Ron Capps scored the Funny Car victory in a Schumacher-owned Brut Dodge Stratus by outrunning teammate Gary Scelzi in the final round. Capps clocked a 4.780 at 325.69 to hold off Scelzi’s charging Mopar/Oakley Stratus, which posted a 4.819 at 324.51.

With the runner-up finish, Scelzi moved into the series points lead in what is setting up to be the closest Funny Car points finish in NHRA history. With the victory Capps cut Scelzi’s lead to two points with one race remaining. John Force, the defending and 13-time world champion is in third, 28 points back. It was Capps’ third victory of the season and the 17th of his career.

“Athletes always talk about peaking at the right time, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Capps, who defeated Tim Wilkerson, Mike Ashley and Tony Bartone in the first three rounds. “I’m still in awe. This has been an enjoyable ride and I feel really good going into Pomona. We’ve got a really fast hot rod right now and I’m looking forward to the battle. I’ve got that gut-ache, like Force is always talking about, and that’s just the way it is. It is going to be an exciting finish for the fans.”

Capps has finished second in the points order two times in his career. Three-time Top Fuel world champion Scelzi is trying to join Kenny Bernstein as the only drivers in NHRA history to win world championship titles in both nitro categories.

“We needed to make a move at this race and we were able to do it, and just about pulled off the perfect weekend,” Scelzi said. “Pomona is going to be a lot of fun to watch for the fans, but it’s going to be a fight. You can’t forget about Force, because he’s really steamed right now and you can never count that team out. It’s going to be such an exciting finish and all three of us want it really bad.”

Kurt Johnson powered his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt to the Pro Stock victory over the newly crowned series champion Greg Anderson. Johnson used a holeshot start and posted a 6.839 at 202.27 to defeat Anderson’s quicker Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO, which clocked a 6.821 at 202.27. It was Johnson’s first win at The Strip in four final round appearances, his fourth of the season and 32nd of his career.