On Saturday Langdon set the track record for time with a performance of 3.700-seconds at 328.30 mph in the Knuckle Sandwich/AJPE dragster. Unfortunately, he was unable to back it up within one percent -- a time of 3.737 or quicker. This was the 17th time in his career that he has secured the No. 1 qualifier. Antron Brown retains the record. (Ron Lewis photo)

Antron Brown’s Matco team could only muster a No. 11 seed going into Sunday but crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald turned that around 180 degrees and advanced to the championship round.

Despite a best of 3.803 seconds in three qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday, Corradi and Oswald turned up the wick when it mattered most in the season opener by producing three runs in the 3.7-second range before being edged in the final round by Langdon.

"That was definitely a tough one," Antron said of the final round. "We wanted to hit it right and we just missed it by a little bit. Still, hats off to my Matco boys because they did a great job. It was such a close race and we'll get 'em next time.

"The good thing is, we've got a lot more momentum leaving here than we did last year, so we're absolutely happy about that and we're not going to hang our heads. I just wish we could've brought it home. Man, we really wanted that win. We've been close in the Winternationals here so many times (two runner-ups), and this was the closest we've ever been to bringing it home.”

Spencer Massey  (Tim Marshall photo)

The Red Fuel/Sandvik team strung together six runs ranging from 3.74 seconds to 3.81 seconds throughout three days at at Auto Club Raceway.

"We can't be completely disappointed because we have an absolutely fantastic, fast race car and that makes us happy," Spencer Massey said. "We really wanted to make it an all DSR final round in the nitro categories and give our team owner Don Schumacher the best medicine there is, so that's the only thing that we weren't able to do. But I know there is a Wally in our very near future because this car is just performing so well."

Schumacher is resting at home while undergoing treatments following a successful surgery to treat Stage 1 Squamous cell carcinoma in November.