With three races remaining in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series regular season Alexis DeJoria and her ROKiT/Bandero Premium Tequila Toyota Camry Funny Car are riding a wave of momentum after a solid western swing. DeJoria raced to two semifinals and a quarterfinal with a race car that was near the top of the class at every event with low elapsed times and consistent performance. Heading into this weekend’s NHRA Topeka Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park DeJoria and her team are looking to add to their round win totals.
“We have a great race car with this ROKiT/Bandero Tequila Toyota Funny Car,” said DeJoria. “We went a lot of rounds on the western swing and I think we will be able to continue to have success in Topeka this weekend. It will be another hot race and we made some good runs in the heat in Pomona.”
DeJoria is sitting seventh in the Funny Car points but the competition is tight and she is just 66 points out of third place with points and a half available at the U.S. Nationals, Labor Day weekend. The five-time national event winner is hitting tracks where she has had success with wins in Brainerd in 2017 and Indianapolis in 2014. Heartland Motorsports Park has been a challenge in her previous five appearances but the strength of her runs in Pomona on a track that reached temperatures over 140 degrees could assist her this weekend.
“I have a lot of confidence coming off the success we had in Denver and Sonoma with semifinal finishes,” said DeJoria. “In Pomona it was hot and we got down the track with some good runs. That information will be helpful this weekend and I think we can be in a good position for this stretch run of the regular season. I know the fans in Kansas are ready for some drag racing since we didn’t get to race in Topeka last year.”
In her last three appearances at the Topeka Nationals DeJoria qualified in the top half of the field and raced to the quarterfinals in 2016. This season she has started from the top half of the field in nine out of ten races with six of those starts coming from the No. 3 position or higher. DeJoria has advanced to at least the quarterfinals eight times this season.
Qualifying will begin at Heartland Motorsports Park on Friday, August 13, with an evening qualifying session which is sure to produce low elapsed times and high speeds. Two sessions will follow on Saturday with final eliminations beginning Sunday morning at 11 a.m. local time. The race will be broadcast on Fox from 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. CDT.
Tony Fay PR
