Shawn Langdon came to Las Vegas with a chance to put the NHRA Top Fuel championship out of reach before the season finale, and Friday’s qualifying performance suggested he wasn’t interested in leaving the door open. The Kalitta Motorsports driver powered to a 3.672-second pass at 332.59 mph to lead the opening day of the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Jack Beckman in Funny Car, Matt Hartford in Pro Stock and Gaige Herrera in Pro Stock Motorcycle joined Langdon atop the provisional qualifying sheets. With two races remaining in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Friday offered a reminder that championships aren’t the only things worth fighting for.
Langdon entered the weekend 144 points ahead of teammate Doug Kalitta and could secure his second Top Fuel championship Sunday. His Friday performance also earned a $3,500 bonus and put him in position for his ninth No. 1 qualifier of the season.
“Typically here it’s really dry, so this is a little different conditions with the [water] grains up a little bit, a little bit of moisture in the air,” Langdon said. “So it’s just a matter of finding the power and then it’s just applying it to the track. The track’s good, so you just have to get the power level right and then get the clutch right for the track. Having two good runs today definitely gives you a little bit of confidence going into tomorrow.
“Tomorrow and for the rest of the year, we just have to do what we did today,” Langdon said. “At the end of the day, we can’t falter because we know the history of Alan Johnson and Doug Kalitta, and we know what they’re capable of. We still have to go out there and do our jobs at the end of the day because if we falter, they will capitalize.”
Tony Stewart was second at 3.676 seconds and 339.28 mph, followed by Josh Hart’s 3.688 at 325.61.
Beckman wasn’t content to let the Top Fuel cars have all the fun under the lights. The former Funny Car champion unloaded a 3.836-second run at 335.32 mph, the second-quickest Funny Car elapsed time of the season, to take the provisional pole and collect another $3,500 bonus.
“When you get conditions like this, it’s always an educated guess on what you think you can get away with,” Beckman said. “We were still in the window here, but we had a couple of delays. You don’t want this to go too long and the track to get out of that area. Clearly, we had some pretty good data for that. When these things are on a run like that, it’s hard to put words to how cool nitro Funny Car is, and the fact that I had my hands full, it stayed stuck and it put up that number, fantastic and good for our team.”
Beckman entered the weekend fifth in points, with Matt Hagan holding the championship advantage. John Force Racing teammate Alexis DeJoria was second at 3.874, J.R. Todd third at 3.889 and Hagan ninth at 3.945.
“Barring a miracle, we’re not going to catch [points leader Matt] Hagan,” Beckman said. “Our goal is to win two races, and if that means we finish second, that’s good. Whoever wins this year clearly is going to earn it. Nobody backed into getting into the Countdown and everybody in the top six are killer cars right now.”
Pro Stock’s championship fight had considerably less breathing room, and Hartford made sure points leader Dallas Glenn knew he was still around. Hartford, who entered Las Vegas 41 points behind Glenn, led qualifying with a 6.632 at 206.57 mph and collected a $1,500 bonus.
“There were definitely tricky conditions out there tonight,” Hartford said. “We thought we could go to the front. We were trying to go to the front, but we also knew that there was a chance that it might not get down tonight.”
Matt Latino followed at 6.635, with Stanfield third at 6.639. Hartford wasn’t ready to celebrate a provisional pole with two more qualifying sessions scheduled Saturday.
“Tomorrow is just another day,” Hartford said. “We have to go out there, execute, try to try to hold on to No. 1. The conditions will be good enough that this isn’t a guaranteed hold the pole.”
Herrera, meanwhile, wasn’t interested in surrendering the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship without a fight. The two-time champion led both
Friday sessions, opening with a 6.835 at 195.42 mph while trying to erase a 58-point deficit to teammate Richard Gadson.
Gadson was second at 6.841, with Joey Gladstone third at 6.856. Herrera was chasing his 36th career No. 1 qualifier, but the championship was occupying considerably more of his attention.
“It’s Richard [Gadson, teammate] and Matt [Smith] basically, still in the championship battle, and you know it puts me in a different mindset,” Herrera said. “It just makes me hungrier when there’s a mix of riders to go out there and do the best I can, cut good lights, and try to ride as best as I can.”
Qualifying resumes Saturday at 11 a.m. Pacific.
