Larry Dixon races to 11th Top Fuel victory of year, remains perfect in final rounds

Dixon races to 11th Top Fuel victory of year

CONCORD, N.C. — Larry Dixon raced to his 11th Top Fuel victory of year, beating Doug Kalitta on Sunday in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals to remain perfect in final-round appearances this season.

Dixon had a winning pass of 3.858 seconds at 316.60 mph at zMax Dragway to stretch his points lead over second-place Cory McClenathan to 85 after the second of six events in the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Kalitta finished in 3.901 seconds at 309.20 mph.

Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and LE Tonglet (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won their divisions. Pedregon won for the first time since the 2008 finale at Pomona, beating Jack Beckman with run of 4.171 seconds at 299.13 mph. Anderson won his hometown event for his third victory of the season, edging Greg Stanfield at 6.604 and 209.30. Tonglet beat Andrew Hines for the second consecutive race, finishing at 6.921 and 192.82.

(This version CORRECTS APNewsNow. Corrects to Funny Car instead of Top Fuel in third paragraph.)