Championship battles waged on at the eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the second-to-last stop in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. With his second straight Funny Car win following a 62-race drought, Cruz Pedregon supplanted Tim Wilkerson as the points leader.

Tony Schumacher added another win to his historically dominant 2008 season by outrunning resurgent defending event champ "Hot Rod" Fuller in the Top Fuel final. Jeg Coughlin put together a wire-to-wire win in Pro Stock and all but mathematically sealed the fourth season title of his career. The Pro Stock Motorcycle title chase tightened significantly with Chris Rivas scoring a big win against second-place Eddie Krawiec in the final, and Rivas is now a mere 39 points behind leader Matt Smith.

Tony Schumacher

Schumacher won his 15th event of the season to tie Greg Anderson's single-season record. This was a hard-fought win for the U.S. Army team that culminated in a close final round with Fuller. The two drivers clearly had the best two cars Sunday, and neither disappointed in the money round as Schumacher ran a 3.806 at 314.53 mph to defeat a worthy 3.821 effort by Fuller and the Caterpillar team.

"I knew [crew chief] A.J. [Alan Johnson] was trying to run in the high .70s in the final," said Schumacher, whose victory was the 56th of his career. " 'Hot Rod' is running good, and I told myself before the final that I had to dig deep. Our cars were running so close that I was worried about getting beat on a holeshot.

"Every race we win gets harder and harder because the bar is set so high. Everybody I raced had good lights against me because they're all trying hard. I can't let my guard down against any of them. This is just a great win. We've had an outstanding season, and it would have been devastating if we didn't close the deal at the last couple races."

Johnson had Schumacher's U.S. Army dragster solidly in the 3.8-second range throughout eliminations. Schumacher took care of Joe Hartley in the first round with a 3.82, then fended off Clay Millican and Larry Dixon en route to the final round. The newly crowned 2008 NHRA POWERade Top Fuel world champ reached the final round for the 11th consecutive race, having advanced to the title round at every event in the 1,000-foot era.

Fuller had a strong car throughout qualifying and eliminations. The Rob Flynn-tuned Caterpillar rail got by Tim Boychuk in round one before making the quickest passes of the second round and semifinals with respective 3.813 and 3.821 laps against Hillary Will and teammate Antron Brown. The defending event champ's performance moved him up to sixth in the points standings.

Cruz Pedregon

Pedregon and Robert Hight engaged in a Funny Car final round with a lot on the line. Pedregon would either take the points lead with a win or get bumped down to third in the standings with a loss. Hight was also fighting for his championship life. In a great side-by-side race, Pedregon cut an incredible .010 light and pulled away slightly in his Rahn Tobler-tuned Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara to score a meaningful win, 4.100 to 4.111.

"After [beating Jack Beckman] first round, I kind of thought that even if we lost to [Gary] Densham, it would still be a good day," said Pedregon, who now has 25 Funny Car wins. "I didn't want to get caught up in the championship points. Every round was like a championship round, so I tried to maintain my focus and keep my emotions in check. If [the championship] comes, it comes, and if it doesn't, we'll try again next year.

"I was worried about Robert in the final. They call that car the 'Prock Rocket' because it runs good, especially in these types of conditions when it's cool and the racetrack is fast. I could hear him the whole way down the track in the final, and I was waiting for that Dodger-blue fender to stick out in front of me."

Pedregon, who recently broke a 62-race winless drought with a win at the Richmond event, was the beneficiary of red-light starts in the first two rounds. Points rival Beckman turned on the red-light against him in a critical first-round match, which severely hampered Beckman's title hopes. Veteran pilot Densham lit the red bulb against him in round two, and "the Cruzer" advanced to the final with a close semifinal win against 14-time world champ John Force.

After qualifying No. 1 Saturday, Hight continued to display the strength of the special-edition LA Dodgers/Auto Club Ford Mustang with runs of 4.082, 4.079, and 4.112 to advance to the final. He beat Tony Bartone in the opener before defeating teammate Mike Neff, who had helped Hight and other championship hopefuls tremendously by beating incoming points leader Tim Wilkerson in the opening round. Hight won a close one in the semi's against Tony Pedregon, who had squeaked out a holeshot win against Ashley Force in round two.

Jeg Coughlin

Coughlin couldn't have asked for a better weekend. The driver of the Jegs.com Pro Stocker watched his points lead grow as he kept going rounds and his championship rivals fell one by one. Coughlin faced Greg Stanfield in the final, which was decided on the starting line when Stanfield, whose only win against Coughlin (in the Dallas final this year) is his only Pro Stock win, red-lighted. Coughlin now has a commanding 123-point lead against Anderson and needs only to qualify in Pomona to clinch the title.

"This definitely took a lot of pressure off our shoulders," said Coughlin, who has 41 Pro Stock wins. "We couldn't take anything for granted coming into this race, because Dave [Connolly] is very capable, and so are Kurt [Johnson] and Greg. We had a flawless race car with only one black eye on our scorecard with an aborted run in the third round of qualifying. This win really ices the cake for us.

"The second round against Dave was a do-or-die moment for both of us. We raced each other here last year when he was the favorite [for the championship], and we pulled off what was considered to be an upset. I knew we'd have to be up on the wheel, and we were."

Coughlin had the car to beat all weekend, from an impressive qualifying performance to strong laps in eliminations in wins against Rickie Jones, Cagnazzi Racing teammate Connolly, and Allen Johnson. His triumph against Connolly in the second round was pivotal to his championship hopes as Connolly could have bitten into Coughlin's lead with a good showing. Coughlin turned away the young driver with a game .014 light and a 6.710, low e.t. of eliminations.

Though Stanfield was only three races removed from his first Pro Stock win, he was a certified sleeper Sunday after a so-so qualifying performance. Stanfield beat Jason Line on a holeshot in the first round before unloading a strong 6.719 at 204.88 mph in the second round against a red-lighting Kurt Johnson. Stanfield, who has historically been a thorn in the sides of KB Racing teammates Line and Anderson, cruised to an easy victory in the semifinals when Anderson broke coming off the starting line.

Chris Rivas

With much deserved attention going to Smith and Krawiec in the Pro Stock Motorcycle points battle prior to this event, Rivas now finds himself with a very good shot at glory after scoring his third win of the season. The rider of the Drag Specialties S&S Buell V-Twin cut a great .012 light in the final and ran a 7.052 at 185.79 mph to secure a win against a very late Krawiec, who aborted his run on the Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.

"I was pretty relaxed on the bike all weekend," said Rivas, who also won at the Chicago and Dallas events this season. "I didn't know I red-lighted in the semifinals; I got a lucky break that Andrew [Hines] red-lighted first. Eddie has been trying real hard to get his first win, and there was a small part of me that was almost rooting for him.

"I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be on a team like this. There is nothing we are really doing that is extraordinary. The guys just work real hard on the bike and don't make mistakes. This bike never has mechanical issues because Ken Johnson is so flawless and meticulous in preparing it. I feel like we are having a blessed season."

Rivas was steady and consistent to advance to the final round. He ran a 7.044 in the first round to overcome a perfect light by Michael Phillips. He beat Chip Ellis in the second round with a quick .015 light and a 7.052 to Ellis' 7.150. Rivas was too quick in the semifinals with a -.015 light, but Hines left three-thousandths sooner to give Rivas a red-light win.

Krawiec had an excellent day of riding to advance to the final round. After defeating Shawn Gann in the opening round, he cut .003 and .005 lights in respective wins against Mike Berry and Smith. The latter opponent was defeated with heavy championship implications on the line by virtue of a holeshot, 7.042 to 7.039, despite cutting a quick .022 light. In his top-end interview after the second round, the hungry championship contender showed his killer instinct by saying that he wanted Smith, who had yet to win his round, in the semi's. Krawiec is now 19 points behind Smith and could become the first Pro racer to win a season title without winning a national event since Rob Bruins did so in Top Fuel in 1979.

Newly crowned national Comp champ Dan Fletcher added an exclamation point to his title season with a win in Comp to lead the Lucas Oil Sportsman winners. Anthony Bertozzi won Super Stock, defeating Fletcher in the final to yet again prevent him from doubling up, and Tommy Phillips scored in Super Comp and Brad Pierce in Super Gas.

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