CoryMac wins in Vegas, But Johnson Gambles in Phoenix.
Monday, April 14th, 2008 
NHRA Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan beat the house in Las Vegas. His 4.65 elapsed time was good enough to defeat Antron Brown’s 4.70 and send Cory Mac to Victory Lane for the first time in over a year. He also had to defeat a difficult track that saw temperatures on its surface reach 130 degrees. In spite of that he never went slower than 4.78 in beating J.R. Todd, Morgan Lucas, and Brandon Bernstein before meeting Brown for the finals. “To say the least, it’s about time,” said McClenathan. “It’s been a couple of years since we even had a competitive car. To win my 30th race exactly 30 races after my last win is incredible. I kept lane choice all day, and we worked it.”
On the Funny Car side of things Ashley Force once again nearly made history as she met Tim Wilkerson in final round. It was her second final round appearance in a row and, had she won, she would’ve been the first woman driver to win in that division. The hot track conditions kept times down and made tuning and driving the 8,000 horsepower cars a challenge, but the two finalists seemed to have things figured out. Of the only eight four second runs that were recorded on race day, six of them were by Force and Wilkerson. About his win, Wilkerson said; “This is good for the little guys. NHRA has done a good job of leveling the playing field. Last year, we were 100 pounds overweight, and then they added 100 pounds to the minimum weight, and that played right into our hands.”
In Pro Stock, Jason Line scored his fourteenth career victory and it placed him in a tie for the points lead with reigning champ Jeg Coughlin. “This is three finals in five races, and that’s by far best start to a season that I’ve ever had,” said Line. “It also feels really good to be tied for the points lead. I’d like to think this is the start of a lot of good things to come.”
Not all of the gambling was taking place in Las Vegas over the weekend. In Phoenix on Saturday night Chad Knaus decided to gamble on fuel and kept his driver Jimmie Johnson out on the track when most of the other front runners pitted for a splash of gas.
After a brief discussion over the radio Knaus told Johnson; “Back up your pace half a second a lap. Screw it. We’ll go for it.”
The gamble worked, but just barely as the Lowes number 48 ran out of gas on the back stretch during a victory lap. The win marked the return of Hendrick Motorsports to Victory Lane for the first time since last season and the second consecutive win for Johnson on the Arizona track.
And finally, in short track action, The UARA ran its 150 lap Late Model feature at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford,
