Leah Pruett powered to the provisional No. 1 spot in Top Fuel on Friday, as the Tony Stewart Racing standout looks to pick up her second straight No. 1 qualifier of the 2023 season at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.
Ron Capps (Funny Car) also was a provisional No. 1 qualifier at the ninth of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. Due to weather, only Top Fuel and Funny Car made qualifying runs on Friday. Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle are scheduled for two passes on Saturday.
After a series of lengthy weather delays on Friday, Pruett drove her 11,000-horsepower Dodge Direct Connection dragster to a pass of 3.684s at 333.08mph, putting her in contention for her 15th career No. 1 qualifier. She picked up her first No. 1 spot two weeks ago in Bristol and followed it up with a standout performance to kick off the race weekend in Norwalk. It continues a strong trend of qualifying performances for Pruett, who hopes to finish it off with her first win of the 2023 season this weekend.
“That was definitely the most exciting part of our whole day, and I would say, our last two weeks” Pruett said. “(Crew chief) Neal Strasbaugh is pretty good about giving a target of what we’re going to run, especially when we’re later in the pack like that, but this time we really didn’t know. The track was so good, and NHRA Safety Safari and Summit Motorsports Park did an incredible job throughout the whole day making sure that the track didn’t go away. I was ready to go fast, and like I said last time we were No. 1, it’s one of my favorite things to do.
“There’s no feeling like it when you get that text that says Funny Car at 9 p.m. At that moment, everyone that’s been wiping down the car and checking their notes for hours, at that moment you kick into high gear and turn it on. The fans got a good show tonight.”