Alexis DeJoria earned her third straight top-three Funny Car qualifying position with a third, while Antron Brown qualified fifth in Top Fuel to lead Toyota into Sunday’s Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Speedway.
After back-to-back number one qualifiers at Bristol and Vegas, DeJoria continued her stellar late-season run as she made her best run of the weekend in Saturday’s final qualifying, registering a 3919-second run at 328.32 mph – the second quickest pass of the session.
J.R. Todd also secured a spot in the top half of the field with a strong 3.963-second pass in round three, good for eighth. The 2018 Funny Car world champion will race Bob Tasca in round one.
Jeff Diehl qualified 13th and will face Paul Lee on Sunday.
In Top Fuel, Brown registered a 3.719-second pass at 329.26 mph on Friday night to secure the fifth spot. It’s his best qualifying effort since placing third at Sonoma in July. He will match up with Justin Ashley in eliminations.
Shawn Langdon also qualified in the top half of the field in Top Fuel in the eighth position with a 3.746. He will face Trip Tatum in round one.
Doug Kalitta qualified tenth and will square off with Josh Hart in the opener on Sunday.
This weekend’s NHRA qualifying can be seen Sunday on FS1 beginning at 2:00 p.m. (ET) with the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series eliminations to be televised immediately afterward.
Quotes:
Alexis DeJoria, Bandero Tequila Toyota Camry Funny Car: “We’ve really been hitting it hard these last few races. We’ve been consistently getting down the track. Both lanes are tricky here, but we managed to get down in the heat and then tonight we bumped it up and ran that 3.91. We’re sitting third and that’s a great spot to start on Sunday. I’m really proud of my Bandero Tequila guys, they’ve done a great job this year.”
Toyota Las Vegas NHRA Nationals Qualifying Results
| Funny Car | Qual/Rd.1 Opp. | Q1 Time/Speed | Q2 Time/Speed | Q3Time/Speed |
| Alexis DeJoria | 3/Bode | 3.954/318.92 | 4.004/319.60 | 3.919/328.32 (3) |
| J.R. Todd | 8/Tasca | 4.978/154.23 | 6.058/111.15 | 3.963/326.71 (1) |
| Jeff Diehl | 13/Lee | 4.031/314.24 | No run | 5.705/130.92 |
| Alex Miladinovich | DNQ | 4.734/206.67 | 4.941/163.08 | 4.213/256.84 |
| Top Fuel | ||||
| Antron Brown | 5/Ashley | 3.719/329.26 (1) | 13.295/43.15 | 3.761/325.30 |
| Shawn Langdon | 8/Tatum | 3.747/324.05 | 4.248/198.26 | 3.746/320.97 |
| Doug Kalitta | 10/Hart | 3.759/321.65 | 4.469/181.06 | 3.757/302.08 |
Toyota Racing PR
