Usually, when Lyle Barnett visits a Duck X race at SGMP he's challenging for a win. But this weekend at No Mercy 13, the Mooresville, NC-based driver arrived just as a spectator as Brad Edwards took over Barnett's role as wheelman of Grant Guthrie's wild '66 Chevy pickup.

That's because Barnett is leaving for Las Vegas and the NHRA Nevada Nationals on Saturday. 

"I'm gonna' start licensing in Randy Myers' A/Fuel car on Monday. Then I'll go enjoy SEMA and finish licensing, probably on Thursday," he explained.  "And then, you know, we've got some hopefully really big news going into 2023, which I can't talk about yet. But it should be good, man. I'm excited." 

Funny Car points leader Robert Hight held on to the top spot at the 22nd annual NHRA Nevada Nationals on Saturday, claiming the No. 1 qualifier to ensure a nitro sweep from John Force Racing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the 21st event in the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the fifth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. 

Matt Smith’s chase to equal NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle history is right on track this weekend in Las Vegas.

Smith, who is trying to become the third PSM driver to win six NHRA world championships – joining Andrew Hines and the late Dave Schultz – came in to the Nevada Nationals with the points lead and will start from the No. 1 qualifying position on Sunday.

Erica Enders’ drive for a fifth NHRA Pro Stock world championship took another step closer Saturday at the Nevada Nationals.

Enders, who won world titles in 2014-15 and 2019-20, came into this weekend with a 165-point lead over her Elite Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield.

Brittany Force won NHRA’s Top Fuel world championship in 2017. Now, she is trying to rally to capture world crown No. 2 in 2022.

Force entered the Nevada Nationals this weekend in second place in the points standings – 82 points behind leader Justin Ashley.

With just two races left in NHRA’s 2022 Countdown to the Championship, nitro Funny Car driver Robert Hight knows every point counts.

Hight entered the Nevada Nationals this weekend as the points leader but with just a slim 10-point advantage over Ron Capps.

If this were the old days of Monday Night Football, former NFL analyst "Dandy" Don Meredith would be singing, "turn out the lights, the party's over."

Meredith, who once played for Texas' revered Dallas Cowboys, used to sing the old Willie Nelson song when one team had run roughshod over the other, and a comeback was improbable.

That's pretty much the scene with the Pro Stock battle coming into this weekend's NHRA Nevada Nationals in Las Vegas.

Predictable phrases such as four-ace hand, Lady Luck, and rolling the dice, and words such as jackpot, odds, bet, and gamble are yawners in Las Vegas previews and press releases. But so are some of the trite, unimaginative remarks from drivers as the Countdown to the Championship is supposed to be generating excitement with this race and the Nov. 11-13 Finals at Pomona, Calif. So here’s our Top 10 List of What Not To Bother Saying Anymore When You’re In A Title Hunt:

Kyle Koretsky loves racing at the Texas Motorplex, and the only thing he probably loves more... is leaving. The feeling has little to do with the facility and more with an incident that happened some 17 years ago.

Koretsky was a student at Council Rock North High School, located in Bucks County, Pa., about 25 miles north of Philadelphia when his dad Kenny was involved in one of the most horrific accidents ever in NHRA.

During Friday evening qualifying at the 2005 NHRA FallNationals, Bruce Allen, who left the line significantly ahead of Kenny, had his Pontiac inexplicably turn left and cross the centerline on two wheels. With nowhere to go, Kenny drove right through the center of Allen's car, breaking it in two. Allen's engine went right into Kenny's windshield. When the smoke cleared, Allen had suffered a concussion and Kenny a bruised heart.

Brittany Force made the quickest run in each qualifying session on Friday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, powering to the provisional No. 1 position in Top Fuel at the 22nd annual NHRA Nevada Nationals. 

Robert Hight (Funny Car), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 21st event in the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the fifth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.