Four-time Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence failed to extend his streak of final quad appearances at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, bowing out in the second round of the seventh NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.
The soon-to-be 42-year-old Texan had reached the decisive final quad in each of his last four appearances in the west coast version of the non-traditional format first contested at Charlotte, N.C., in 2010.
This time, briefly distracted by rival Doug Kalitta’s double-step foul two lanes away, he had a wholly uncharacteristic triple digit reaction time that rendered his 3.928, second quickest time of the round, not quite quick enough to give him a shot at an unprecedented seventh victory in four-across racing.
He’ll have another opportunity two weeks hence when the Mission Foods pro tour moves to Charlotte’s zMax Dragway for the 15th renewal of the original 4Wide Nationals, a race he once won four times in succession.
After qualifying a solid No. 4 at LVMS, a track on which he had driven his CAPCO Contractors Toyota to five victories, including four-wide wins in 2018 and 2022, Torrence easily advanced out of the first quad, along with eventual race winner Tony Stewart, with a time of 3.846 seconds.
That gave him second choice of lanes for the next quad and, after Kalitta chose lane one (the lane in which the Texas businessman had made his quickest run during qualifying), Torrence opted for lane three, the one in which he had run 3.840 on Friday.
Despite the unexpected outcome, Torrence did move up a position in the Mission Foods driver standings even though he has raced in only three of the four events contested thus far this year, bypassing the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Phoenix.
This story was originally published on April 14, 2025. 
