AutoWeek – After going five years between No. 1 qualifiers, Alexis DeJoria has now taken the top spot in qualfying at back-to-back races, rocketing to the top position in Funny Car on Saturday during the Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the 19th of 20 races during the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the sixth race in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
DeJoria made a pair of solid runs on Saturday, but it was her pass of 3.896-seconds at 327.03 mph from Friday in her 11,000-horsepower Bandero Premium Tequila ROKiT Toyota Camry that gave DeJoria her second straight No. 1 qualifier and sixth in her career. The Funny Car standout will try for her second straight win on Sunday and is sitting in a great position as she opens eliminations against Jeff Diehl. DeJoria has enjoyed how the team has come together late in the season and she hopes to keep rolling along on Sunday.
“This is like a dream,” DeJoria said. “It’s everything we hoped for and it’s all coming together at the end of the season. The motivation that we had from this last race in Bristol, qualifying No. 1 and winning the race, just really catapulted us into the Vegas race. I’m proud of the guys and we made it down the track every run. Consistency is key and I’m just in awe right now. I’m just soaking it all in and finally everything is coming together for this team.”
John Force qualified second with a 3.902 at 328.54 and J.R. Todd is third with a 3.905 at 329.02. Defending world champ Matt Hagan moved into the points lead in qualifying, albeit by just two points over Ron Capps. Todd is 80 points back of Hagan heading into eliminations.