Back on the left coast for the 2^nd trip to Las Vegas, NV (this one only being 2-wide) for the Toyota Nationals, which turned out to be a beautiful place for all racers entered to spend their Halloween weekend with warm weather and absolutely no rain. Scheduled to begin Thursday with sportsman having time trials run to completion so the fields would be set for eliminations Friday morning, while class eliminations for Stock & Super Stock would be run after time trials. Shockingly, and i use that term loosely, every sportsman class was at or above max capacity like it is year after year. Multiple wanna be contestants would be checking the registration site along with making posts on Class Racer prior to the event hoping for someone to drop out. With the National Champion in each category being narrowed down to only a few drivers, we found 1 from each division on the grounds hoping for a late season push or getting a 2-for-1 tow and staying for the divisional event the weekend after.

Comp: David Billingsley over Doug Engels

Billingsley gets his 5th career win after Engels fouls away his chances at the title. Billingsley with a 8.75 index was down .11 on the weekend and racing out of the #10 qualifying position, left first with a .037 light. Engels qualified in the #6 spot at -.655 under and was down a whopping .25 after taking a CIC hit in each round leading up to the final. Taking a shot at the tree, Engels turned it -.017 red which allowed Billingsley to coast to victory.

Super Stock: Justin Lamb over Jimmy DeFrank

Lamb uses his hometown advantage to sweep the Super Stock titles this year in Las Vegas, getting his 24th win and 6th this season. In a tightly dialed match up against 5-time world champ Jimmy DeFrank, Lamb had the edge at the starting line with a .011 light to the .022 of DeFrank. As Lamb gradually went around DeFrank he was able to kill a little bit of et to run 8.766 on the 8.74 dial taking a .007 MOV. DeFrank put up a great fight running 9.102 on the 9.08 but was just behind the reigning champ at the stripe.

Stock: Chris Stephenson over Jeff Taylor

The wait is over for Chris Stephenson as he collects his 1st ever Wally in his 4th career final round. After traveling into D7 territory for the 3rd time, and entering his 15thish national event on the year Stephenson found himself in the final round against title contender Jeff Taylor, who has been turning on win lights/winning races all season long. None of that phased Stephenson as he swapped feet to be .017 on the tree to the .044 of Taylor who seemed to have it slip by him a touch. Approaching the stripe, Stephenson scrubbed mph to take a .007 finish line and run 11.221 on his predicted 11.20, as Taylor went whizzing by to run dead on 1 to his 9.50 dial.

Super Comp: Kevin Wright over Ken Mostowich

Wright now has 3 national event wins after taking out previous winners such a Marko Perivolaris and Robert Naber in his route to the final. Wright had a stellar weekend, running dead on the 9.05 index 3 times and had a spread of reaction times between .004-.016 combine in the first 6 rounds. Unfortunately Mostowich, who was campaigning the only door car in the field this weekend, was red twice and .040 twice in the first 6 rounds but somehow still found his way to the final before he yet again grabbed it red at -.004.

Super Gas: Matt Blodgett over Rob Willis

For the 2nd time in 2018 and 3rd overall, Blodgett takes his 1972 Vega to the winner circle. Willis was off the line 2nd with a .021 from perfect, then ran his Firebird down to a break out pass at 10.042 on the 10.05 factored index. Blodgett showed up with a .007 reaction time, then ran down the track and crossed the beams at 10.057 @134.93, for a .014 total package, leaving Willis shut out with a .021 bulb.

Photos By – Auto Imagery