NHRA (LAS VEGAS) - DRIVERS USE LAST CHANCE TO TEST AS CLOCK TICKS DOWN

Ron Capps turned in the best Funny Car performance of the first day of testing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – the last time teams will have time to tweak before the inaugural Countdown to the Championship titles are decided.

Capps drove his Brut Revolution Dodge Charger to a 4.824-second run at 316.97 mph, the quickest of his Don Schumacher Racing-owned teammates. Testing continues until Thursday, one week before the NHRA POWERade Series comes to The Strip for the seventh annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals Oct. 25-28.

“Today was tricky because it was windy,” said Capps, who’s eager to earn his first world championship title after three runner-up finishes. “It just shows how competitive everyone is, because everyone was waiting to see who would run quickest. You could almost throw a blanket over them because they were all so close.”

Capps enters the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals fourth in the point standings. Tony Schumacher, currently sitting third, was the quickest of two entries in Top Fuel, piloting his U.S. Army dragster to a 4.541 at 327.03, while Greg Anderson posted a 6.793 at 202.39 in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO. John Force's Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang made it back to the track with Phil Burkart Jr. behind the wheel, recording a 6.036 at 154.76, while the newest driver tapped for John Force Racing, Mike Neff, also made an appearance.

“(Ed) Ace (McCulloch) is real happy with what we did,” Capps said. “To run as well as we did and to learn what we did, today was a great day for us.”

TOP FUEL

1 1 Tony Schumacher, Long Grove IL, Hadman-TFX 4.541 327.03 327.03

2 3 Brandon Bernstein, Fairview TX, McKinney-TFX 4.592 324.98 324.98

FUNNY CAR

1 28 Ron Capps, Carlsbad CA, '07 Charger 4.824 316.97 316.97

2 7 Gary Scelzi, Fresno CA, '07 Charger 4.837 321.96 321.96

3 711 Jack Beckman, North Hills CA, '07 Charger 4.874 317.12 317.12

4 NEFF Mike Neff, Brownsburg IN, '07 Mustang 5.365 198.96 198.96

5 156 Phil Burkart Jr 6.036 154.76 154.76

PRO STOCK

1 2 Greg Anderson, Mooresville NC, '06 GTO 6.793 202.39 203.16

2 712 Bob Panella, Stockton CA, '07 Stratus 6.873 201.01 201.01

3 5793 Gery Lockman, Wellington CA, '01 Cavalier 7.253 192.06 192.06