With the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas in the background, the stars of No Prep Kings battled at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in search of their own personal jackpot.<\/p>\n
Justin Swanstrom continued his incredible month, capturing nearly $300,000 in winnings and side bets in the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Nate Sayler and Jimmy Taylor slid into the top 16 with just one race to go before No Prep Elite, while one top contender was missing from the race altogether.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s jump into my five takeaways from No Prep Kings in Las Vegas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just one week removed from a monumental payday at Big Jake\u2019s Southern No Time Nationals, Justin Swanstrom once again found himself in the winner\u2019s circle, this time taking home $30,000 in the NPK Invitational.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Swanstrom set social media on fire a week ago, when he and his team not only won the $100k 28\/275 invitational shootout at Big Jake\u2019s race, but also an additional $100k in a grudge race with retired NFL star Fletcher Cox\u2019s nitrous-assisted Camaro driven by Jason Michalak. Despite the victories, Swanstrom received some criticism \u2013 unfair in my opinion \u2013 for hiring Travis Harvey to drive \u201cPrenup,\u201d his screw-blown-Lexus, instead of driving it himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Swanstrom quickly quieted the haters in Las Vegas, however. Piloting his screw-blown \u201869 Camaro named \u201cBad Blood,\u201d he took out a long list of top contenders en route to capturing the trophy and cash. He began the weekend by beating Jimmy Taylor Friday evening in the qualification round, then took out Jeff Lutz on Saturday in the first round of the winner\u2019s bracket.<\/p>\n
Swanstrom took his game to the next level after that, defeating the top two drivers in the points standings \u2013 Giuseppe Gentile (2) and Murder Nova (1) \u2013 in consecutive rounds to reach the finals. There he faced Kayla Morton, who had defeated Ryan Martin in the semifinals. Like she\u2019d done all day, Morton got the advantage off the tree, but Swanstrom powered around her for the win. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all work together hard,\u201d Swanstrom said after the race. \u201cWe\u2019ve been struggling a little bit the last couple races, but we were able to put something together. Getting past first round\u2026the last couple events I haven\u2019t been in the winner\u2019s bracket. Being able to do that and take out some heavy hitters like Murder Nova, Kayla \u2013 she\u2019s been really good on the tree \u2013 I was happy to get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the victory, Swanstrom jumped back into the top five in points, sitting in the No. 4 spot. Based on their performance the past couple weeks, this team appears to be peaking at the right time, gaining momentum ahead of the upcoming No Prep Elite playoffs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nate Sayler hasn\u2019t attended every NPK race this season, making a conscious decision to spend more time at home with his family. But he\u2019s made his limited appearances count, and after defeating Cole Pesz in the finals of the second-chance bracket in Las Vegas, Sayler finds himself currently in the top 16 for No Prep Elite.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was just my fifth race,\u201d said Sayler. \u201cWe decided for these last couple races we wanted to see what this Elite 16 looks like. Going into this weekend, we obviously didn\u2019t want to win the loser\u2019s bracket, but we knew if we won, we\u2019d move up to 16th. With Jim Howe going out early, it put us 15th, so that was kind of a blessing for us. We ended up getting our 15 points and $5,000, so that was nice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After falling in a close race to Giuseppe Gentile in Friday night\u2019s qualification round, Sayler rolled through the second-chance field on Saturday. Wins over James \u201cDoc\u201d Love and Bobby Ducote earned him a bye run in the semifinals; from there, he got the win over Pesz in a very close final round. Now Sayler and his team head to Martin, Michigan \u2013 where he won last year \u2013 with a fast car and momentum on their side.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get into this No Prep Elite, so we\u2019re going to go to Michigan and see if we can\u2019t climb up a little bit more and get us a better position so we can go for that $150,000.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
One driver that was missing in action in Las Vegas was Robin Roberts, who was second in points coming into the event. Unfortunately, some poor timing on the 2024 NPK schedule meant that Roberts wouldn\u2019t even be in the country while the race occurred.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not be in Vegas!\u201d Roberts posted on social media. \u201cEarly this year I had to choose dates for a family vacation. We are all (seven daughters and son-in-laws) off to Scotland. I predicted we would be up front in points if they happened to put a race on top of our chosen weekend, and here we are! No. 2 in points. We will miss you all! The schedule simply came too late to work around and we had to lock it in. God and family first\u2026see you in Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite not making the event, Roberts only fell one spot in the points, and is still in a great position heading into the final race before the No Prep Elite playoffs begin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chris Sears photos<\/p>\n
Throughout the long history of Street Outlaws<\/em> and No Prep Kings, the most popular stars have routinely been from Oklahoma City \u2013 better known as the 405, based on their area code. And it\u2019s safe to say the two biggest names right now are three-time NPK points champion Ryan Martin and current points leader Shawn Ellington\/Murder Nova.<\/p>\n All season long, I\u2019ve seen countless comments from fans clamoring to see a final-round showdown between the two stars, but with the random chip draw format, it simply hasn\u2019t happened. On Saturday evening, it appeared many fans might finally get their wish, as both Ellington and Martin reached the semifinals \u2013 and did not<\/em> draw each other. Martin drew Kayla Morton, while Ellington was paired with Justin Swanstrom.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet once again, it wasn\u2019t in the cards in Las Vegas. Morton used a massive holeshot to take down Martin, while Ellington got close to the wall and had to lift in his matchup with Swanstrom. But with both drivers solidly locked into the top 16 for No Prep Elite, they still have five races to make it happen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Some minor movement at the top of the standings and major shakeups near the bottom highlighted the penultimate event prior to NPK\u2019s new four-race playoff series, No Prep Elite.<\/p>\n Shawn Ellington extended his points lead, as he now sits 37 points ahead of Giuseppe Gentile and 47 ahead of Robin Roberts. With his win in Las Vegas, Justin Swanstrom moved up two spots to fourth. Ryan Martin rounds out the top five.<\/p>\n With his win in the second-chance bracket, Nate Sayler vaulted up four positions to No. 15. Meanwhile, Jimmy Taylor slid up into the sixteenth and final spot with just one race remaining before the No Prep Elite field is set. Their inclusion knocked out both Jerry Bird and Jim Howe. But with spots 14-19 separated by a mere eight points, the final regular season race should see plenty of drama.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Next Up:<\/strong> No Prep Kings takes this week before heading to U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan on September 27-28. It will be the final event before No Prep Elite begins.<\/p>\n This story was originally published on September 16, 2024. <\/p>\n The post Five Takeaways from No Prep Kings in Las Vegas<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas in the background, the stars of No Prep Kings battled at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in search of their own personal jackpot. Justin Swanstrom continued his incredible month, capturing nearly $300,000 in winnings and side bets in the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Nate Sayler […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}No Prep Elite\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n