{"id":56616,"date":"2021-10-11T06:51:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T10:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=56616"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:21:02","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:21:02","slug":"capps-wins-all-dodge-final-at-texas-nhra-fallnationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2021\/10\/capps-wins-all-dodge-final-at-texas-nhra-fallnationals.html","title":{"rendered":"Capps Wins All-Dodge Final at Texas NHRA FallNationals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An all-Dodge final round showdown at Texas Motorplex saw Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) veteran driver Ron Capps defeat his teammate and current National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car championship points leader Matt Hagan to earn the coveted champions\u2019 black cowboy hat given to winners of the Texas FallNationals. the fourth of seven \u201cCountdown to the Championship\u201d playoff events. Capps\u2019 68th<\/sup> career Funny Car victory was his second of the 2021 season and helped narrow the gap between him and Hagan atop the standings while fellow Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver Cruz Pedregon moved into the top-three with a semifinal round appearance at the Dallas-area venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ron<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Capps arrived in Texas ranked second in the playoff\nstandings, within 59 points of the category leader Hagan, and promptly put his\nNAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat in a good position for the\nelimination rounds with a solid qualifying performance which allowed him to\ncollect four bonus points and secure the No. 2 spot on the ladder. He disposed\nof competitors Jack Wyatt and Paul Lee in the early rounds to move on to a\nsemifinal match against fellow HEMI\u00ae<\/sup>-powered driver, Cruz Pedregon. A holeshot\nwin over Pedregon provided Capps the opportunity to advance to his fourth final\nround of the season and meet up with DSR teammate Hagan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ron<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Capps used a 0.046-second reaction time coupled with a\nsolid 3.930-second elapsed timed run at 326.87-mph for another holeshot win,\nthis time beating his stablemate\u2019s quicker 3.919 sec.\/328.78 pass, to make his\nway to the winner\u2019s circle for the first time in more than 20 years since his\nonly other victory at the Dallas-area venue in Spring of 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ron<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With Sunday\u2019s victory, Capps, who finished runner-up in\nthe championship four times before finally capturing the Funny Car crown in\n2016, tightened up this year\u2019s battle heading into the final three race\nweekends of the season and now sits just 33 markers, or less than two rounds,\nbehind Hagan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matt<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Defending NHRA Funny Car world champion and points leader\nheading into Texas FallNationals, Hagan powered his DSR Western Technical\nCollege Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat from the No. 4 qualifier position to\nhis second consecutive final round showdown in the \u201cCountdown to the Championship\u201d\nwith a series consistent 3.9-second runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matt<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Coming off his win at the previous event in St. Louis,\nHagan recorded a 3.897-second elapsed time qualifying run at 332.34 mph in Q2\non Friday evening to secure the fourth place spot. He began his Sunday drive\nwith a starting line advantage and a first round win against No. 13 seed Dale\nCreasy Jr. to advance to a quarterfinals match against No. 5 seed Bob Tasca\nIII. While his opponent was slightly quicker on the draw, the DSR HEMI-powered\nmachine overtook him in the first few feet and posted a 3.918 second\/325.53 mph\nrun to turn the win light on against Tasca\u2019s 3.955 sec.\/331.61 mph pass. The\nsemifinal pairing brought No. 8 seed J.R Todd to the line against Hagan who\nposted a 0.081-second reaction time and 3.904 sec.\/331.04 mph lap after his\nopponent had a 0.007-second start, but double-stepped and lost traction at the\nhit of the throttle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matt<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hagan advanced to his 71st career final round showdown,\nhis sixth final round appearance of the season (and his team\u2019s seventh with\nTommy Johnson Jr.\u2019s win while subbing for Hagan at Reading), and one with\nchampionship implications as it was against No. 2 contender and teammate Capps.\nWhile a holeshot and 0.0121-second margin of victory by Capps was a bitter pill\nto swallow, the runner-up finish kept him in the points lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cruz<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Also vying for the Funny Car crown, Cruz Pedregon, a\nfour-time winner at Texas Motorplex (1992, 1994, 2011, and 2013), earned the\nNo. 3 qualifier position for Sunday\u2019s elimination rounds after driving his\nSnap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to be among the top-three quickest laps\nin all four qualifying sessions and collect a total of five precious bonus\npoints. The Cruz Pedregon Racing team owner and driver put himself third on the\nladder with his quickest qualifying pass from Friday evening in Q2, a\n3.892-second run at 325.14 mph, marking the sixth consecutive event he has\nqualified in the top-five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pedregon\u2019s opening round had him paired with No. 14 seed\nTerry Haddock against whom he got an early lead and never looked back en route\nto a winning 3.898-second run at 329.18 mph to advance to an important\nquarterfinal showdown against No. 11 seed John Force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cruz<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While Pedregon sat fourth behind Force in the Funny Car\nchampionship standings heading into their meeting, that was no longer the case\nafter he took his HEMI-powered Snap-on Tools \u201cSocket to Breast Cancer\u201d machine\nfor a 3.925 sec.\/329.10 mph drive to overtake Force on track by beating his\n4.299\/225.07 lap and move past him in the standings. By advancing to the\nsemifinals, Pedregon moved up a spot into third place as he chases his third Funny\nCar championship title. Unfortunately, that semifinal was against eventual\nevent winner Capps, who used a holeshot victory to put Pedregon 80 points\nbehind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Leah<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett took her DSR Performance Mopar Dodge\/\/SRT dragster for a solid 3.773 second elapsed time qualifying run at 323.12 mph in the third session of the weekend to earn a bonus point for setting the third-quickest pass. That effort put her 11th<\/sup> on the Top Fuel eliminations ladder and set up a first round meeting with No. 6 seed Josh Hart. Pruett was quicker on the throttle with a 0.048-second reaction time giving her HEMI-powered dragster the starting line advantage and the lead through to the halfway mark. Unfortunately, soon thereafter, her ride shut off and allowed her opponent to get past. Pruett crossed the line with a 4.230 sec.\/192.63 mph posted time and speed behind Hart\u2019s 3.755 sec.\/305.56 mph winning pass to eliminate her from the rest of Sunday\u2019 competition. Pruett and her Mopar Dodge\/\/SRT dragster come away from the Texas FallNationals sixth in Top Fuel championship standings. Just three \u201cCountdown to the Championship\u201d playoff events remain in the 2021 Camping World Series season with the next race, NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, scheduled for Oct 15-17 at Bristol Dragway, near Bristol, Tennessee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An all-Dodge final round showdown at Texas Motorplex saw Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) veteran driver Ron Capps defeat his teammate and current National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car championship points leader Matt Hagan to earn the coveted champions\u2019 black cowboy hat given to winners of the Texas FallNationals. the fourth of seven \u201cCountdown to the Championship\u201d playoff events. Capps\u2019 68th career Funny Car victory was his second of the 2021 season and helped narrow the gap between him and Hagan atop the standings while fellow Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":56615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[528,849,615],"class_list":["post-56616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-drag-racing","tag-dsr","tag-nhra"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/NHRAFallNationals_Feature.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56616"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59022,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56616\/revisions\/59022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}