Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Matt Hagan (Funny Car) arrive at the Las Vegas Nationals with sizable leads in the NHRA points standings. The event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway begins Friday with qualifying for the Nitro classes, continues Saturday, and wraps with eliminations on Sunday. It is the second‑to‑last race of the season before the finale at Pomona.
Langdon sits atop the Top Fuel leaderboard with a 139‑point advantage over teammate Doug Kalitta. A win in Las Vegas could give him a 191‑point lead, enough to clinch his second Top Fuel title, though he cautions that his lead “is not a comfortable lead by any stretch of the imagination.” He added, “We know even with our lead, if we make one mistake, they’re (Kalitta and crew chief Alan Johnson) going to pounce.”
In Funny Car, Hagan leads Jordan Vandergriff by 98 points, with J.R. Todd a further 118 points back in third. Hagan said, “You can’t help but feel good about (having the lead),” and noted that even a misstep would still leave him ahead heading into Pomona. He reflected on last year’s cancelled Pomona finale, saying, “It was tough as a competitor because you always want to run it out and see where it falls. It sucks. You hate to have everything that you work for and all the opportunities come down to the last race and then you cannot get to race it. That didn’t sit well with me.”
Hagan, a four‑time champion, has four wins this season, including the 1,000th Funny Car race at Pomona, and is working with second‑year crew chief Mike Knudsen. He emphasized, “I’m really working hard to try and get (Knudsen) a championship. It’s more about him than it is me,” as a fifth title would move him into sole possession of second‑most championships behind John Force.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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