Capps Wraps Up 2025 Season Ranked No. 4 at Rainy NHRA Finals
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By NAPA
Ron Capps and the
link hidden, please login to view Funny Car team delivered a standout performance Sunday at the NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, racing to the final round of the milestone 1,000th NHRA Funny Car event before a narrow loss to Matt Hagan. After qualifying No. 2, Capps ran a series of passes in the 3.80-second range, including low E.T. of the event, on the way to his 159th career final round. With the runner-up finish, Capps is now tied for the Funny Car points lead with Hagan following race three of the 20-race NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Funny Car’s first qualifying session on Friday was a challenging one for Capps and his fellow competitors, but with Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli turning the knobs, he charged to a 4.007-second pass at 314.17 mph in the second session. That was the third-quickest performance of the round, rewarding Capps with one championship bonus point and the provisional No. 3 position. By reaching the semifinals at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, which he ultimately won, Capps earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during Saturday qualifying. Capps left the line first against Paul Lee, but he started to lose traction and backed off the throttle. He then rebounded to a 3.919 E.T. at 330.88 mph in the final session to grab two more bonus points and climb up to the No. 2 position in the final qualifying order.
In the first round of eliminations on Sunday, Capps left the starting line ahead of young gun Dylan Winefsky, and though he lost traction, pedaled, dropped cylinders, and shut off early, he crossed the finish line first with a 4.977 E.T. Capps came back stronger in the quarterfinals, where he fired off low E.T. of the round, a 3.884-second pass at 332.34 mph, to defeat Alexis DeJoria. Capps and Antonelli lowered the boom yet again in the semifinals with a 3.863 E.T. at 330.31 mph – low E.T. of the event – to hold off rookie Jordan Vandergriff and his 3.889 E.T.
Following a quick turnaround to race under the lights in the 1,000th NHRA Funny Car final round, Capps lined up next to fellow multi-time world champion Matt Hagan for the 85th time in eliminations. The NAPA Auto Care machine moved off the starting line first, but Hagan pulled ahead at the finish line, with Capps recording a 3.893 E.T. at 334.32 mph to Hagan’s winning 3.876 E.T.
“You really couldn’t ask for a better final in a lot of different ways,” Capps said. “It was really mano a mano with both teams – ‘Stretch’ (Mike Knudsen, Hagan’s crew chief) and Guido and then Matt and me. I get up for racing Matt. He was a teammate of mine for a long time and I know how good he is. To me, that’s like a ‘Snake’ and ‘Jungle Jim’ race back in the day. You’ve got a great car, you get up there and you throw down, then you add the fact that it’s Pomona on a late Sunday night under the lights and the 1,000th win in Funny Car is on the line. There’s so many cool things about it. I’m bummed it didn’t go our way, but at the same time, we have a good hot rod, and we moved up in points. I’m just so proud of Guido and the guys.”
Capps will look to solidify the points lead at the next stop on the NHRA Mission Foods Series schedule, the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, April 24-26, at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina.
Start / Finish: No. 2 / def. in final round
Points Standing / Total: No. 1 / 251 pts. (tied)
Next Race: April 24-26, NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, Concord, NC
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By NAPA
Maddi Gordon, the driver of the
link hidden, please login to view Top Fuel dragster, continued gaining positive momentum in her rookie season at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals today in Pomona, Calif. The talented Ron Capps Motorsports standout recorded a new career-best speed and elapsed time attempting to defeat Justin Ashley in the opening round of NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competition. Although Gordon didn’t get the win light, it was a milestone event in front of a hometown crowd for the California native. In addition to recording new personal bests and winning the first round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, Gordon, the 100th woman in NHRA history to win a national event, had the honor of hosting NHRA Drag Racing legend Shirley Shahan, who captured victory No. 1 for women.
“I met Shirley at the Winternationals last year and she’s such a wonderful lady,” said Gordon. “I’ve been reading her book and learning more about her. It’s funny because she seems like this sweet lady who would be baking cookies for her grandkids but in reality, she’s bad to the bone! It was really cool to have her out here. She’s like drag racing royalty so the fact that she was hanging out with us, wearing green, was a big honor.”
While Gordon lost traction and had to shut off early in the first Friday session, the Carlyle team quickly found their groove and came back with a stellar pass of 3.819 seconds at 326.56 mph.
On Saturday, Gordon pulled double duty in qualifying, competing in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, wherein the semifinalists from the previous race get a chance at redemption. In the first round of competition for the race-within-a-race, Gordon got the starting line advantage over former world champion Shawn Langdon. She held on to that lead, crossing the finish line in 3.831 seconds at 317.34 mph. In the process, Gordon earned one bonus point for making the third-quickest pass of the session.
“We’re two to one against Shawn Langdon now,” remarked Gordon. “That’s really exciting. He’s mentored me a lot, so it’s a big deal to run against him. He’s one of the best out there. That was really cool.”
In her first Mission #2Fast2Tasty final, which also served as the last qualifying opportunity for drivers, Gordon faced Doug Kalitta. As the two rolled up to the starting line, a real-time fan poll showed that approximately 75% of fans expected Gordon to defeat the Top Fuel veteran. The pair put on a show as they both made their quickest passes of the weekend, but ultimately, Kalitta turned on the win light. Gordon’s 3.798 at 327.98 landed her in the No. 8 spot on the competition ladder.
After morning showers delayed the start of eliminations Sunday, Gordon and Ashley were the first pair on the track. In the Top Fuel Marquee Matchup, Ashley got the starting line advantage, and while Gordon made a blistering pass of 3.744 at 334.15, it was not enough for Ashley’s 3.714 at 332.43.
“We all hate to lose,” said Gordon. “But Rob (Flynn, crew chief) said we can’t hang our heads about how we did today. I had my career-best E.T. and mile per hour, but not my career-best reaction time. As a driver, that’s what I look at because that’s what I want to provide for the team. It was really cool going down the track after all the rain. Rob and Troy (Fasching, crew chief) got it right down Broadway. We made our best run yet in conditions we’ve never had. It shows just how good this team is and how well we can adapt to different conditions. Losing sucks, but running a career-best mile per hour and E.T. definitely does NOT suck!”
The weekend ended on a high note for Gordon and her family when her father, Doug Gordon, raced to victory in the Top Alcohol Funny Car category.
Gordon will continue her Rookie of the Year campaign in two weeks when the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series travels to Charlotte for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Raceway.
Start / Finish: No. 8 / def. in first round
Points Standing / Total: No. 6 / 186 pts. (-70)
Next Race: April 24-26, NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, Concord, NC
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By NAPA
Ron Capps and the
link hidden, please login to view Funny Car team turned chaos into a commanding victory Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park. The three-time world champion overcame a rocky start in qualifying and bounced back from an engine explosion in the quarterfinals to earn his 78th career national event Wally and his 10th since becoming a team owner in 2022. The veteran wheelman set low E.T. of all four elimination rounds, including the final, where he defeated second-year driver Spencer Hyde. Capps is now ranked third in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car points standings.
Capps’ weekend began with adversity in qualifying as he smoked the tires in both Friday sessions and went into Saturday outside the 16-car field. Crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli mastered the third session, guiding Capps to a 4.023-second pass at 317.79 mph to move into the top half of the field. It was also the second-quickest performance of the round, landing Capps two bonus points. Like almost every other Funny Car driver, Capps’ machine lost traction early in the fourth session and he locked in the No. 7 position for Sunday eliminations.
Capps kicked off race day in a big way, as he left first against three-time NHRA Heritage Series Nostalgia Funny Car champion Jason Rupert and set low E.T. of the round with a 3.980-second pass at 323.19 mph to advance. Capps then led wire-to-wire in his second-round match against Daniel Wilkerson, winning with a 4.144 E.T. to Wilkerson’s 4.157 E.T. But just as Capps crossed the finish line, a massive engine explosion split his Funny Car body in half and sent him into the wall. The incident was eerily similar to the one Capps suffered at this race one year ago, but he managed to scuff the wall, saving the chassis. The NAPA Auto Care team thrashed to rebuild the car fitted with a spare body and made it to the ready line just in time for a semifinal race against defending event winner Paul Lee. The two drivers left the starting line together before Capps pulled ahead to win with a 4.124-second pass at 303.09 mph.
Capps went into the final round with lane choice over No. 1 qualifier Spencer Hyde. The NAPA Auto Care Funny Car led the way from starting line to finish line, posting another 4.124 E.T. at 303.23 mph for the win. It was Capps’ 77th Funny Car win and fourth at Phoenix, but this time, he hoisted a special diamond edition Wally to commemorate NHRA’s 75th anniversary season.
“This is the coveted one right here,” Capps said as he held up the trophy. “You just think of the legacy and what’s gone into this. This is unbelievable. Thank you to Wally Parks, first of all. Katherine (Wooten) and everyone at NAPA, all the NAPA Auto Care people. We knew this was going to be a battle of attrition and dropped cylinders today. A couple of those runs, there was no way I would imagine that would have got us lane choice, but it did. It was like a bracket car. This win reminded me a lot of first my win in St. Louis [1997] because it was hot and we had 150-degree track temps there and we dropped cylinders all day but still won the race.
“You want to just take these (trophies) and chop them up into 6,000 pieces for all the different NAPA stores and NAPA Auto Cares,” he continued. “Carlyle Tools came on board and has done so much fun stuff with Maddi and me. NHRA, 75 years, it’s so awesome to win here. Everybody said I had bad luck, but look, we ended up winning. Monster Energy coming on board has been so much fun. Ron Capps Motorsports, we’re having fun right now.”
Next up for Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team is the NHRA Winternationals, April 10-12, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif., where he will also compete in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge. As a California native, it’s one of the tracks Capps calls home. He’s also won the Winternationals four times, most recently in 2021.
Start / Finish: No. 7 / winner in final round
Points Standing / Total: No. 3 / 151 pts. (-23)
Next Race: April 10-12, NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, Calif.
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By NAPA
Daison Pursley and the
link hidden, please login to view No. 9 team officially kicked off the 2026 High Limit Racing season over the past two weeks, competing in six races across Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Central Arizona Raceway. Following an offseason focused on building chemistry and speed, the Kasey Kahne Racing team entered the year with momentum and immediately showed promise against a strong field of competitors.
The High Limit season opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway marked the first points-paying events of the year, and the NAPA No. 9 ran consistently inside the top 10 throughout the three-night weekend.
On Thursday, Pursley qualified eighth in Flight A and advanced to a 12th-place finish in the feature after starting 15th. Friday brought one of the team’s strongest performances of the weekend, as Pursley qualified third, ran up front in the heat race, and drove from ninth to sixth in the A-Main.
The weekend concluded Saturday with another solid showing as the NAPA No. 9 qualified third once again and advanced from 13th to 10th in the feature. The consistent results to open the season positioned the team well in the early championship standings and reinforced the speed shown throughout the offseason.
The team carried that momentum into Central Arizona Raceway for the Cactus Classic, where Pursley delivered a standout performance on Thursday night. After qualifying 10th in a stout, 31-car field, Pursley advanced through his heat race and charged from 10th to a third-place finish in the A-Main, earning the first ever podium for the NAPA No. 9 team.
Friday and Saturday presented challenges, as the team continued to show speed but was ultimately sidelined by incidents in both feature events, resulting in a pair of DNFs. Despite the setbacks, the pace of the NAPA No. 9 remained evident throughout the weekend.
The NAPA No. 9 team now turns its focus to the next event at Vado Speedway Park in New Mexico on Tuesday as the 2026 High Limit Racing season continues.
Start / Finish:
Thursday, March 12, Las Vegas Motor Speedway: 15 / 12
Friday, March 13, Las Vegas Motor Speedway: 9 / 6
Saturday, March 14, Las Vegas Motor Speedway: 13 / 10
Thursday, March 19, Central Arizona Raceway: 10 / 3
Friday, March 20, Central Arizona Raceway: DNF
Saturday, March 21, Central Arizona Raceway: DNF
Points Standing / Total: 11th / 281 pts. (-125)
Next Race: Tuesday, March 24, Vado Speedway Park, Vado, NM
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