Reigning NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion Ron Capps made the scary transition from driver to team owner this season.

So far so good in his new role.

Capps latest reason to celebrate came Saturday at the Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Capps clocked a 3.883-second elapsed time at 331.45 mph in the final qualifying session to take the No. 1 qualifying position behind the wheel of his NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored machine.

“I can’t say enough about Guido and Medlen,” said Capps, referring to his championship-winning crew chiefs, Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli and John Medlen. “I am always bragging about them but for good reason. Not to mention, our entire team remained intact from last year and came along on this new ownership journey, and that means a lot to me. These yellow No. 1 qualifier hats mean so much, especially now as a team owner, it makes us so proud to be able to share in these moments with NAPA and all our wonderful partners.”

This is Capps’ second No. 1 qualifier this season – he also was No. 1 at the season-opening Winternationals – and No. 31 of his storied career.

In the first round of the Four-Wide event, Capps will face No. 8 qualifier Tim Wilkerson, No. 9 qualifier J.R. Todd, and No. 16 Jason Rupert.

While Capps has yet to win a Vegas Four-Wide Nationals trophy, he has found previous success competing in the unique four-lane format, having clinched a victory at the 2017 event in Charlotte.

Capps, who has 68 career national event wins, had his ownership hat on when talking about his team’s early season success. They arrived in Vegas third in the points standings with a 6-3 elimination-round record.
  
“We’re making great runs, we’re not blowing stuff up, and we’re representing our sponsors well,” Capps said. “I’d give my team an A+ and I don’t mean that to sound cocky in any way, I just truly can’t say enough about this NAPA AutoCare team. They give me a consistent car every weekend. The only thing missing is a win at this point, but if you think about it, we didn’t get our first win until July of last year, but we were consistent week in and week out, and it paid off because now we get to run that No. 1 sticker on the side of our car this year.”

Capps, who won his first world title in 2016, brought a special guest to the media center during his press conference for being the No. 1 qualifier. Joining Capps was his longtime friend Ronnie ‘the limo driver’ Mund of the Howard Stern Show/

Mund spent the day with Capps and his team and and was standing on the starting line when Capps roared to the No. 1 qualifying spot.
 
“I’ve been trying to get Ronnie out to a drag race for a while, but with him being based in New York it was tough,” Capps said. “He recently moved out to Vegas, so we were finally able to make that happen today. To have him on the starting line when Guido threw down that 3.88 at 330 (mph) in the heat was stunning.”

Capps joined Mund and the rest of the Stern show personalities when he appeared as a guest on the Wrap-Up show in 2018 and 2019.
 
“It was my first time watching Ron race in-person today and it was so amazing,” said Mund, who was decked head-to-toe in his Capps gear. “My teeth were chattering; my heart was pounding. To see Ron run like that, the way that car dug in and just went barreling straight down the track, it was just an amazing experience.”