Cory McClenathan was Top Fuel runner-up today to Larry Dixon at the 11th annual NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He slipped to second in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series class point standings and is one marker behind leader Dixon. This was his 60th career final round and third of the season.
Qualifying fourth, the driver of the FRAM Top Fuel dragster enjoyed lane choice throughout the day until the final round, having dismissed Terry Haddock with a 3.906-second lap at 312.35 mph in the first round, then his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher with a 3.987/303.64 in the quarterfinal. In the semifinal he defeated Brandon Bernstein with a 3.986/304.39. Dixon, however, entered the final round after pulling out a quicker 3.910/313.88 lap in the semis.
“Cory Mac” and Dixon took off with nearly identical reaction times, but McClenathan struck the tires early, made a valiant attempt to pedal it to the finish line, but fell short with his 5.113/158.41 pass to Dixon’s winning 4.016/313.37.
“We knew we were taking a chance, we knew we had to step up, we knew they were going to try to run good, so we did what we thought we needed to do to run our lane, and we just couldn’t recover quick enough,” said McClenathan.
“Lane choice was very crucial today on a tricky race track (under a hot sun and 124-degree track temperature). It’s not the facility, it’s just a tricky race track. When the sun hits it it changes things. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough haze or cloud cover out there to make it cooler.
“There’s plenty of races left and we’re certainly not out of the chase. We’re testing here tomorrow. We’re going to test the new Goodyear tires and some components for the future for DSR.”
Next up is the 14th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., just over the bridge from St. Louis.
UNOFFICIAL TOP FUEL POINT STANDINGS, after six of 23 events:
1. Larry Dixon, 556 (winner today) 2. Cory McClenathan, 555 (runner-up today) 3. Doug Kalitta, 458 4. Antron Brown, 441 5. Tony Schumacher, 423 6. Shawn Langdon, 328 7. Morgan Lucas, 299 8. Brandon Bernstein, 292 9. Dave Grubnic, 238 10. Steve Torrence, 238
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