Photos by Burghardt Photography, NHRA
Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA Vegas 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas.
1 – FINALLY! – Tony Stewart is now a professional drag racing winner. And to think, all it took was a drag-racing format that reminded him of sprint car racing.
“This reminds me of short-track racing, raced at the dirt track nearby and the short track. It’s like heat racing, you don’t have to be the fastest, just in the top two rounds, then the main – just like the sprint car races,” Stewart said after winning the first round.
Stewart admits he doesn’t have a comfort zone yet in drag racing, but he sure looked like he found one Sunday. He picked up his first NHRA Top Fuel win at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, defeating a quad that included reigning world champion Antron Brown, Jasmine Salinas, and Justin Ashley at the 25th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.
Stewart went 3.870-seconds at 317.42 mph to hold off Brown at the finish line, claiming his first Top Fuel Wally, and adding to the Hall of Famer’s long list of accolades. The former champion in the NASCAR, IndyCar, and USAC ranks won NHRA Rookie of the Year honors a year ago, and then set the stage for the Vegas breakthrough with a final-round appearance two weeks ago at Pomona, California.
“I just remember when I came here the first time with (wife) Leah and she was talking about how a lot of the drivers don’t like this format just because it’s different, it’s non-traditional,” Stewart admitted. “I kind of looked at that, especially when I ran the (Top Alcohol Dragster), and then last year with the Top Fuel car for the first time. This is an equalizer, I feel, because there’s drivers that are out of their comfort zone. They’re used to two lanes and one other opponent now they got three opponents; they got four bulbs to look at on there.
“To me, that’s an equalizer because I embraced it, I loved it. I felt like now that brings them back a little bit because they’re uncomfortable, and I’m used to stuff like this. It’s when you’re not used to a pattern and you’re not used to rhythm, you’re creating that. And so for those guys to have to get out of their comfort zone and do something different a couple times a year, and for me to not even have a comfort zone yet, it equalizes the field, I feel like. So I love them.”
Stewart’s love for racing four abreast was cultivated when he won here in 2023 in the alcohol-fueled dragster.
“I was a big fan of it,” he continued. “We went to Charlotte a week later; runner-up to Mike Coughlin, my teammate by two inches, I think, at the line. I just liked the format of it. It’s more accustomed to what I’m used to. You don’t have to win your heat race to win a sprint car race, you got to run so far up in your heat race to transfer the A-main, and then you got to win the A. So that’s kind of what today is like – you don’t have to win each round.
“We won the first two rounds ourselves, but you don’t have to, you just got to finish in the top two to get to the final, and then in the final you got to win the race to win it. So I like it. I mean, we can’t get to Charlotte fast enough. If we raced to Charlotte tomorrow, it wouldn’t be soon enough for me. So I am excited that twice in Charlotte (this year), we get to run four wide. I haven’t been around long enough to get set in my ways yet. So I like things that create a little bit of chaos occasionally.”
2 – NO STYLE POINTS NEEDED – Austin Prock didn’t have a 2024 season. He didn’t win by the skin of his teeth, but he wasn’t stopping the timers like a banshee, either.
“I said this morning after E1, ‘If they’re all ugly like this, put that blinking light on, I don’t care, as long as we’re better than everybody else in the other lanes,” Prock said. “That’s the name of the game in four-wide drag racing. You don’t have to be perfect all the time, you just got to be better than everyone else.”
Prock ran 4.009 seconds at 316 miles an hour to pick up his first win of the season, which was his second straight in Las Vegas. It was also the 13th win of his relatively short career, and ninth in Funny Car. It was also on a less-than-perfect racing surface that challenged even the most-seasoned tuners.
Prock could seemingly do no wrong last year, with the win lights seemingly lighting up before he fired the car. This season has been more of a test. The John Force Racing team struggled to qualify at the season-opener in Gainesville and delivered very un-Prock-like performances in the ensuing events in Phoenix and Pomona.
Prock and his team took a page out of the National Football League’s elite teams; even on a bad day, good teams find a way to win.
“I believe our team is great,” Prock said. “We haven’t had the success that we had last year, but we’re still the same team, excluding one guy. We got a young kid in there that shows a lot of potential. To get a win for (Samuel Brodhead) – it’s his first Funny Car win – to get a win for him, and this whole Cornwell tools team is really special.”
Thomas Prock, Austin’s assistant crew chief and brother, said immediately after the win that the team “got away with one there.”
“We had a brain fart, essentially, setting the mags,” Austin said. “We wanted to go one way with the mags, and they accidentally went the other way, so then they were really off. But she hung on. I think it had three or four cylinders out down track because that thing was doing anything but going straight.
“It left nice and obviously slow because all the ignition wasn’t set right, but it was good enough to win.”
3 – JUST HOW WE DREW IT UP – After winning his first round of Pro Stock, Dallas Glenn knew things could only get better. As he prepared to fire his car, he developed a nosebleed. So, as he did his burnout and rolled across the line, his nose went drip, drip, drip. It wasn’t a gusher, but it was enough to tip-toe into his focus.
Glenn was in a quad with Aaron Stanfield, David Cuadra, and Mason McGaha. In a very un-Double-O-Dallas-like fashion, he was the last of the quad to leave the starting line. In a combination of sniffling blood and hitting his shift points, Glenn finished second in the quad. It was at this point he believed destiny was on his side.
“And then somehow, I don’t know what I was looking at, but I didn’t see Lane Two stage and just didn’t go onto the two-step until right before the tree came down. I was way late, just dead late. And got lucky enough with the horsepower to get the wind”
Glenn went on to pick up his 15th national event victory, by beating Matt Hartford for the crown. Finishing as semifinalists were Greg Anderson and Matt Latino. It was Glenn’s 31st Pro Stock final round.
Glenn understands that the only round in four-wide racing a driver has to be the best in is the final round. Until then, he worked the system in his favor. It’s evident this format suits Glenn.
“It is pretty hectic,” Glenn admitted. “But the great thing about this format is you can finish second twice before you got to finish first. I didn’t feel like I did a great job in the first two runs, so all I had to do was cut one good light and four good shifts in the final there – and that’s all I needed, and a little bit of luck.”
4 – THE STREAK IS BROKEN – OR IS IT? – Just one of the four-wide intricacies that some believe needs reconsidering is that if a driver finishes lower than second in the final quad of a four-wide race, they are considered a semifinalist, even though they are technically in a final round.
The bottom line, as drag racing statisticians believe, is that “four-wide ruins stats.”
In 1980, Bob Glidden and Lee Shepherd accounted for a record-setting six consecutive final rounds – but they didn’t face the challenges inherent in a four-wide drag race.
Vegas winner Glenn understands both sides of the debate.
“I’ve always believed that it’s no, if your light doesn’t come on for either blinking or solid, then to me, it’s not a final. If you don’t get final round points and final round money, then it’s not a final. That’s just the driver’s opinion here. It is the final, technically final round. But to me, if you don’t finish first or second, then it’s a semi.”
5 – THE CHOSEN ONE DELIVERS – If there’s one thing that is apparent when it comes to Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Maddi Gordon – a Top Fuel rookie in 2026 – it’s that it’s always memorable when she wins.
Last year, her first national-event victory came as a rookie at the NHRA Northwest Nationals – and it was the 100th NHRA victory for a female driver.
Her second national-event victory coincided with this week’s announcement that she would wheel a Top Fuel dragster for team owner (and Funny Car racer) Ron Capps next year. As much credit as she gets, it’s credit she’s prepared to deflect.
“We did it as a team,” Gordon said. “It’s 100% team effort, but this is so cool. I mean, this was such a huge, huge weekend for our team and myself, Ron Capps Motorsports, everybody to officially announce Top Fuel. But to win the 4-Wide with my family is so amazing.
“This is my second national event I’ve ever won. First National was in Seattle and (sister) Macie wasn’t there, but this is the first one with Macie. And I tell you what, she is a key, key part to this race car. We had an engine problem and she found it. If she didn’t find it, we probably would’ve blown up in Q4. But instead, we did it and we ran good. But this is just amazing. A huge testament to our team, to our sponsors, to make this happen.”
On Thursday, Ron Capps and NHRA officially revealed Gordon as the driver for his fledgling Top Fuel team, although it was one of the worst kept secrets for a while.
“I don’t usually get speechless, but I get speechless when I talk about it,” Gordon said. “Driving Top Fuel is something that, really, it didn’t feel achievable for myself because we don’t have the millions that it takes to run one of those cars. So that was not something that I set a goal for because it just seemed beyond the sky for me. But Ron Capps and his partners made a dream of everybody. I mean, they made this dream come true, and I am so honored to be mentored by him and his whole team, and I’m going to do my best to be the best driver that I can be.”
6 – THE HITS KEEP COMING FOR TASCA – The previous event for Bob Tasca III was forgettable, given that he failed to qualify for the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California. He qualified this weekend at Las Vegas, but in the first round of eliminations, his Motorcraft Mustang was unable to back up following its burnout.
“The neutral safety switch failed,” Tasca said. “Once it goes into neutral, you can’t get it off unless you shut off the engine. I didn’t want to screw up any of my opponents, so I shut off the car and got out.”
7 – RICHARDS BREAKS THE DRY SPELL – It’s been almost a year since Dave Richards won a round of competition, and it was at last year’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.
On Sunday, Richards advanced to the second round along with rookie Funny Car driver Spencer Hyde, who won Saturday’s Funny Car #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.
“This is so rewarding, just to get this Bluebird Turk Mustang into the second round,” Richards said. “We are not giving up. We work so hard. My crew chiefs are busting their butts. It feels good. It just feels like all of this work is paying off. This is fun.”
One round later, Richards earned his first final-round quad appearance by beating Cruz Pedregon and Hyde.
“It’s just one of those days where I have been calm and cool,” Richards said. “I like these four-wide conditions for us. It’s a tricky track. We are getting better and better, and this is the momentum we have needed.”
Richards finished third, a semifinalist, and will be a part of the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Charlotte for the first time in his career.
8 – ASHLEY HITS HIS MILESTONE – Justin Ashley reached a significant milestone Saturday by qualifying for his 100th career race-day start.
Ashley, the 2020 Rookie of the Year, has made an impressive mark in his professional-event appearances, never missing a race day and securing 15 career victories. He entered Sunday with another milestone at hand at 149 career round wins with a chance to hit 150.
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to compete in my 100th career race-day start,” Ashley said. “Truthfully, I am not very comfortable even using the word ‘my’ because there have been so many people along the way that were part of this journey.
“Racing one race is a dream come true, but to race 100, that takes a special group of people – from ownership to teammates, partners, family, and everyone in between. I’m looking forward to firing up this SCAG Power Equipment Toyota machine and truly making it official.”
Ashley qualified for his milestone race in the No. 8 spot after recording a time of 3.876 seconds at 310.13 mph during the fourth qualifying session Saturday.
He picked up No. 150 round win, and advanced with Doug Kalitta. Clay Millican was the odd-man out in the three-car race. Ashley added No. 151 to complete the weekend.
9 – CHOMISKI HEADLINES SPORTSMAN RACERS – All he had to do was take the tree to win the Competition Eliminator title, and that’s exactly what Taylor Chomiski did. When Cody Lane broke on his semifinal bye run, Chomiski scored his second win in three consecutive Vegas final rounds.
“I was at the top end after my semifinal win, and they told me he broke and I had won,” Chomiski said. “The Lanes are great competitors, and I’ve lost on a bye run before. I know how it feels, and now I am on the other side of it. What a day!”
Chomiski won the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals last year after finishing runner-up in the Rooftec Vegas Cash Clash, and he has won 12 of 13 elimination rounds this season.
Sunday’s other sportsman-category champs included: Shawn Cowie (Top Alcohol Dragster), Maddy Gordon (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Chad Guilford (Super Stock), Scott Burton (Stock), Kris Whitfield (Super Comp), Kenneth Mostovich (Super Gas), Steve Will (Top Dragster), Brian Warr (Top Sportsman), and Larence Paden (Super Street).
10 – YES, THEY SAID IT – Sometimes drag racers say the darndest things. Here are some examples.
“We made five runs in a row, running slow in Pomona. We came here to step it up and put on a spectacular show if you like fireworks.” – Top Fuel racer Scott Palmer on his weekend’s performance.
“It’s dicey out there and we are in Vegas and shouldn’t have dice out there on the track.” – Funny Car crew chief Tim Wilkerson on the challenging racing surface in the first round when son Daniel ran a 4.24 to advance.
“My dad is my greatest role model. I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity.” – Matt Latino, after advancing to the final quad of Pro Stock.
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