It seems like we were just here. The hollowed grounds at Pomona Raceway where the 2022 drag racing season was kicking off during the NHRA Winternationals. That was ten months ago, and it’s been a blur of long burnouts, smoking tires and crazy fast speeds ever since. For the Top Fuel and Funny Car competitors, they’ve been duking it out all year as they battle each other for championship points and a chance to become immortalized in the sport’s record books. Now we are here, back at Pomona for the NHRA World Finals. Pomona is the unofficial birthplace of drag racing ever since the pioneers of the sport left the desolate salt flats and brought this growing sport into the suburbs of LA’s San Fernando Valley and its surrounding communities. What’s really cool is just recently it was announced that In-N-Out Burger will be the title rights sponsor for the Pomona Dragstrip and will have a multi-year partnership that begins during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

But on the eve of the World Finals, the race teams will unload their 11,000-horsepower, nitro-inhaling machines while the drivers will put on their multi-layered Nomex fire suits and full-face helmets for one last hit down the quarter-mile this NHRA season. For many teams, a lot is at stake going into the NHRA World Finals as the points chase for world champion accolades that keeps sponsors happy going into next year as tightened up dramatically. In the Funny Car class, Matt Hagan and his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT^® Hellcat still remains in contention to grab another title. Remember, Hagan is a three-time NHRA Funny Car World Champion and has amassed four wins and four runner-up finishes this year. Don’t count him out.

“It has been a real honor to drive for Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) this year and I’m looking forward to next year also,” says Hagan, who earned four Wally trophies and four runner-up finishes for TSR since he joined the team at the start of the season. “Obviously, we’re in the hunt to win TSR their first championship this weekend, so that would be huge. It is an uphill battle, and we have to come out swinging. We have to gather up those small points to keep it under 60 (points) over two rounds to win. In 2010, when I was the runner-up, all I had to do was show up and go two rounds to win. I was eliminated in the first round, so (John) Force won the championship. I’ve been on Robert’s (Hight) side of it and lost it, so that’s why we’re going to go out there and dig deep to still give ourselves a shot. It’s still very possible. I’m happy to be a part of it and excited for what the future brings,” adds Hagan. “I’ll think we’ll be in the mix of things for a long time to come. We just have to keep pushing hard and turning win lights on and things will fall into place.”

In the Top Fuel ranks, Leah Pruett has had her share of ups and downs this season as her team has struggled this year. The seasoned veteran of the nitro ranks knows this is a part of professional racing but is still focused on ending the season on a positive note. Her Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel Dragster is very capable of bagging a win at the NHRA Finals and her crew is working toward that goal. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago, last July to be exact, she parked her dragster in the winner’s circle at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals in Denver.

“My most memorable moment of this season has got to be a collage of moments from the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals in Bandimere,” says Pruett of her 10th career win. “Specifically, the first qualifier, where we were testing new components at our first mile-high race and ultimately blew the tires off harder than we ever had and were able to immediately make wholesale adjustments that provisionally put us in the No. 1 spot. From there, we worked on consistency. On race day, we had a very potent potluck of a good running racecar, I was solid on the tree, winning a couple pedal fests, with a sprinkle of luck to cap the day off in the winner’s circle. Our whole season of highs and lows could be illustrated in that one race, which is why it is so memorable, besides it being our first TSR Top Fuel Wally.”

Another Dodge//Mopar_® Funny Car racer who’s had an interesting season is Cruz Pedregon. He’s an NHRA veteran who has been competing for 30 seasons. Cruz is also a two-time world champ, and his Snap-On Tools Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car will be making lots of noise this weekend at Pomona. “I think we have a good shot at six or seven (in the championship) still with points-and-a-half at Pomona. It gives us an opportunity to right some of the wrongs we’ve had this year. We’re all about trying to finish as high as we can in the points and work on getting a gauge on our clutch program. We plan for that to all come together to get stronger, more consistent runs. We’re ready to finish the season with solid runs and going rounds on the final race day of the ’22 season.”

Along with our professional racers, there’ll be many Mopar Sportsman Competitors looking to go rounds during the NHRA World Finals and end the season with a win. The staging lanes at Pomona will be filled with many Dodge and Plymouth Stockers and Super Stockers ready to roll into the burnout box and blast off Pomona’s historical starting line where legends like Sox & Martin, Dick Landy and other Chrysler-sponsored legends raced before them.

If you’re homebound this weekend. You can catch all the drag racing qualifying and eliminations from Pomona on FS1 with their qualifying highlights show on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. ET, and then begin race day coverage at 4 p.m. ET. Stay glued to your sets as they’ll be crowning the 2022 NHRA World Champions.