Top Fuel
Doug Kalitta continued to dominate Saturday afternoon in the third and fourth round of qualifying, but his track record-breaking run on Friday night of 3.649 ET at 336.40 mph gave him a smooth ride into pole position into Sunday’s finals. He will face 14 seed Ron August Jr. in the first round of eliminations.
Funny Car
Bob Tasca III is on track to repeat his 2022 performance at Sonoma Raceway, claiming the top spot heading into Sunday with the fastest ET of 3.839 at 338.43 mph. “It’s crazy how fast this car runs. When we pull it back, it [runs] over 337 mph, and [it’s] smooth as glass,” He said. “I describe it [as] you can take a fan out of the stands and put them in one of these 337 mph machines and just say ‘listen, keep the steering wheel straight, hit the throttle, count to three and pull that lever right there and you’ll have the ride of your life,’ And that was the last run today.”
Pro Stock
Greg Anderson took the top spot in his category, posting a track record ET of 6.491 at 211.20 mph. “We depend 100% on Mother Nature, so when she shines on us, like today, you lick your chops. You go out there and throw it down,” he said.
In a race where a win can be determined by .001 of a second, Anderson said he’ll take any advantage he can get.
Pro Stock Motorcycle
Matt Smith sits at the top, posting an ET of 6.655 at 204.23 mph. His victory in the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All Star Call out didn’t go by without some controversy, and he provided some insight on the state of Pro Stock Motorcycle racing in a post-race interview.
He recently commented about the lack of parity in the division, going as far as suggesting he may pull his five motorcycles from it if the NHRA does not take steps to even the playing field, in reference to Gaige Herrera’s epic season so far.
Even though Smith sits at first, he still believes Herrera has the edge heading into the finals on Sunday.
A Race Within A Race
Saturdays qualifying included the “#2Fast2Tasty All-Star Callout Challenge,” a race program sponsored by Mission Foods that began in 2023. The challenge pits the semi-finalists from the previous race against each other in a head-to-head, tournament style challenge that is played out as drivers make their qualifying runs with their challenge opponent. The winner of the challenge in each division receives an additional purse as well as bonus points that go toward playoff standings.
Of the eight qualifying drivers, the top seed from the previous race gets to pick their first opponent, a set-up that leads to some teams picking the opponent they think they have the best opportunity to beat, and some teams embracing the opportunity to go head to head against their rival.
The challenge is usually exclusively run in the Funny Car and Top Fuel divisions, however at Sonoma, GETTRX sponsored a whopping $25,000 purse for a Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star callout. The standard Top Fuel and Funny Car purse is $10,000.
The NHRA Funny Car Challenge was won by Austin Prock, and the Top Fuel Challenge was won by Shawn Langdon. Troy Coughlin Jr. bested his Uncle Jeb for the Pro Stock win. Matt Smith won the Pro Stock Motorcycle Division.
Gaige Herrera, the driver of the Vance and Hines machine that has been dominating the Pro Stock Motorcycle division, took the opportunity to call out Smith in the first round. Smith was happy to get a chance to knock out the best team in the first round. “My pick was gonna be Steve Johnson, just because he annoys me all the time,” he said. “He talks a lot of stuff about me, so I was going to pick him.”
The DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals wraps up Sunday, with nitro eliminations starting at 10:30 a.m.
