Pro Stock racer Tanner Gray became the youngest NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world champion by qualifying Saturday at the season ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
During his championship season Gray notched seven victories including securing his first career win at the prestigious Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals win in Indianapolis. In the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship, Gray cemented his first crown with two wins and maintained the points lead throughout the entire playoffs.
“It has been a heck of a year,” Gray stated. “It started out pretty slow and I wasn’t quite sure it would end up here. About midseason we were able to find something, and everything seemed like it started clicking from there. We did so much testing at the beginning of the season and it really paid off. It was like a light flipped and everything started coming together. We had a strong running going there for a little bit and came into the Countdown and executed on race day really well.”
In other racing, Leah Pritchett (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the final race of the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.
Pritchett remained atop of the Top Fuel category for all four qualifying sessions in her Mopar Dodge dragster at her hometown race. Her final qualifying run of 3.631-seconds at 332.84 mph secured her fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 11th of her career. Pritchett will square off against Bill Litton Sunday morning as she seeks to secure her third win of the season.
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