Capps Drives NAPA Auto Care Funny Car to Runner-Up Finish in Las Vegas

Racing in front of a full house of NAPA Auto Parts guests, three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps powered to his fifth final-round appearance of the season Sunday at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. After a challenging start to qualifying, Capps and his Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli-led NAPA Auto Care team rallied to qualify eighth in the first all-three-second Funny Car field in NHRA history. Capps then defeated Cruz Pedregon, No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman, and reigning world champion Austin Prock to reach the final round, where he came up just short against Jordan Vandergriff. The runner-up finish gave Capps and his team valuable momentum and a sixth-place position in the Mission Foods Funny Car championship standings heading into the season-ending NHRA Finals at Pomona.

The weekend began with Capps encountering traction issues in both Friday qualifying sessions placing him on the outside of the 16-car field. The threat of potential rain in Saturday’s forecast added to the pressure, but Mother Nature cooperated and in the historic third qualifying session, Capps and crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli threw down a 3.897-second pass at 333.25 mph to move into the top half of NHRA’s fastest Funny Car field. Capps drove into issues in the final session and ultimately settled into the No. 8 position to start race day.

Funny Car eliminations kicked off with a matchup between two of the most seasoned drivers in the class, with Capps facing off against Cruz Pedregon. In the drivers’ 89th meeting, they launched together before Capps powered to a 3.899 E.T. at 332.18 mph to get the win over Pedregon’s 3.935 E.T. Capps then stepped up with the quickest pass of the second round, a 3.874 E.T. at 336.82 mph, to hold off No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman and his 3.893 E.T. Capps got a slight starting line advantage over two-time and reigning world champion Austin Prock in the semifinals, and when both drivers lost traction, it was Capps who recovered quick enough to reach the finish line first. The six-time winner at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway went into his fifth final round of the season with a 2 – 0 head-to-head record over Jordan Vandergriff. He moved first and charged hard to a 3.921-second pass at 335.15 mph, but Vandergriff crossed the finish line stripe first with a 3.873 E.T.

“You get to a final round this late in the season and you’re pretty upset about losing it, but all in all, such a great day,” said Capps, who earned his first of 12 wins as an NHRA team owner at the 2022 Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. “We had some of the top executives from NAPA headquarters in Atlanta today, and we had some great guests that run UAP, which is NAPA Auto Parts in Canada. Such a great group of people on both sides, and a lot of them had never been to a drag race, so that was really cool for them to be here. They stayed here all day and through the final round, so it means a ton to have a day like we had. Katherine (Wooten, Director of Partnership Strategy & Activation, NAPA Auto Parts) and that whole group really took a chance when I decided I wanted to put Maddi (Gordon) in a car and they all trusted my judgment. It was really cool for them to be here today to watch Maddi go 340 and watch our day unfold.”

Capps will finish out the season in two weeks at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, Nov. 13-15, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif.

Start / Finish: No. 8 / def. in final round
Points Standing / Total: No. 6 / 2,408 pts. (-155)

Next Race: November 13-15, NHRA Finals
How to Watch or Listen: FS1, NHRA.TV

NAPA Racing:@NAPARacing
Ron Capps: @RonCapps28
Ron Capps Motorsports: @TeamRonCapps