Alexis DeJoria Looking to Charge Hard for Top 10 Finish After Early Exit in Las Vegas
Two-time Las Vegas event champion Alexis DeJoria was eliminated early on Sunday at the NHRA Nevada Nationals, the penultimate event of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, placing her outside the Top 10 heading into the final event of the year.
Aboard the Bandero Café Toyota GR Supra, DeJoria clocked three three-second passes in qualifying despite dealing with chassis issues to secure a spot in Sunday’s elimination show. With 21 Funny Cars vying to get into the 16-car field, DeJoria’s best run of 3.918 seconds at 330.96 mph put her 10th on the ladder and pitted her against fellow Toyota driver Ron Capps in the opening round of eliminations. The veteran drivers left the starting line together in what was shaping up to be an exciting side-by-side race until DeJoria’s machine encountered issues as she approached halftrack. She slowed to a 4.209-second pass while Capps was able to drive away with the win and advance into the second session on the strength of his 3.917-second run.
“It was a tough weekend,” DeJoria explained following her match with Capps. “We’ve had some continuing chassis issues that have plagued us, and it didn’t get any better first and second round of qualifying. Third round we were able to put down a 91, which put us in tenth on the ladder. First round of eliminations, went out, had a good light, the car was on a good run and was actually going to run better than our 91, but unfortunately, we hurt a piston and the RPM got too high and it triggered the safety system and shut the car off and that was the end of our weekend here in Vegas.”
With Sunday’s first-round loss, DeJoria was bumped from 10th to 11th in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship Funny Car standings. She has six prior Top 10 finishes and with the unique points-and-a-half format at the upcoming NHRA Finals in Pomona, California, DeJoria is eager to battle her way back in when the NHRA closes out the season at In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip, Nov. 15-17.
“We definitely want to end the year in the Top 10 and we’re going to fight hard to try and make that happen,” DeJoria added. “We’re going to take everything we experienced this year, learn from it, and leave all of our struggles behind and start fresh in 2025. This weekend definitely was rough, but we’ve got one more race to go and we’re going to give it all we’ve got to finish strong.”
This story was originally published on November 4, 2024.
The post Alexis DeJoria Looking to Charge Hard for Top 10 Finish After Early Exit in Las Vegas first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
