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The Pro Stock class took center stage at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway over the weekend as Erica Enders-Stevens' victory in the NHRA Toyota Nationals thrust her to the top of the standings with one race remaining. Enders-Stevens scored a crucial semifinals triumph over incoming points leader Jason Line before besting five-time Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin in the final with a 6.587 second/209.36 mph pass. Chasing the first Pro Stock championship for a female driver in NHRA history, Enders-Stevens was at the top of her game in repeating her victorious performance from the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series' last visit to Las Vegas in March. In the semifinal showdown with Line that pitted the two top-ranked drivers heading into the weekend, Enders-Stevens laid down a 6.593-second run with a 0.009-second reaction time while Line red-lighted at the start by 0.003 seconds.  "My crew chief came on the radio and said, 'If we want it, we've got to go get it,'" Enders-Stevens said. "And that's what we did." In the final, she was even better, clocking an 0.007-second RT. "We're going to go out there and execute the best we can," Enders-Stevens said during an ESPN2 television interview. "You know, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous going up there. I mean, Jeggy is the best that there has ever been in this class." At that point, Coughlin entered the scene to give Enders-Stevens a Mello Yello victory shower. Line, who is seeking his third Pro Stock championship, had a 35-point advantage over Enders-Stevens entering the Las Vegas weekend. But he will have to overcome a 17-point deficit in the season-closing NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona Nov. 13-16. "I was trying to be perfect -- we knew we had to," Line said. "We couldn't get our Summit Racing Chevy to perform today. But you'll have days like that. When you have those days, you have to try to be a little faster on the tree, and it bit me. "But it wouldn't have mattered anyway. They're running great right now." Del Worsham took the shine off what could have been a perfect weekend for John Force by defeating the 16-time champion in the Funny Car final. Worsham, who won the 2011 Top Fuel championship, claimed his first Funny Car event win since 2009 with a 4.064 sec/318.39 mph pass that edged Force's 4.104/321.42. "It's been a tough road coming back and driving Funny Cars," Worsham remarked. "It's been a long time, and we've had some hard knocks. "Our new Toyota Camry we brought this weekend performed outstanding, and we kept trying, kept it together," he added. "That's a great group of guys we've got." Aside from the loss in the finals, just about everything else was a winner for Force in Las Vegas. He qualified No. 2 on Saturday then announced primary sponsorship from PEAK Antifreeze for his car for the majority of the 2015 season. The Funny Car finale at Pomona is bound to be a good one, with Matt Hagan leading Force by just 21 points. Hagan qualified No. 1 at Las Vegas in his Don Schumacher Racing Dodge but lost in the semifinals to the unstoppable Worsham. Courtney Force remains third in the FC standings but dropped 121 points behind Hagan after suffering a first-round defeat to Paul Lee. Tony Schumacher was another notable first round casualty at Las Vegas, but the seven-time Top Fuel champion still looks on course for his first season crown since 2009. The U.S. Army-sponsored driver holds a 109-point lead over Vegas victor (and Don Schumacher Racing teammate) Spencer Massey. Schumacher's 3.774-second pass was the third-quickest in the first round, but it wasn't enough to beat No. 12 qualifier Billy Torrence's blistering 3.769-second effort. Massey lucked out by emerging from a first-round pedal-fest against Terry McMillen to reel off a series of 3.7-second runs, culminating in a 3.756-second pass at a track-record 330.88 mph in the final. "We started running a new chassis this weekend, and we wanted to see where it would lead us," Massey related. "It showed a lot of promise. For [crew chiefs] Phil Shuler and Todd Okahara and my entire team, we've been working so hard all season long to finally make good, solid runs and be consistent on race day. "There was nothing wrong with our old car -- I just like to have a new car," he admitted. "New pipe is always good and this Red Fuel car was awesome this weekend." Andrew Hines took a big step toward his fourth Pro Stock Motorcycle championship by taking the two-wheeled honors at Las Vegas. Hines extended his lead over Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec from 25 to 92 points with the triumph as Krawiec fell in the quarterfinals to Jerry Savoie. Krawiec made a 6.888-second pass in the first round that was the fastest motorcycle run of the day, but he could only manage a 6.965-second effort in the quarters that lagged behind Savoie's 6.949. Hines took out Savoie in the semifinals then matched that 6.955-second pass in the final to defeat Matt Smith, who ran 6.971. "I don't want to play defense [at Pomona]," Hines said after his sixth PSM win of the season. "I'm going to go on the offense. I don't want to give up any bonus points during qualifying. "I want to keep it over 80 points so we can roll into Sunday with the championship basically mathematically locked up."
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