Ron Capps sets Funny Car pace at NHRA Carolina Nationals

Ron Capps led the way during Friday’s Funny Car qualifying at the National Hot Rod Association’s Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway.

Capps, who is sixth in the Funny Car standings, had the best run of the day, a 3.875-second, 329.42-mph pass.

“We knew coming in that conditions would be great or better than great,” Capps said. “Quite possibly, they could be better (Saturday). This is a great race track and with good conditions. This is what you see. The best part is looking up and seeing (car owner) Don Schumacher smile. The moments like that, seeing the boss smile, it’s big.”

Steve Torrence led all Top Fuel qualifiers with a 3.704-second, 331.53 mph pass on his second run of the evening.

“I’ve had quite a bit of success here in the past and I enjoy coming here,” Torrence said. “The track is so smooth. ...We’re going to try to carry the momentum we have here into race day. Clay (Millican) has done a good job of out-qualifying us lately.

“Every point counts, so we need to keep those guys from getting as many points as possible. ...We’ve got to take this (title battle) one round at a time. We’ve got to keep working, don’t let up and eventually, someone’s going to say ‘Hey, you lost,’ or ‘Hey, you won.’”

Erica Enders jumped to the top of the Pro Stock charts with a 6.518-second, 211.69-mph run in Round 2.

“We came off from the test session prior to Dallas, where we felt like we made some strides in the right direction,” Enders said. “After the first session, (teammate) Jeg (Coughlin) was No. 1 and I was No. 2. I was hoping to redeem myself and my crew chief said, ‘If we do our job, we’ll be on the pole.’ We did our job. It’s nice to be able to go to bed being No. 1 right now.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Eddie Krawiec posted a best-in-class 6.806-second, 197.83-mph pass.

Qualifying continues Saturday, with eliminations scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

This story was originally published October 12, 2018 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Ron Capps sets Funny Car pace at NHRA Carolina Nationals."