July 28th, 2021 Chris Phillip

Exciting final round showdowns for Mopar Dodge//SRT Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) pilot Leah Pruett in Top Fuel, at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Sonoma Nationals resulted in runner-up finish for her with margins of victory in the race of just two-thousandths of a second.

Leah Pruett qualified her DSR Okuma Dodge//SRT Redeye dragster sixth for an opening round pairing with No. 7 seed Justin Ashley. Pruett was quicker off the start and never looked back with a 3.739-second run at 327.51 mph run to defeat her opponent’s 3.758/323.04 pass and move on to battle Brittany Force in the quarterfinals for their first match-up since 2018.

Force had a slight starting advantage for the quarterfinal battle, but when mid-track traction issues affected them both, it was Pruett who pedaled it and recovered quickly to cross the finish line first and earn a bye-run. In that solo semifinal run the Dodge//SRT Redeye dragster recorded its best pass of the weekend with a 3.726 sec./325.53 mph to see Pruett advance to her 17th career Top Fuel final round appearance to face the category’s points leader and five-time event winner this season Steve Torrence.

The Sonoma raceway fans were treated to an exciting side-by side final showdown that saw Pruett with the quicker start and a solid 3.768-second pass at 323.04 mph that was just two-thousands of a second (0.0027 -seconds) behind Torrence 3.757/327.98 at the finish line.

The runner-up finish is Pruett’s first of the season and the ninth of her Top Fuel career and with the result, she moves into fifth place in the standings with four national events remaining before points reset for the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship the seven-race playoff series that begins September 9 at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals Presented By Pennzoil in Reading, Pennsylvania, and concludes with the NHRA finals in November in Pomona, California.

Thanks to dodgegarage.com for this article!