POMONA — Leah Pruett took the top spot on the final pass on Friday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, taking the provisional No. 1 spot in Top Fuel for Tony Stewart Racing at the 66th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.
Jordan Vandergriff (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) were also provisional No. 1 qualifiers as the third event of the 20-race season got underway.
PRUETT HAS MOMENTUM
In the first Top Fuel session, Shawn Langdon recorded the fastest time with a pass of 3.798 seconds (332.59 miles per hour), and Doug Kalitta was just 0.001 seconds behind at 331.85 mph. Pruett posted the third-fastest run at 3.808 seconds and 325.85 mph.
Pruett then turned in the day’s best run during the second session – 3.724 seconds at 329.75 mph.
“This was an opportunity for us to work,” said Pruett, who reached the final round at last month’s event in Phoenix.
“Temperatures will be cool tomorrow, and my opinion is 3.72 is not going to hold, not by any means,” she told NHRA.com. “But that doesn’t mean that we still can’t come out hopefully up on top, as we work our way into having a solid 3.66-.67 foundation. That’s where our focus is right now, and I think you see that in the overall qualifying position that we’ve been in.”
Josh Hart, who won in Gainesville earlier this year, posted the second-best time of the day with a run of 3.733 at 336.15 mph, and Phoenix winner Langdon was in third after a 3.745-second pass at 338.51 mph.
VANDERGRIFF SHINES IN FUNNY CAR
Jason Rupert posted the fastest run in the first session of Funny Car qualifying. It took him 4.247 seconds to travel 1,000 feet at 254.94 mph. Rupert was followed by Spencer Hyde with a run of 4.337 seconds (216.65 mph), and Austin Prock was third at 4.593 seconds (278.46 mph).
In the second session, Orange County native Vandergriff moved atop the leaderboard with a pass of 3.951 seconds (327.90 mph) for John Force Racing. Competing on his home track motivated Vandergriff to perform at his best.
“Pomona to me, it always meant something special,” said Vandergriff, who reached the semifinals at the season-opening Gatornationals in Florida. “I would be lying to you if I told you I didn’t want this one really bad.”
Vandergriff’s JFR teammate, Alexis DeJoria, is in second with a 3.989 at 328.30 mph and Phoenix winner Ron Capps is third after a pass of 4.007 at 314.17 mph.
ANDERSON LEADS PRO STOCK QUALIFYING
In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson was the fastest during both of the first two sessions, clocking times of 6.583 seconds at 209.52 mph and 6.544 seconds at 209.39 mph in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet at a track where he has 16 career wins.
Reigning world champion and Phoenix event winner Dallas Glenn is currently second with a 6.553 at 209.17 and Greg Stanfield sits third after his 6.568 at 209.07.
“Tomorrow’s gonna be a great day,” said Anderson, a six-time world champion. “If I’m on a raceway, it’s gonna be fast, and we have a great Pro Stock track.”
Saturday’s qualifying sessions will continue with Top Fuel beginning at 12:30 p.m. Funny Car is at 1 p.m., and Pro Stock begins at 1:45 p.m.
“There is nothing like Pomona,” Pruett said.