Robert Hight ensured the last race of the season, as close to his home base of Yorba Linda, Ca., will be the site of a great Funny Car battle. He scored a clean sweep of the division at the NHRA Nevada Nationals and in doing so pulled to within 17 points of the class lead.

Mike Salinas (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock), and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the fifth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

In a battle of the top two seeded Funny Cars in the qualified field, Hight went 3.851 seconds at 326.79 mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro to defeat Bob Tasca III in the final round, earning his fourth victory of the 2023 season and the 65th in his career. He now trails Matt Hagan by 17 points with one race remaining, with Tasca just 15 points out of first.

Hight might have put an exclamation mark by beating Tasca, but the most significant moment came in the first round when he established a track record run of 3.816 seconds at 332.67 miles per hour. The run was the quickest in Funny Car since 2017.

“It’s really been a strong weekend at the races,” said Hight. “I’d like to know if anybody in a Countdown race in Funny Car has swept every single point possible. That just goes to my team. You know, they gave me a race car that was perfect this weekend, and we had good conditions where 3.88 was our worst run.

“I feel really good [going into Pomona]. We just have to stay steady and stay focused. Nothing we can do about what the conditions are going to be at Pomona, but I’m going to pray every night that they’re great like we had this weekend. I feel like my team’s got a good handle on this race car, and we just have to go get it done.”

Tasca reached the final round with wins against Steven Densham, Cruz Pedregon, and Hagan before falling to Hight.

Following Hight’s lead, Top Fuel racer Salinas won from the No. 1 qualifying position, beating a rejuvenated Justin Ashley in the 
final round with a run of 3.673 at 331.36 in his Valley Services/Scrappers Racing dragster. The win was his second of the season and the ninth in his career, also remaining in the championship hunt. He’ll head to the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals 76 points out of first, giving himself a fighting chance with a spectacular weekend in Las Vegas.

Salinas reached the final round with wins over Rob Passey, Tony Schumacher, and Josh Hart to reach the final round. 

“We came into this race, and I told my guys we need to win this race and the next one to even matter,” Salinas said. “We were badass today, we were the best car out here, but we think there’s more.

“We’ve been working on this car since Gainesville, and it has shown signs of greatness, but the consistency has been evading us, so we were trying to get more consistent. We have come across some stuff that we were working on. It seemed to work, and today is the best day we’ve had all year and the car’s showing amazing signs. If we can continue to do what we’re doing here, it’ll be a great weekend in Pomona.”

Ashley reached his eighth final round in 2023 and 19th overall by defeating Dan Mercier, Austin Prock, and Steve Torrence, who took over the points lead in Las Vegas. He leads Doug Kalitta by 15 points, with Pruett now 34 points back.

 

 

 

 

Enders, in winning Pro Stock, racked up a career day by winning her tenth race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. She also established herself as the winningest professional female drag racer, breaking a tie with Angelle Sampey. 

Enders stopped Greg Anderson in the final round with a run of 6.557 at 208.23 in her Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro. Enders continued her strong run in the Countdown to the Championship, winning for the fourth time this season and the 47th time in her Pro Stock career.

This marked the second straight win for Enders, as she stretched her lead to 114 points over Anderson heading into the last race of the season. She knocked off Mason McGaha, Troy Coughlin Jr. and Jeg Coughlin Jr. to reach the final round and after defeating Anderson, Enders is on the verge of her sixth world championship.

“Today was stress-level nine million,” Enders said. “It was do or die. We needed to perform perfectly, and my guys went out there and did just that. It was a challenging day. The final round against Greg, it was pretty epic. After we both won the semifinals, we shook hands and he said, ‘Old guys to the top.’ I really enjoy racing him, but I enjoy beating him more, respectfully.

“It was a tremendous day, [but] I don’t feel like [the championship] is ours. We have to go out there and continue to earn it. If you would have told me 12 races ago that we were going to contend for our sixth championship, I would have told you that you were nuts. We have a 114-point lead, but a lot can happen. A lot can change, and I just try to focus on what’s right in front of me. I don’t want to get the bigger picture in my mind too far ahead, but at the same time believe that we can do it and that we’re capable.”

Anderson reached his 176th career final round thanks to victories against Aaron Stanfield, No. 1 qualifier Kyle Koretsky, and Matt Hartford.

At some point, when the score is 72-0 with two minutes left in the football game, one can concede victory, and that's precisely where Herrera is in the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship battle. He moved closer to his first world championship by taking down teammate Eddie Krawiec in the final round with a track-record run of 6.755 at 198.32 on his Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki. 

Herrera has ten wins this season, tying Matt Hines for the most in a single season in Pro Stock Motorcycle history, and a 181-point lead heading into the finale. That means Herrera will clinch the world championship in Pomona with his first qualifying run, a fitting end to one of the most dominant seasons in NHRA history.

After qualifying No. 1 for the 13th time this year, Herrera reached the final round with victories against Marc Ingwersen and Jerry Savoie. That set up a final round matchup with his teammate for the fourth time this season and Herrera again denied his teammate of a 50th career win. He was untouchable in Las Vegas, shattering his track record in the finals with another epic run.

“This race was really emotional to me. I have a lot of family and friends here, and I had a stellar bike all day,” Herrera said. “All day today, it was a little bit of a challenge with the headwind, riding-wise, and you could definitely feel it. But I had a very good bike all day. It was awesome being in the final against Ed. That’s the third Vance & Hines final in a row, and it was a fun final.

“We went up there, and I had a feeling he wasn’t going to stage first so I just sat there. He revved the throttle at me and I did it back. Once he did it the second time, I said, ‘Oh, he’s definitely not going in first,’ so I just rolled it in. It knocked me off my game a little, but he shook the tire and I ended up going a 6.755. It felt like a very smooth, good pass, but I didn’t expect it to go faster than what I qualified with. We’re happy with that, and after this weekend, once I go to Pomona and break the beams, it’s a done deal – that’s very exciting.”

Krawiec advanced to the finals for the fourth time this season and the 95th time overall by defeating Steve Johnson and Jianna Evaristo.

The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series closes out the 2023 season with the 58th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on Nov. 9-12 at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.