Defending NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps celebrated his third win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge bonus race at the Pacific Raceways on Saturday. The victory came after he defeated J.R. Todd in the final round of the event, which is part of the 34th annual Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals.

In the other divisions, Steve Torrence emerged victorious in Top Fuel, and Gaige Herrera claimed the victory in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge held in Seattle. 

Capps, driving his 11,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra, completed the race in 3.951 seconds at 322.65 mph, surpassing Todd's run of 3.967 at 323.81 mph. With this win, Capps has now secured three specialty event victories in the last four races. Looking ahead to Sunday's race in Seattle, the two-time world champ aims to achieve his first double-up weekend of the year. Capps has already claimed two career event wins at this location.

"This deal has really changed the way you wake up Saturday morning," Capps said. "There's a lot going on inside your head up there. You're trying to win this and you're still trying to improve your qualifying spot, too, but this deal is really cool. We're very excited to get another win in this and it also gives us a lot of good data for tomorrow."

Capps extended his gratitude to Mission Foods for organizing the event, stating. 

"I want to just say it over and over: Thank you to Mission Foods for putting this on," Capps continued. "They really created something cool. We all saw the points is the thing that stood out for most; it's great money, we appreciate that, too. But as you know, we won the world championship last year by less than a handful of points."

Torrence, a four-time Top Fuel world champion, clinched his first win of the season in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. With a run of 3.788 at 325.61 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Capco Contractors/Toyota dragster, Torrence defeated opponent Shawn Langdon in the final round.

This victory provided Torrence, who ranked second in points coming into the event, with a much-needed boost in confidence as he gears up for Sunday's eliminations.

"We had a really good race car in Denver and we should have won (in the semifinals against Kalitta)," Torrence said. "It definitely gives me a boost of confidence in my race car. I went to the Western Swing with a completely different mindset. To win that gives us a lot of confidence going into raceday tomorrow. It's the first win we've had in a while and I think that's finally coming around the way that we want to. The win light came on in our side and we won the race. I trusted my guys and my race. We didn't win four world championships by not trusting in them."

Herrera, the current Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader, dominated the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. He emerged victorious in the finals against Angie Smith, clocking a time of 6.794 seconds at 197.42 mph on his Vance & Hines/Mission Foods Suzuki. With this win, Herrera secured his third victory in the challenge and also took the No. 1 qualifying spot in the category's first appearance at Pacific Raceways. 

Herrera aims to maintain his consistency and strong performance on Sunday, giving him a chance to achieve a double-up for the second time this season.

"I feel like we're kind of back in the groove we had before Bristol, so to be able to come out here and get a third Mission win, it's awesome," Herrera said. "And to be the No. 1 qualifier, it's just an awesome start to the weekend. All the credit goes to the whole team. They really know their stuff. They've been doing this for many years and that gives me all the confidence in the world as a rider. 

"The big thing for me on Sunday is to be consistent on the bike, but I feel very confident we can have a good day."

The Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals eliminations are set to kick off at 10:30 a.m. PT on Sunday at the Pacific Raceways.