Jason Line led an all-Summit finals. (Go2Geiger.com)
Apparently, Pro Stock leader Jason Line didn't receive the NHRA's memo about saving the drama for the last race of the year.
Line raced to a world record elapsed time of 6.477 seconds in the quarterfinals of Monday's rain-delayed 27th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals and then backed it up to make if official in a final-round trouncing of Ronnie Humphrey to power out to a commanding 181-point lead over Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson.
With three national events left, it appears Line will easily claim his second world title well before the season concludes in Pomona, Calif., ignoring the last-race spectacle the 5-year-old Countdown to the Championship playoffs were designed to produce.
"That's the second time we qualified No. 1, set the record, and won the race," said Line, whose raced to five finals in the last six races. It feels really good to do that, because there is a very small club of guys who've done it.
"I like going into the last three races with the amount of points we have because it's not as much pressure. It's not over by any means but I wouldn't trade my position for anyone else's."
Line shared the winner's circle at Maple Grove Raceway with Top Fuel's Spencer Massey, Funny Car's Robert Hight and Pro Stock Motorcycle's Hector Arana Jr. who all took big steps towards claiming their own Full Throttle titles.
Massey used a massive .056 to .101-second starting line advantage to steal away a holeshot victory over regular season points leader Del Worsham. The race was thriller with Worsham steadily closing the gap on Massey but his 3.735 at 323.81 mph came up five feet short of catching Massey's Fram dragster, which posted a 3.770 at 323.12 mph.
"I just try to be consistent on the Tree no matter who I'm racing," Massey said of his fourth win of the season. "(Crew chiefs) Phil (Shuler) and Todd (Okuhara) do an awesome job and we get a lot of confidence from each other. We started off going for the record in qualifying, but at one point we said, 'You know, let's just try to win rounds.' The car was on a string. You could have put '3.77' on the wing.
"Alan Johnson and Del Worsham did an amazing job in the other lane to make their car run as fast as it did. It makes it that much sweeter of a win, in a way, for the win light to come on in our lane with a 3.77. I saw his nose out there at about 200 feet and never saw him again until I looked over after the finish line."
The win puts Massey 65 points up on teammate Antron Brown and 74 ahead of Worsham, who earned a 20-point bonus for his final-round run, which was quick enough to become the national record in Top Fuel. Worsham posted a time earlier in the weekend that certified the run as the record per NHRA rules.
The most exciting class in the sport this year -- Funny Car -- had a bit of an anti-climatic finish when Johnny Gray squandered lane choice and went up in smoke right at the hit of the throttle. But Hight didn't care as he zoomed to a 4.065 at 302.62 mph for his fifth win of the year, which also ended a streak of four first-round losses.
"We knew coming in this was our last-chance race," Hight said. "If we had another bad showing it would be over because you put yourself in such a hole when you lose first round. You have to get that monkey off your back. We have been struggling; that's no secret. Now I am looking forward to heading out west for the final three. We are back in this deal."
Four racers, including Hight, are now within 55 points of Funny Car leader Matt Hagan. Reigning champion John Force lost in the first round, all but eliminating him from the championship chase.
Arana pulled even with fellow rookie-of-the-year candidate Vincent Nobile with his second Pro Stock Motorcycle victory of the season, winning the quickest side-by-side race in class history to eliminate rival Matt Smith. Arana's left first -- .038 to .064 -- and ran a better pass to take out Smith with a 6.781 at 195.82 mph to Smith's 6.795 at 194.24 mph.
"Right now, we have a lot of momentum," Arana said. "My runs have been improving and we plan to keep this streak going. This should help me for the rookie of the year and give me a good chance for the championship. I finally got to qualify No. 1 and win the race. That’s something I’ve been trying to do all year long."
Arana, who also won the U.S. Nationals in Indy, is now just 35 points behind leader Eddie Krawiec.
