Pro Stock Championship Down to Line and Anderson

Team Summit Racing’s Jason Line and Greg Anderson had semi-final finishes at this weekend’s NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas. The 2016 Pro Stock championship now comes down to a battle between the top-ranked drivers at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, California.

Greg Anderson qualified Number One with 6.677 second, 205.72 MPH pass. He defeated Aaron Strong in Round One of eliminations (6.679/206.01 to 6.783/202.48) and Chris McGaha in Round Two (6.692/205.60 to 6.725/205.22).

Anderson faced Shane Gray in the semi-finals. Gray had the starting line advantage with a .021 second reaction time and he kept the lead to the finish line, defeating Anderson 6.717/205.22 to 6.730/206.10.

"I missed a chance to gain on Jason here and possibly take the points lead, but that is OK,” Anderson said. “It’s obviously meant to come down to the final race and the last round that we run.”

Anderson leaves Las Vegas second in the Pro Stock points standings.

Jason Line qualified sixth with a 6.690/205.82 pass. He defeated Allen Johnson in Round One of eliminations and set the Low ET of the event (6.676/206.07 to 6.739/204.76). Line defeated Alex Laughlin in Round Two (6.698/205.76 to 6.729 to 205.29), setting up a semi-final showdown with Drew Skillman. Line suffered severe tire shake off of the starting line and Skillman was able to take the win, 6.716/205.98 to 14.554/58.27.

“I didn’t make it 10 feet and the car shook,” Line said. “The lane was not what we thought it was. I stayed in it way too long because I had this crazy urge to win. Pomona is going to be interesting for sure. I have to go and do better than Greg. It’s going to be fun because one of us is going to win the Championship.”

Line leaves Las Vegas first in the Pro Stock points standings.

Tim Wilkerson qualified sixth with a 3.888/324.36 pass.  He faced Chad Head in Round One of eliminations. In what has become a nagging problem for Wilkerson, he smoked the tires from the starting line. Head took the win, 4.757/264.55 to 7.027/125.26.

“We’re still chasing what’s wrong with the car,” Wilkerson said. “We had a great car on Friday and Saturday and a crummy car on Sunday. We’re staying an extra day in Vegas to test. We got all of our clutch packs for next year so we’re going try them out and get some data.”

Wilkerson leaves Las Vegas ninth in the Funny Car points standings.

Team Summit Results: Pro Mod
Kenny Lang ran a best of 6.004/241.84 in qualifying, but it was not enough to make the highly competitive Pro Modified field.

Team Summit Results: Top Fuel
Doug Kalitta qualified third (3.709/324.20). He defeated Scott Palmer in Round One of eliminations, but lost to Steve Torrence in the second round. Kallita is currently third in the points standings.

“Great race there with Steve that just did not go our way,” Kalitta said. “I look forward to ending the season strong in Pomona.”

J.R. Todd qualified ninth (3.751/321.81). He defeated Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican, and Antron Brown to reach the final, where he runner-upped to Steve Torrence. Todd is currently sixth in the points standings. 

“Tough way to end a strong day,” Todd said. “We wanted to pick up the win for all of these great Toyota people on site, but it was not our day. I look forward to Pomona and hopefully ending this season on a strong note.”

Team Summit Notes: Funny Car
Del Worsham qualified sixth (3.895/325.69). He defeated Tommy Johnson Jr. in Round One, but lost to Matt Hagan in Round Two. Worsham is currently sixth in the points standings.

"I definitely wanted to go further than the second round today at Toyota’s race,” Worsham said. “We will head to Pomona and look to repeat last year’s success.”

Alexis DeJoria qualified ninth (3.909/326.32). After hitting the wall during qualifying, the team elected to not run in eliminations. DeJoria is currently 10th in the points standings.

Paul Lee qualified 13th (3.986/312.13) but lost to Ron Capps in the first round. He is tied for 29th in the points standings.

Final Round Results from the NHRA Toyota Nationals
Top Fuel: Steve Torrence (3.734/323.81) defeated J.R. Todd (3.762/321.96)
Funny Car: John Force (3.884/327.19) defeated Courtney Force (3.906/325.85)
Pro Stock: Shane Gray (6.719/204.76) defeated Drew Skillman (19.793/27.72)
Pro Stock Motorcycle: Jerry Savoie (6.915/194.13) defeated Andrew Hines (Foul-Red Light)
Pro Mod: Troy Coughlin (5.814/250.78) defeated Todd Tutterow (6.018/233.92)

Next Race
The final race of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series 2016 is the Auto Club NHRA Finals, November 10-13 in Pomona, California. Visit Drag Race Central for complete results from the NHRA Toyota Nationals.