For the second consecutive NHRA national event, Alexis DeJoria drove her Bandero Premium Tequila ROKiT Toyota Camry Funny Car to the No. 1 qualifier position. On Friday night at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals DeJoria blasted to the No. 1 spot with a stellar 3.896 second pass at 327.03 mph. It was the sixth career No. 1 for DeJoria and two weeks ago in Bristol DeJoria won the event from the pole for her first win of the 2021 season.
“This is like a dream,” said DeJoria. “This is everything that we had hoped for, and it is finally coming together. Our success in Bristol really catapulted us into this Las Vegas race. I am just proud of these guys. We made it down the track every run and consistency is the key.”
Force locked down her 12th No. 1 qualifying spot of the season and picked up a few markers on points leader Steve Torrence. She swept the maximum 17 qualifying points available – nine for low ET of all three qualifying sessions and eight for the No 1 spot. Torrence earned just nine points, but his lead remains at more than three rounds.
“We had a really successful qualifying,” Force said. “We had three great runs and our last session going into race day tomorrow was our best run, so this whole team has boosted confidence. We're in the hunt for this championship and we're in a great spot. We got that No. 1, we picked up a ton of bonus points and excited to get here tomorrow and get started.
There was not a lot of shuffling in the Pro Stock field on Saturday but there was one significant move that could easily impact the ongoing championship battle. Incoming points leader Greg Anderson took over the top spot from teammate Kyle Koretsky with a 6.65 in his HendrickCars.com Camaro.
“Imagine that,” said Anderson. “I know what he is capable of; he’s fast and capable of cutting a great light. I say this all the time but in Pro Stock, anyone can beat anyone at a given time so this should be a good race. We’re not even at Pomona yet and the pressure is through the roof.”
The top spot also changed hands in Pro Stock Motorcycle where reigning champion Matt Smith rode his Denso Buell to a 6.839 at over 198 mph to steal the top spot from championship rival Steve Johnson, who had earlier run 6.848 on his Suzuki.
“We came out first pass on Friday and was No. 2 and made some tweaks for today and it was better,” said Smith. “The air is over 4,200 feet but it worked. We picked up everywhere on the last run and the Denso/Lucas Oil Bike went to the pole.
Sunday looks to be action packed!
See the full recap at NHRA.com:
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