Kalitta, Tasca and Hartford lead Friday qualifiers at Firebird

Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta powered to the provisional No. 1 position on Friday at Firebird Motorsports Park, making the only run in the 3.60s at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. Bob Tasca III (Funny Car) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock, pictured above) were also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers for the second race of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.

Kalitta went 3.688-seconds at 330.09-mph in his SealMaster/Toyota dragster under the lights in Phoenix, putting the 2023 world champion in line for his first No. 1 qualifier of the year and the 59th in his career. The No. 1 spot changed twice before Kalitta ran, but nobody else could move into the 3.60s on Friday, as Kalitta put on a standout show in Phoenix.

Kalitta and his team ran with mud flaps on during the first session, but removed them for the second, as NHRA officials announced earlier this week mud flaps will be optional for the next four races.

“I was pretty happy with that run and I have to say they’ve really done a nice job at this facility. The track is nice and smooth,” Kalitta said. “We’re happy that things kind of cooled off and we were able to get a good run in. The conditions were that good, so it says a lot for the track and this team.”

Brittany Force took the second spot with a run of 3.705 at 331.69 and Kalitta Motorsports’ teammate Shawn Langdon is currently third after going 3.706 at 331.85.

In Funny Car, Bob Tasca ended Friday qualifying in the category in impressive fashion, going 3.863 at 333.82 in his Motorcraft Ford Mustang to slip past reigning world champion Austin Prock for the provisional No. 1 spot. Prock and Tasca were the only two Funny Car drivers to dip into the 3.80s during the first two sessions, with Prock going 3.883 at 327.44 the pair before Tasca.

But Tasca topped him to take the upper hand into Saturday, where he will attempt to pick up his 19th career No. 1 qualifier and first of the year.

“What I love about what we did today is that we ran good on a hot track, and we did it on a cool track,” Tasca said. “This is very unique. You don’t see what we saw today, a 122-degree track and then an 80-degree track. That’s a 40-degree change in racing surface so that’s a completely different race car, and the teams that adapted and made the changes performed the best today, and it’ll be exciting for tomorrow and see what we can do.

“You’re going to see a hot track for the rest of the weekend, so I’m pretty confident. That first run was more important than the second run and Todd and Aaron really worked hard over the winter, making some changes to this race car, trying to get more consistency.”

Prock is second after two sessions, while Ron Capps is in third after going 3.912 at 323.50.

Friday night was great for Phoenix-area native Matt Hartford, as he took over the No. 1 spot in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro with a stellar run of 6.509 at 208.20. If that holds, Hartford would pick up his fifth career No. 1 qualifier and first of the year, and continue his strong turnaround after struggling for the bulk of the 2024 campaign. This is another noteworthy step forward as Hartford looks to win at his home track.

“This is our home track,” Hartford said. “It’s Total Seal country, and to be able to do that in front of friends and family and all the people from Total Seal is just incredible. We’re going to have a lot of people here tomorrow, about 175 of our closest friends, and they’re all going to want to know how we did last night, so it’s going to be nice to say that we’re No. 1 going into tomorrow.”

Defending world champ and Gainesville winner Greg Anderson is second with a 6.512 at 208.91 at 208.91 and Cory Reed is third after a run of 6.516 at 208.91.

Qualifying continues at 11:30am PT on Saturday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park.