Kalitta, Tasca and Hartford keep No. 1 spots heading into eliminations at Firebird Motorsports Park
PHOENIX (March 22, 2025) – Funny Car’s Ron Capps claimed the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the year on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at Firebird Motorsports Park, defeating Matt Hagan in the final round of the bonus race as part of the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals.
Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge specialty race, while Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca III (Funny Car) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) earned No. 1 qualifiers at the second of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
In front of a capacity crowd, Capps went 3.989-seconds at 318.24 mph in his 11,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra, driving past Hagan in the bonus race in a matchup of multi-time world champions. It was a welcome victory for Capps, who went all of 2024 without winning a national event. He was the runner-up in Gainesville and built on that on Saturday, defeating Alexis DeJoria earlier in the day before getting past Hagan for a much-needed result.
“I’m very excited myself, but I’m more excited for ‘Guido’ [crew chief Dean Antonelli] and the team,” Capps said. “Last year was a rebuilding of sorts. We knew we had to change the setup to get ahead of the competition after back-to-back world championships, and we felt like we needed to get to where Jimmy Prock and Austin were last year and this year.
“It’s fun to win the Mission Challenge because it’s really brought out a lot of fun on Saturdays. For the fans, it’s great. It really creates a different Saturday, and when you get to the semis at a race you’re always happy because you know you’re in the Mission Challenge the next race, and whatever happens is icing on the cake. So a great, great win for us today.”
Tasca finished as the No. 1 qualifier for the 19th time in his career, as Friday’s run of 3.863 at 333.82 in his 11,000-horsepower Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang easily held up. He’ll open eliminations against Jon Capps, looking for his first victory of the season.
“It’s going to be a stacked group out there, but this car can go up and down a hot or cool track,” Tasca said. “We were aggressive (today), trying to find the limit of where we thought the track was to kind of set us up for tomorrow. I think the guys will take that data and compensate for it tomorrow and we think that 3.92 (from Q1) was really in the sweet spot for the heat.”
Austin Prock qualified second after going 3.883 on Friday, while R. Capps took third with a 3.912 at 323.50.
Top Fuel’s Shawn Langdon stayed red-hot at Firebird Motorsports Park, defeating Tony Stewart in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge thanks to a run of 3.805 at 315.19 in his 11,000-horsepower Kalitta Air Careers dragster. It’s another strong performance in Phoenix for Langdon, who is the defending event winner and has been to the past two final rounds at the track. That could bode well for Sunday, as Langdon, who was the runner-up in Gainesville, appears to be rolling.
“There are some tracks that just seem to work well with what you have and there’s some tracks that just doesn’t seem to work well, and Phoenix, obviously, fortunately, is one of those that seem to work well,” Langdon said.
“The team has done a great job with the car, and we’re making great runs and kind of continuing that success. I didn’t do a good job in the final. I clicked it a little bit early so, truth be told, it probably was going 3.79, which shows how much stronger the car really is, and it definitely gives us a lot of confidence going into Sunday.”
His teammate, Doug Kalitta, earned his 60th career No. 1 qualifier in his 11,000-horsepower SealMaster/Toyota dragster on the strength of Friday’s standout run of 3.688 at 330.09. That came under the lights, but Kalitta made a pair of strong runs on Saturday in the heat, giving him confidence for eliminations. He’ll take on Phoenix-area native Travis Shumake to open raceday.
“The track is holding up good in the heat,” Kalitta said. “On that last run, we shot a couple of spark plugs out, so it shut off early, and we ran that 3.82. I’m not really sure what it would have run, but probably a little better than that, so that’ll put us right in the mix where everybody else is.”
Brittany Force took the second spot with a run of 3.705 at 331.69 and Langdon is third after going 3.706 at 331.85.
Pro Stock’s Jeg Coughlin Jr. showcased his classic form on the starting line in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, using a pair of holeshots to win the bonus round, including the final round against Dallas Glenn. Coughlin, a five-time world champ, went 6.583 at 208.88 in his Scag Power Equipment/Outlaw Light Beer Chevrolet Camaro for Elite Motorsports, utilizing a .026 reaction time to hold off Glenn and get the victory. He beat longtime rival and reigning world champ Greg Anderson earlier in the day, dialing up a strong performance in the Challenge.
“I think that was a big shot in the arm for our entire team,” Coughlin said. “Pro Stock is so close. I mean, a holeshot is almost a loose term because you can win or lose races by thousandths of a second.
“We’ve made a lot of changes to our cars across the board coming into this race and obviously our we feel like our performance is there, but we’re just not able to light the [score]boards up, so we’re working hard and fortunately, we made some strides today.”
Racing in front of plenty of family and friends, as well as a sold-out crowd, local native Matt Hartford easily held onto the No. 1 spot in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro with Friday’s strong run of 6.509 at 208.20. Hartford picked up his fifth career No. 1 qualifier, setting the tone for what he hopes is a meaningful Sunday and a win at his home track. He opens eliminations against Brandon Foster.
“When we unloaded off the trailer here in Phoenix, we thought we had a pretty good setup,” Hartford said. “Even though the scoreboard didn’t show any good numbers for us today, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t beneficial.
“There’s nothing more that we want to do than win this race at our home track. We’ve got a runner-up here [in 2019] and our goal is to take the hardware. When I lost in the finals to Jeg a few years back, it was crushing, because it was that would have been awesome to win, but we’ve won from No. 1 before, and our goal is to do it again.”
Anderson took second with a 6.512 at 208.91 at 208.91 and Cory Reed qualified third after a run of 6.516 at 208.91.
Eliminations for the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals begin at 11 a.m. MT on Sunday at Firebird Motorsports Park.
CHANDLER, Ariz. — Sunday’s first-round pairings for eliminations for the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park, the third of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.
Top Fuel — 1. Doug Kalitta, 3.688 seconds, 330.39 mph vs. 14. Travis Shumake, 5.207, 136.91; 2. Brittany Force, 3.705, 331.69 vs. 13. Steven Chrisman, 4.294, 217.53; 3. Shawn Langdon, 3.706, 331.85 vs. 12. Scott Palmer, 4.018, 275.00; 4. Antron Brown, 3.710, 333.82 vs. 11. Josh Hart, 3.817, 323.58; 5. Clay Millican, 3.734, 329.34 vs. 10. Jasmine Salinas, 3.808, 314.09; 6. Justin Ashley, 3.754, 329.26 vs. 9. Ida Zetterstrom, 3.763, 327.03; 7. Tony Stewart, 3.755, 325.22 vs. 8. Shawn Reed, 3.757, 328.46.
Funny Car — 1. Bob Tasca III, Ford Mustang, 3.863, 333.82 vs. 16. Jon Capps, Dodge Charger, 4.656, 213.43; 2. Austin Prock, Chevy Camaro, 3.883, 327.74 vs. 15. Buddy Hull, Charger, 4.247, 242.23; 3. Jack Beckman, Camaro, 3.895, 327.51 vs. 14. Dave Richards, Mustang, 4.151, 295.01; 4. Ron Capps, Toyota GR Supra, 3.912, 323.50 vs. 13. Blake Alexander, Charger, 4.021, 318.62; 5. Paul Lee, Charger, 3.919, 328.14 vs. 12. Chad Green, Mustang, 3.982, 323.97; 6. Alexis DeJoria, Charger, 3.931, 324.75 vs. 11. Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 3.978, 319.52; 7. Bobby Bode, Mustang, 3.931, 323.35 vs. 10. Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.952, 323.66; 8. Daniel Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.933, 324.44 vs. 9. J.R. Todd, GR Supra, 3.939, 329.58.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Spencer Hyde, 4.935, 142.00; 18. Jim Campbell, 5.058, 183.52; 19. Jeff Diehl, 5.232, 143.80; 20. Terry Haddock, 6.031, 114.88.
Pro Stock — 1. Matt Hartford, Chevy Camaro, 6.509, 208.88 vs. 16. Brandon Foster, Camaro, 6.590, 207.40; 2. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.512, 209.59 vs. 15. Fernando Cuadra Jr., Camaro, 6.583, 208.17; 3. Cory Reed, Camaro, 6.516, 210.11 vs. 14. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.573, 209.04; 4. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.520, 210.37 vs. 13. David Cuadra, Camaro, 6.570, 208.42; 5. Troy Coughlin Jr., Camaro, 6.538, 208.68 vs. 12. Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.564, 208.78; 6. Cristian Cuadra, Ford Mustang, 6.540, 208.23 vs. 11. Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.561, 210.08; 7. Eric Latino, Camaro, 6.551, 208.68 vs. 10. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.557, 210.47; 8. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 6.554, 207.53 vs. 9. Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.555, 209.23.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Chris McGaha, 6.600, 207.82; 18. Cody Coughlin, 6.600, 207.15; 19. Stephen Bell, 6.613, 207.94; 20. Kenny Delco, 6.623, 207.27; 21. Matt Latino, 6.681, 207.37.
CHANDLER, Ariz. — Saturday’s #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge final results from the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park.
Top Fuel Challenge — Shawn Langdon, 3.805 seconds, 315.19 mph def. Tony Stewart, 3.844 seconds, 323.19 mph.
Funny Car Challenge — Ron Capps, Toyota GR Supra, 3.989, 318.24 def. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 6.249, 108.69.
Pro Stock Challenge — Jeg Coughlin, Chevy Camaro, 6.583, 208.88 def. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.570, 210.37.
CHANDLER, Ariz. — #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge final round-by-round results from the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park.
TOP FUEL CHALLENGE:
ROUND ONE — Tony Stewart, 3.779, 325.22 def. Antron Brown, 4.288, 199.46; Shawn Langdon, 3.806, 326.32 def. Jasmine Salinas, 3.843, 314.09;
FINAL — S. Langdon, 3.805, 315.19 def. T. Stewart, 3.844, 323.19.
FUNNY CAR CHALLENGE:
ROUND ONE — Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.994, 319.37 def. Chad Green, Ford Mustang, 3.982, 323.97; Ron Capps, Toyota GR Supra, 3.988, 314.24 def. Alexis DeJoria, Charger, 4.196, 239.19;
FINAL — R. Capps, 3.989, 318.24 def. M. Hagan, 6.249, 108.69.
PRO STOCK CHALLENGE:
ROUND ONE — Dallas Glenn, Chevy Camaro, 6.551, 210.11 def. Cory Reed, Camaro, 6.565, 210.11; Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.574, 208.81 def. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.550, 209.01;
FINAL — J. Coughlin, 6.583, 208.88 def. D. Glenn, 6.570, 210.37.
