(Photos by Kim Fuller & Ken Hughes) • Leah Pruett closed out Pomona Winternationals qualifying with a strong run, but her first No. 1 qualifier since 2023 and 16th in her career was clinched on the strength of Friday’s 3.724 at 329.75-mph in her Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters-backed Top Fuel Dragster. Since there are only 15 Top Fuelers, he’ll get a first-round bye on Sunday to open eliminations, Pruett has a great opportunity to pick up her first victory of the season.

“We’re thrilled with where our performance is at and the confidence and momentum is building with this team,” Pruett said. “Yeah, I’m happy. I have my own work to do, but man, we’re moving and grooving and looking forward to eliminations.”

Originally from Redlands, California, Pruett has two previous Winternationals wins in 2017 and 2021.

J.R. Todd put himself in a great spot to win the 1,000th Funny Car race in NHRA history, powering to the No. 1 spot for the first time in five years with a run of 3.896 at 335.32 in his DHL Toyota GR Supra-bodied funny car. He’ll open eliminations against Blake Alexander, looking for his first win of the season, but the past champion was thrilled with Saturday’s success, finishing with his 15th No. 1 qualifier and first since the 2021 campaign.

“It just shows that the performance of our DHL hot rod, that it’s coming around thanks to Dickie (Venables) and Todd (Smith),” Todd said. “It was awesome to see that 3.89 come up on the scoreboard when I went by, but I’m just happy for the guys; they put in so much hard work back there in the pit area.

“I saw the 1,000th Funny Car winner trophy on the wall up there in Q3. That’d be an awesome accomplishment. There’s been a lot of great Funny Car drivers and it was pretty awesome to see Shawn [Langdon, Top Fuel teammate] get the [1,000th Top Fuel win] last year in Charlotte. So, if we could pull that off and put that trophy next to his at the shop, I think that would make Connie [Kalitta, team owner] really happy. I love coming here. There’s a lot of history at this place and hopefully we can add some more history tomorrow.”

NHRA Phoenix winner Ron Capps qualified second after a run of 3.919 at 330.88 and Jordan Vandergriff took third with a 3.925 at 329.99.

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson took the No. 1 spot for the second time this season and the 142nd time in his career, improving on Friday’s run with a stellar pass of 6.516 at 209.69 in his Hendrick Cars-backed Camaro. He set the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip track record for elapsed time (6.476) at this event one year ago. Anderson will open eliminations against Kenny Delco, looking for his first victory of the season and his 17th career win in Pomona.

In Legacy Nitro Funny Car at the Winternationals, Sunday will bring the second round of eliminations, with Geoff Monise, driving the Quarter Pounder Firebird taking a first round victory over Eily Stafford in Don Nelson’s California Hustler Firebird.

Final Eliminations for the 66th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals begin at 10 a.m. PT on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. Television coverage on Sunday, April 12, 2026, includes a qualifying show from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET on FS1 and eliminations from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

CHECK OUT OUR FIRST GALLERY FROM THE POMONA WINTERNATIONALS!