Ron Capps and Ed McCulloch are at the top of their game and they are just two races into the season. After the win Capps said, "Neff was having one of those weekends going where they looked like they couldn't be beat."

Capps qualified on the pole and then dispatched Jeff Arend, rookie Matt Hagan and Al-Anabi/Alan Johnson driver Del Worsham to advance to the final. "They (JFR) had [crew chief] John Medlen in the hospital, and we're all glad to hear that he's OK. It was one of those stories that you almost hate to upset,” Capps said. “This is more like it. I'm living a dream right now."

Mike Neff rode a wave of emotion to the finals of the 25th annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals. Handling the majority of the onsite crew chief duties for the Ford Drive One Mustang in the absence of crew chief John Medlen, who was in an Indianapolis hospital, Neff reached his fourth career final before a broken clutch linkage forced him to abort his final round run against the red hot Ron Capps.

“The clutch linkage broke and there was no was no way to push the clutch in to put it in reverse. It must have happened during the burnout,” Neff explained. “I tried to push the clutch in and there was nothing there. I tucked my foot underneath the pedal to see what was going on and I could feel that the clutch pedal was broken. I knew we were dead so I just had to take off to get out of the way.”

In first round action Robert Hight narrowly beat teammate Ashley Force Hood. And John Force smoked the tires when a leaking line put fuel under his tires. This was the third year in a row that both John Force and his daughter were stopped from advancing to the second round. With the win, Capps increased his Full Throttle Series lead to 97 over Hight and Worsham.