Erica Enders seeking 10th NHRA win at LVMS

Erica Enders has plenty of fond memories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

A nine-time winner at the track, she swept both races last year. Her victory at October’s Nevada Nationals clinched her fifth NHRA Pro Stock world championship.

Enders will look to add another win at the track this weekend when NHRA comes to Las Vegas for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with the elimination races on Sunday.

“I kind of have a new sense of confidence after a somewhat tough start to the season,” Enders said. “I’m looking forward to switching everything around. We have a ton of success at (Las Vegas) with nine national event wins, so we’ll be gunning for our 10th this weekend.”

After three races, Enders is 10th in the Pro Stock points standings. Enders said Las Vegas is especially important because it is one of two tracks with four lanes (along with Charlotte) and it hosts two races every year, including the second-to-last race of the season.

“It’s tough enough with one other competitor, let alone three,” Enders said. “Interesting things always happen, so it forces you to rise to the occasion. … This is an extremely important race, and I’m hopeful that this is the turn in our season that we’re looking for.”

Alexis DeJoria is another driver looking to add another Las Vegas trophy. DeJoria is a two-time winner at Las Vegas, but both wins came before the track was modified to have four lanes.

Sitting third in the Funny Car standings, DeJoria said carrying her early-season success through Las Vegas and the rest of the season will be important as her team rebounds from last year.

“It’s a huge confidence-builder for the team because we struggled last year with all these changes, but it was really all building up for this year,” DeJoria said. “It’s paid off.”

Leah Pruett, who is sixth in the Top Fuel standings, said the Las Vegas spring race is important for teams to learn where they stand early in the season and for when they return in the fall.

“Every time you come here (in the spring), it’s the first race where you have a pretty good foothold on what your season’s going to look like,” Pruett said.

Pruett, driving for second-year team Tony Stewart Racing, owned by her husband, Tony Stewart, said the biggest difference in the team from last year is the data the team has accumulated.

“You have to start from somewhere,” Pruett said. “… The data that we have now, it’s figuring out how we utilize it, and we’re trying to utilize it in a different way than other teams.”

Stewart made his NHRA debut in Las Vegas last October, advancing to the Top Alcohol Dragster final round before losing to Madison Payne by .0002 of a second.

In his first full season driving at the Top Alcohol level, Stewart has experienced some growing pains that have helped grow his knowledge of the sport, Pruett said. He is fifth in the standings.

“He’s learning some new frustrations in motor sports that he’s never seen before,” she said. “… He’s broadening his knowledge of the actual mechanics of the sport more than I think he expected to.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on Twitter.