Las Vegas Heat Challenges Capps at Four-Wide Nationals

Unseasonably warm conditions at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway surprised competitors like three-time Funny Car world champion Ron Capps, who hazed the tires in his first-round quad on Sunday. Capps struggled in qualifying but rallied in the final qualifying session in his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra to bump into the field on Saturday. Traction issues plagued him once again on race day, resulting in a first-round exit. It was an outing Capps is ready to move past, instead focusing on exciting short and long-term developments for his Ron Capps Motorsports team.

Before hitting the track, Capps went into team owner mode as he announced that Top Alcohol Funny Car championship contender Maddi Gordon will join Ron Capps Motorsports in 2026. The third-generation driver is set to make the move to a Top Fuel dragster as RCM expands to a two-car team next season. Gordon got to experience her first-ever nitro warmup on Friday when she warmed up Capps’ NAPA Auto Care machine before the first qualifying session. Gordon went on to hoist the Four-Wide Nationals Top Alcohol Funny Car Wally on Sunday afternoon, earning her second career national event victory.

Once qualifying began, Capps ran into traction issues in both of Friday’s qualifying sessions and ended the day not qualified. On Saturday, he was on a promising pass in the third session before a quick move to the right forced Capps to lift off the throttle. His 4.279-second pass at 221.85 mph was quick enough to get into the field, but only by one position – he went into the final session on the bump spot. Crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli put together a conservative 4.055 E.T. at 313.88 mph in the final session, which was enough to move Capps solidly into the field in the No. 10 spot.

Capps matched up with defending world champion Austin Prock, fellow past world champion Cruz Pedregon, and three-time Nostalgia Funny Car champion Jason Rupert in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. Capps launched hard but again hazed the tires around 400 feet, leading him to back off the throttle while Prock and Pedregon raced on.

“This was one of those weekends that are gut checks for a lot of people,” said Capps, a two-time winner of the Las Vegas spring race and a six-time overall winner at The Strip. “The NAPA Auto Care team did a great job of adapting to the conditions. I think 90% of the teams out here have a setup that they’ll go to for the summer months when we get to May and June when it really gets hot, and I think everybody was taken a little by surprise when we showed up here and it’s just like summer. Everybody was caught off their heels a little bit and the track was very difficult to get down, especially in the opening round, but for our guys to go out on Saturday and make that great run in the heat, it put us in a great position to win on Sunday.”

Between the official announcement regarding Gordon’s plans with the team for 2026 and an upbeat few days in the pits with NAPA guests, Capps couldn’t help but look at the positives of the weekend, as well as what’s to come for Ron Capps Motorsports.

“We had a lot of great guests here and I’m going to be here all week for NAPA NOW (National Ownership Workshop), so it’s been a cool weekend,” said Capps, now seventh in Funny Car points. “This is always a great race. A lot of people come to the Four-Wides and I’m just happy we got to spend some time with them.”

When Capps is back on track next, his Toyota GR Supra Funny Car will sport a special one-race livery celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of NAPA Auto Parts on May 4th. With the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals set for April 25-27 at zMAX Dragway outside Charlotte, Capps will be the first of the NAPA drivers to debut the anniversary paint schemes.

Start / Finish: No. 10 / def. in first round
Points Standing / Total: 7th / 196 pts.

Next Race: April 25-27, Concord, NC, NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
How to Watch or Listen: FS1, NHRA.TV

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Ron Capps: @RonCapps28
Ron Capps Motorsports: @TeamRonCapps