Cruz Pedregon raced to his second straight No. 1 qualifier, hanging on to the top spot at Saturday’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Brittany Force (Top Fuel) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) also qualified No. 1 qualifiers at the fourth of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

Pedregon’s run of 3.910-seconds at 326.71 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Snap-On Tools Dodger Charger Hellcat SRT from Friday held up, giving the two-time world champion his second No. 1 spot this season and the 64th in his career. Pedregon will race for his first win of the season on Sunday, with his opening-round quad also featuring Steven Densham, Tim Wilkerson and Bobby Bode.

“We stayed No. 1 and I’m grateful for that,” Pedregon said. “The team made the right calls today and we made down the track three of our four runs. Now, we just need to keep doing the same thing, be consistent and race the track (tomorrow). You have to be smart. The guys that are disciplined and don’t press are the ones that have success. We’ll see what the day brings (on Sunday), but it’s anybody’s race out there.”

Alexis DeJoria stayed second with her run of 3.933 at 329.18 and points leader Matt Hagan took third with a 3.936 at 327.82.

In Top Fuel, Brittany Force’s run 3.697 at 335.73 in her 11,000-horsepower Monster Energy dragster from Friday easily gave her the top spot, giving the defending world champ her second No. 1 qualifier on the season and the 44th in her career. Force is after her third straight victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after sweeping both races last season en route to her world title, and she made one strong run on Saturday.

In the opening round, Force will have to face off with Tony Schumacher and Antron Brown, with the trio combining for 13 world titles. All three were in the final quad last year, but only two will advance past the first round on Sunday.

“Our team is very happy. We had three good runs down the track and we stayed in the top spot,” Force said. “Now we’re looking for a win. We were successful here last year and we’d love to do it again. Coming into season, we knew there was a chance for a slow start and I still feel like we’ve already outdone ourselves. We’ve made a lot of changes and done a lot of testing, but I think we’re figuring this out far quicker than we imagined.”

Steve Torrence qualified second after his 3.712 at 330.23 from Friday and Mike Salinas moved to third in the final session after going 3.729 at 331.77.

A strong weekend got even better for Pro Stock’s Matt Hartford, as the veteran claimed his first career No. 1 qualifier with a run of 6.599 at 206.45 in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro. Hartford, who is making his 161st career start this season, put down a pair of strong passes on Saturday, vaulting him into the top position for the first time and adding another impressive moment in what has been a strong start to his 2023 season.

The only thing missing is a victory on Sunday, something Hartford will aim to change this weekend and possibly move into the points lead for the first time in his career. His opening-round quad includes Jerry Lee Tucker, Camrie Caruso and Erica Enders, who swept both Las Vegas races last year.

“This is awesome for our entire team. We've been working on this since 2006 and it’s been a long time coming,” Hartford said. “Some of these people come out here and within first few races get a number one and we always just watch and go well someday we'll get it. But it's hats off to having a great team around me and a great racecar. We just keep our heads down and keep focused on one run at a time.

“There was a time we were 16th and just overjoyed. It's just a different mindset as you progress through the sport. We've come from the bottom and we've worked our way up. We have a fast car right now. Our whole goal is to turn this yellow (No. 1 qualifier) hat into a blue (winner’s) hat and then turn that into a white (world champion) hat.”

Current points leader Dallas Glenn, who was the provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday, took the second spot with a 6.610 at 205.65 and Aaron Stanfield took third in qualifying on the strength of his 6.614 at 206.95.

Eliminations for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip begin at 12 p.m. PT on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

***************
TOP FUEL
***************

Psn---Num-Driver, Home Town, Car Type---------------Qual-ET--Qual-Spd-Top Spd

  1    1 Brittany Force, Yorba Linda CA, Force-JFR       3.697  335.73  335.73
  2    6 Steve Torrence, Kilgore TX, MLR-TFX             3.712  330.23  331.53
  3 7211 Mike Salinas, San Jose CA, MLR-TFX              3.729  331.77  331.77
  4    4 Justin Ashley, Farmingdale NY, DSR-AJPE         3.730  330.63  330.88
  5  777 Leah Pruett, Lake Havasu City AZ, DSR-DSM       3.746  328.78  329.26
  6    9 Shawn Langdon, Danville IN, Kalitta-AJPE        3.754  326.24  326.24
  7    7 Josh Hart, Ocala FL, MLR-AJPE                   3.758  330.72  330.72
  8  356 Tony Schumacher, Lakeway TX, DSR-DSM            3.763  325.77  327.11
  9    2 Antron Brown, Pittsboro IN, DSR-DSM             3.769  333.00  333.00
 10   10 Doug Kalitta, Saline MI, Kalitta-AJPE           3.780  328.38  328.38
 11   51 Clay Millican, Drummonds TN, DSR-AJPE           3.787  326.56  329.34
 12    3 Austin Prock, Pittsboro IN, Force-JFR           3.848  315.27  315.27
 13  723 Rob Passey, Salt Lake City UT, McKinney-TFX     4.133  260.31  260.31
 14  725 Krista Baldwin, Pittsboro IN, DSR-TFX           4.195  271.52  271.52
 15  323 Buddy Hull, Frisco TX, McKinney-TFX             5.093  136.75  136.75


***************
FUNNY CAR
***************

  1    6 Cruz Pedregon, Brownsburg IN, '22 Charger       3.910  326.71  326.71
  2    7 Alexis DeJoria, Austin TX, '22 Supra            3.933  329.18  329.18
  3   14 Matt Hagan, Christiansburg VA, '23 Charger      3.936  327.82  327.82
  4    1 Ron Capps, Carlsbad CA, '22 Supra               3.937  324.05  324.44
  5    4 Bob Tasca III, Cranston RI, '23 Mustang         3.938  325.69  325.69
  6    2 Robert Hight, Yorba Linda CA, '23 Camaro        3.942  325.85  330.23
  7    5 John Force, Yorba Linda CA, '22 Camaro          3.945  323.12  324.83
  8    9 Tim Wilkerson, Springfield IL, '18 Mustang      3.967  312.06  312.06
  9 3095 Bobby Bode, Deer Park IL, '18 Mustang           3.976  273.55  273.55
 10  116 Paul Lee, Anaheim CA, '20 Charger               3.982  320.89  320.89
 11   40 Alex Laughlin, Bluff Dale TX, '22 Charger       3.996  318.17  318.17
 12  256 Blake Alexander, Charlotte NC, '19 Mustang      4.006  279.50  279.50
 13  473 Chad Green, Midland TX, '19 Mustang             4.040  312.42  312.42
 14  717 Jeff Diehl, Salinas CA, '20 Camry               4.049  275.28  275.28
 15  766 Jason Rupert, Anaheim Hills CA, '17 Mustang     4.054  312.93  317.87
 16  700 Steven Densham, Oceanside CA, '18 Mustang       4.082  284.09  284.09

       ------------ Not Qualified ------------

 17  121 Terry Haddock, Temple TX, '18 Mustang           4.104  304.46  304.46
 18  170 Jeff Arend, La Verne CA, '08 Monte Carlo        4.204  271.84  271.84
 19  373 J.R. Todd, Jupiter FL, '22 Supra                4.272  214.62  214.62

**********************
PRO STOCK 
**********************

  1    6 Matt Hartford, Phoenix AZ, '16 Camaro           6.599  206.45  206.95
  2    7 Dallas Glenn, Mooresville NC, '22 Camaro        6.610  205.66  206.07
  3    3 Aaron Stanfield, Bossier LA, '22 Camaro         6.614  206.95  206.95
  4    4 Troy Coughlin Jr., Delaware OH, '22 Camaro      6.615  207.02  207.11
  5    2 Greg Anderson, Mooresville NC, '22 Camaro       6.618  205.94  206.67
  6    9 Bo Butner, Floyd Knobs IN, '22 Camaro           6.633  206.51  207.30
  7    5 Kyle Koretsky, Fairless Hill PA, '22 Camaro     6.639  205.47  205.60
  8   14 Camrie Caruso, Denver NC, '13 Camaro            6.640  207.05  207.05
  9    1 Erica Enders, Houston TX, '21 Camaro            6.641  206.61  207.02
 10  400 Mason McGaha, Odessa TX, '21 Camaro             6.645  206.57  206.57
 11   52 Deric Kramer, Sterling CO, '21 Camaro           6.648  206.32  206.32
 12    8 Cristian Cuadra, McAllen TX, '23 Mustang        6.654  206.54  206.54
 13 406M Fernando Cuadra Jr., Leon MX, '21 Mustang       6.661  207.62  207.62
 14 4264 Chris McGaha, Odessa TX, '22 Camaro             6.664  206.80  206.80
 15  799 Steve Graham, S. San Francisco CA, '16 Camaro   6.673  206.16  206.16
 16  494 Jerry Tucker, Lindsay OK, '20 Camaro            6.684  205.47  206.29

       ------------ Not Qualified ------------

 17   12 Shane Tucker, Statesville NC, '22 Camaro        6.772  203.16  203.16
 18 410M Fernando Cuadra, McAllen TX, '21 Mustang       18.394   43.81   43.81

w/ NHRA Communications