Jason Line won his second Pro Stock championship Sunday when he advanced to the semifinals of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“At this point in my life, I’ll appreciate this one more,” Line said. “I understand better now how hard it is to achieve that. Five years ago when I won the first, I was naive and didn’t realize how hard it is.”
Del Worsham (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) won the pro categories in the NHRA Big O Tires Nationals.
Line, a 42-year-old Minnesota native, will start the season finale in two weeks at Pomona, Calif., with an insurmountable 199-point lead over KB Racing teammate and reigning champion Greg Anderson.
Line relished his first championship since 2006 but wanted to win the Las Vegas event title Sunday as well. But his day ended when he left the starting line too early in the semis and drew a red-light disqualification. However, Anderson also false-started in the other semifinal race.
“It feels unbelievable,” Line said. “It’s a great day. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t have finished it in true championship style but it is what it is and I’m not giving the (championship) jacket back or the trophy.” ESPN
Mike Edwards won Pro Stock when he topped Allen Johnson in the final round.
“To win the race, to come out here and qualify really well, and put four rounds together, we’ve been trying to do that for the last six or seven races for sure,” said Edwards. “Actually, it’s been more than that, probably. But it feels good to come out and finally win a race. Hats off to all my guys for doing a tremendous job.”
In Top Fuel, Worsham raced to his seventh win of the season when he topped Spencer Massey.
“Today was Al-Anabi, Sheikh Khalid (Al-Thani, team owner), and our team,” said Worsham. “You can’t see the other guy, but there’s that feeling like when someone is staring at you and you know they’re there. I knew (Spencer Massey) was lurking. He never saw me either. When my win light came on down there, I was proud.” Gant Daily
In Funny Car, Capps defeated fellow Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray to collect his second win of the season. Capps drove his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger to a 4.109 at 311.34 to secure his 33rd career win and fourth at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“We’re fighting to get back into it,” said Capps. “As soon as you start celebrating the win at the top end, you also think, ‘Gosh, if it weren’t for that DNQ, we’d be right in the middle of it.’ I want to win the championship with Tim and Kim [Richards, crew chiefs]. We’re going to try. I couldn’t believe that 4.10 in the final. I couldn’t believe the car stayed hooked up.”
While Capps raced to the win, his teammate Matt Hagan took the points lead away from Jack Beckman. Hagan now leads Beckman by one point heading into the final race of the season, and third-place driver Cruz Pedregon sits 26 points behind leader Hagan, and John Force Racing driver Mike Neff moved down to the fourth spot, 34 points out of the lead.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, 2008 world champion Krawiec defeated fellow Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate when he powered his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to a 6.936 at 194.30 in the final round. It was Krawiec’s fourth win of the season and 11th of his career. The win also increased his points lead over second-place driver Hector Arana Jr. by 69 points.
“You know the most important thing here was consistency,” said Krawiec. “Round-wins and round-wins. And I’ve just been trying to work on my riding and being consistent. That’s the one thing that shows. No. 1 qualifying cracks don’t get you Wally’s and points at the end of the weekend. It’s an awesome points system that we have going for the past couple of years with all the categories. You can see that it’s really working and that it makes it good for the fans.” NHRA.com
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