Stamina is a big part of drag racing, just ask Pro Stock winner Dallas Glenn, who needed a hefty dose of it Sunday at the In-N-Out dragstrip in Pomona, Ca., to pick up his fifth career Pro Stock win, and did it at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.

Glenn walked the drag racing equivalent of the gauntlet to win the race and assume the point lead.

"It's obviously a great long day," Glenn said. "Anytime I'm wore out at the end of the day, I'm pretty happy about it. I mean, I've got an absolutely great car right now. We are just making small tweaks to it, and it's just running really, really good. Really happy with it. It's a different car from last year and I really like it. I'm real comfortable in it, feel real good."

In a rematch of last year’s Top Fuel final round at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, Justin Ashley picked up his second straight win at the storied event, powering past Austin Prock on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the third of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

Ashley went 3.713-seconds at 330.63 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by National Debt Relief, leading from start-to-finish against Prock’s 3.762 at 327.43. It gives the Top Fuel points leader his second straight victory and ninth career win, as well as a clean sweep of the weekend in Pomona after winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday.

A scary-looking qualifying crash during Saturday’s first session at the Lucas Oil Winternationals at California’s In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip left NHRA Funny Car drivers John Force and JR Todd uninjured.

Force, who initiated the contact when his Peak Chevy Camaro crossed the center line past the finish stripe, was subdued and repentant, while DHL Toyota Supra driver Todd was unintentionally ambushed and angry.

The first two races of the 2023 NHRA season didn’t go as planned at all for Cruz Pedregon.
 
He qualified eighth and 13th at the Gatornationals and Arizona Nationals, respectively, and lost in the first round at both races.
 
Pedregon’s fortunes changed at the Lucas Oil Winternationals Friday as he grabbed the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot with a 3.865-second elapsed time at 302.28 mph.
 
“Truth be known, there was a little left on the table even in that run,” said Pedregon, who pilots the Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT. “I clicked it a little early. I have been trying hard to keep the car in the groove. It has been wanting to dart and wander all over the place in Gainesville and (Phoenix) Arizona, so I was really focused on keeping it in the groove. I lost a little bit of sight of where I was on the track. Right as I closed the throttle, I saw the placards on the wall. But, it was a great run and the thing put me back in the seat.
 
 

In the ten years Brittany Force has been racing Top Fuel, she has proved two things without a doubt – she can win world championships as she did in 2017 and 2022, and she can qualify No. 1 at national events.
 
After Friday’s lone qualifying session at the Lucas Oil Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., she is on the verge of her 44th No. 1 qualifying position, thanks to clocking a 3.712-second time at 328.86 mph.
 
“Honestly, it didn’t feel like a great run,” said Force, who pilots the Flav-R-Pac/Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster for John Force Racing. “When I got out on the top end, they told me it was a 71, and we were currently low. That was exciting, but it surprised me a little. It kind of rattled. Half-track to the 1,000-foot, it vibrated the whole way down and I just thought any second this thing is going to pop behind me. It is going to get in trouble. It just felt like it was coming undone. Then right before 1,000-foot, we shut it off. I thought it was (crew chief David) Grubnic who shut it off.

Inclement weather on Saturday forced Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) and GALOT Motorsports Park officials to postpone eliminations at the season-opening Summit Racing Equipment PDRA East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech to Sunday. Rain and heavy winds put a stop to Saturday morning’s activities, and the forecast for the rest of the day predicted more of the same conditions.