Worsham had a very busy weekend in Brainerd with the opportunity to earn two wins and a special milestone.

The special milestone, his 500th career race-day start, was clinched with a stellar 3.856 second pass in the first session of qualifying. That was part of Worsham’s Friday that included earning five of six bonus points possible.

The rematch of the Seattle final did not go Worsham’s way as the DHL Camry lost traction early, but the team did not get down and looked for another shot on Sunday.

Worsham’s outstanding first day pass allowed him to start in the second position and a Bob Bode first round matchup. Bode, who got the Wally at this race five seasons ago, struck the tires at the hit, giving the easy win to Worsham. A second round pairing against Tim Wilkerson was also done at the tree as Wilkerson turned on the red light.

With live TV, the DHL Yella Fellas were faced with a tight turnaround, but they got it done and made it to the line against Courtney Force. Force took a shot at the tree, but was up in smoke soon after and the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car was true straight down the track. That round win gave Worsham his first career Brainerd Nationals final round appearance and back-to-back finals for the first time since last season.

His opponent was Matt Hagan, who started from the no.1 qualifying spot on Sunday. Hagan and Worsham left together, but that was the last time they were side-by-side. Hagan lit the tires, and Worsham was right down the strip to score his first win of the season and first win in Brainerd. It is his 31st career Funny Car win and 39th overall in his career on his 500th career raceday start.

“What an incredible day,” said Worsham.  “Being able to come back to win today is awesome. I am so proud of this DHL, Toyota, Red Line Oil team. They worked incredibly hard this weekend. Brainerd is one of my favorite races, and to be able to finally get a win here is perfect. We are getting a good handle on this DHL Toyota Camry and I am really excited for the Countdown.”

Del qualified for the event No. 2 at 3.856 sec., 326.71 mph.

Posted by Cody Poor

(Courtney Force returned strong after her crash at Seattle – placing in the FC “final four”)

Event Essentials:   NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals (August 19-22 2016) 

(Matt Hagan continued his record setting – lowing the NHRA ET record to 3.822 secs!)

(NHRA points leader Ron Capps claimed the rain delayed NHRA Northwest Nationals trophy (from Seattle) during qualifying at Brainerd. It was Ron’s milestone 50th career win!)

All Photos by Jim Kampmann