It didn’t take long to establish an early favorite for the Funny Car race of the year after
Bob Tasca III defeated reigning Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan in round one. Hagan, the No. 8 qualifier, left first by .002-second but Tasca was .002-second quicker down track and turned on the win light with a 3.920 to 3.922. The final margin of victory at the finish line was just .0001-second, or about one inch. Hagan had previously been 18-11 against Tasca in 29 head-to-head meetings. A round later, Tasca personally ended the Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car win streak at 14 races when he also defeated Ron Capps. The DSR team, which featured four cars last season, had won every race in 2020 and the last three of the 2019 season.