Rain delays NHRA Arizona Nationals

Rain washed out all but a few runs Friday in the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Chandler.

Brittany Force had the early Top Fuel lead with a 4.976-second pass at 185.28 mph.

“We battled the rain all day but we at least got one pass in,” Force said. “It wasn’t what we wanted. It blew the tires off it at maybe about 100 feet out. I pedaled it and it hooked up and went down there, so it was good practice. Tomorrow the sun is supposed to be out and hopefully we’ll get in two more.”

Matt Hagan led in Funny Car with a 3.942 321.50.

Aric Almirola leads Ford sweep in NASCAR Cup qualifying at Atlanta: Aric Almirola gave the new Mustang its first pole of the NASCAR season in Ford sweep of NASCAR Cup qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Almirola turned a lap at 181.472 mph Friday to take the top qualifying spot and deny Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer a slot on the front row. Bowyer was fastest in the lone practice session of the day but slipped to third, behind Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“It’s cool to be the first guy to put the Ford Mustang on the pole,” Almirola said. “It’s like my first one in seven years, too.”

The pole is the second of Almirola’s career, but first since 2012 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600.

Ford was the heavy favorite to win last week’s Daytona 500 but was locked out of even a podium finish as Toyotas took all three of the spots. Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500, and led two of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates across the finish line for the sweep, and was the highest-qualifying Toyota driver at Atlanta in fourth.

Daniel Suarez, another SHR driver, qualified fifth in a strong day for that camp. Only Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, struggled but his issue was a steering problem that hampered his team all afternoon. He qualified 18th.

“Everybody at SHR is building incredible race cars, it doesn’t matter what rules they throw at us,” Almirola said. “You give 400 really talented employees a challenge with a new race car, with a Ford Mustang, and a new rules package from NASCAR and they just go to work. They put their head down and go to work and figure out how to make everything work to make the cars go fast.” at