Cruz Pedregon

Cruz Pedregon leads the Funny Car points standings for the first time since April 25, 1998. Seven different drivers have reached a final round in the category with just four races in the books, including Del Worsham, who broke a two-year drought with his win in Houston after not making the field at the first two races of 2008.

Need a story line? It’s take your pick in Funny Car, where as predicted no team has yet emerged dominant and giants no longer sleep.

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series stops in Las Vegas for the ninth annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway April 10-13. The event is the fifth of 24 on the tour. Brandon Bernstein (Top Fuel), Robert Hight (Funny Car), and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) are the defending winners of the event in their respective Pro categories.

Worsham, who has 22 victories but has yet to celebrate a win in Las Vegas, says it feels great for his team to break out of the slump that lasted for more than two years.

Del Worsham

“You know, more than anything else [the win in Houston] just feels like some vindication because I think we've had a good-running car since the middle of last year,” said Worsham, a Southern California native. “We were runner-up twice last year, and both of those races were side by side, so we easily could've won one or two races in 2007 and nobody would be talking about how it had been two and a half years since we last won a race. For the whole second half of last season, we were clearly one of the top 10 teams in the class, but I think we were just kind of under the radar because we didn't win.”

Pedregon’s move in the points was perhaps another surprise in Houston that really should have been less shocking. In the third spot entering Texas, Pedregon was a mere 20 points behind the leader (Hight) and 14 behind second-place Jack Beckman. He hasn’t won a race since 2006 in Las Vegas – and that trip to the winner’s circle broke a four-year drought. But Pedregon, elder brother of defending NHRA POWERade Series world champion Tony Pedregon, reached three final rounds in 2007, with runner-up finishes in Houston, Bristol, and Dallas.

He earned the top qualifying spot with low e.t. of the event in his Advance Auto Parts Chevy Impala SS, toppling leader Hight, who dropped from first to fourth in the points after he failed to qualify in Houston. It wasn’t all bad news for the John Force Racing camp; Ashley Force advanced to her second final-round appearance. Ashley and her father, 14-time Funny Car world champion John Force, are fifth and sixth in the points entering Las Vegas. Tony Pedregon is third in the 18-race regular season. The regular season will be followed by a six-race playoff, the Countdown to the Championship.

“Winning races is great, but winning the championship is the bigger picture,” Cruz Pedregon said. “You can’t get any higher than number one, so I’m really happy for [my sponsors] that have stuck with us over the years. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, and there’s no reason why we can’t keep this going.”