Ashley registers fastest pass in Funny Car history

It took a history-making performance to upstage Ashley Force in the second round of qualifying in the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Ashley, a Long Island, N.Y., native, is in his first year of competing as a team owner, and he’s on the cusp of winning his first No. 1 qualifying spot with an elapsed time of 4.725 seconds.

He was the first of three drivers to run quicker than Force, dropping her to fourth entering today’s last two pro qualifying sessions for Sunday’s 16-car championship eliminations.

But her performance was the emotional boost that her John Force Racing team needed before an estimated crowd of 20,000.

This is the first event for the team’s three drivers since teammate Eric Medlen died March 23 from injuries sustained in a testing accident four days earlier.

Force driver Robert Hight moved to second, and team patriarch John Force fell to 14th after being first in the first session.

Ashley needs to run within 1 percent of his Friday speed before the event is over to earn the national record.

In Top Fuel, four-time and reigning series champion Tony Schumacher posted a 4.479-second, 329.83 blast in the last group for best in class. Las Vegas resident Rod Fuller is third and teammate Whit Bazemore fourth.

Schumacher, who has won three titles at Las Vegas, spent part of the day on the speedway’s 1.5-mile oval logging stock-car laps with the Richard Petty Driving Experience. He said he plans to compete in two NASCAR Grand National West Series races with Bill McInally Racing this year.

In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin led qualifying, with teammate Dave Connolly second. Coughlin took advantage of a cooler track in the evening session to post a best run of 6.733 seconds (204.26 mph).

Greg Anderson and Jason Line are ranked fifth and 14th for team owner Ken Black of Las Vegas.

• CAPPS DEBUT — Las Vegas resident Jon Capps made an impressive debut in Paul Smith’s Funny Car.

Capps’ first qualifying run of 4.995 seconds (296.63 mph) was sixth after the first session, but he fell to 16th after the second session when he had to shut off his car as it drifted toward the guardwall.