The Protect the Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals saw themselves rained out for the final rounds of Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock. The delayed final rounds of Top Fuel and Funny Car will take place this Saturday during the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, MN. The Pro Stock final will be delayed yet again until the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN in two weeks because finalist, Aaron Strong, is unable to attend this weekend’s event. But the runs in Seattle leading up to the final had fans on the edge of their seats throughout the weekend.
Top Fuel
Leah Pritchett debuted her Papa John’s Pizza Top Fuel dragster but saw an early exit in the first round when she red-lit against Morgan Lucas. Lucas, who is only running a partial season, had an impressive run making it to the semifinals before falling to Antron Brown. Steve Torrence will face Antron Brown in the delayed Seattle final this weekend. Torrence, who is on the losing end of an 1-and-18 round win record against Brown, is looking to turn his luck around. Both drivers have had stout performances this year. Brown has national event 3 wins this season and Torrence has 2.
Funny Car
Courtney Force was one of the main points of focus of the weekend as she smoked the tires and hit the wall in the first round against Jeff Diehl. Courtney was transported to a local hospital and released later that night with no serious injuries, only soreness. This comes one week after Alexis Dejoria fractured her pelvis in a similar accident during the race in Sonoma. Diehl went on to make it to the semifinal round, his second of the 2016 season. Del Worsham continued his making blistering runs on Sunday which led him to another final round against Funny Car points leader, Ron Capps.
Pro Stock
KB Racing didn’t have the dominant weekend they were expecting with Greg Anderson losing in round 1, Jason Line red-lighting in the semis by a staggering -.318, and Bo Butner having a less than perfect run during the semifinal round. This will be the second race thus far in the 2016 season that a KB Racing car hasn’t picked up the Wally. For the first time this season all 4 of Elite Motorsports’ cars made it to the second round. Erica Enders and Jeg Coughlin bowed out in the second round due to car issues, but Aaron Strong and Vincent Nobile saw their way into the final round. This will be Elite Motorsports’ first win of the season.
The Protect the Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals nitro final rounds will air Saturday at 3:30pm ET on FS1.
