JFR and driver Jordan Vandergriff prevail over all time quick NHRA fuel Funny Car program…
Funny Car championship contender Jordan Vandergriff closed in on points leader Matt Hagan in dramatic fashion at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, defeating Ron Capps in the final round at the MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge.
Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the 19th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the fifth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Due to excessive winds, the Pro Stock Motorcycle final round will be contested at the finale in Pomona – two weeks from now.
Needing a victory to have an opportunity to track down Hagan, a four-time champion, in Pomona, Vandergriff and his John Force Racing team came through in the clutch, as Vandergriff went 3.873-seconds at 331.36 mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS to power past Capps’ 3.921 at 335.15.
It’s the fourth win of the season for Vandergriff and this was certainly the biggest, as he pulled to within 39 points of Hagan with one race left. It was also another shining moment for Vandergriff in his Funny Car debut season, getting past Julie Nataas, Spencer Hyde and J.R. Todd, going 3.911 at 327.90 in another major matchup with Todd, who beat Hagan in the second round.
Jordan Vandergriff kept his Championship title hopes alive with a win over NHRA’s quickest ever (first all 3-secs) Funny Car field.
Jack Beckman was the #1 qualifier for FC racing at Las Vegas (his 3.836 secs was Low ET of the event).
That set up another marquee showdown with Capps and Vandergriff quickly tracked down the veteran, setting up what will be a must-see showdown at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona.
“This is the biggest win [of the year],” Vandergriff said. “Today literally worked out as I envisioned it this morning. It was, how do we need today to go? We need the day to go a certain way. We need somebody else to lose. We need this. We need that, and it literally played itself out the way I imagined. This fourth win I think is obviously huge, just because we’re 39 points back now of Hagan, and coming in today we were a really, really long shot. It felt like we were far away and we needed him to go out early, and he did. Now we can go to Pomona with a chance. So that’s all I wanted.”
Capps reached the final round for the fifth time in 2026 thanks to round wins against Cruz Pedregon, No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman and Austin Prock.
Vandergriff’s victory did come over a NHRA history making field of cars when the 20 cars entered produced the first ever all “3 seconds” field of qualifiers. Jack Beckman qualified #1 at 3.896 secs and the #16 car was independent Jeff Diehl with a career best 3.968 secs.
Doug Kalitta ensured the Top Fuel championship race didn’t end in Las Vegas, taking down Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon in the semifinal round and then winning the race for the fifth time this year with a stellar run of 3.658 at 338.60 in his Mac Tools dragster to power past Pruett’s 5.751 at 124.89.
The championship remains a longshot, as Kalitta heads to Pomona 107 points behind Langdon, but he’ll get an opportunity to win back-to-back world titles and the third in the past four years thanks to Sunday’s brilliant performance.
Defending NHRA World Champion Doug Kalitta won in TF – it was his 64th career NHRA nationals title.
Leah Pruett did have a superb R/UP placing with her Dodge-presented car during the Mopar-presented Las Vegas Nationals race.
He took down Will Smith, Justin Ashley and then Langdon, going 3.66 in back-to-back rounds against Ashley and Langdon to reach the final round. In the championship round against Pruett, Kalitta and his team were even better, delivering a classic performance to pick up his 64th career victory and fourth in Las Vegas.
Next up is Pomona, where Kalitta will try to replicate Sunday’s performance and hope for a little luck along the way.
“I have to hand it to my guys. They really had my car on a rail today, running 3.60s all day and .65 in the final,” Kalitta said. “We definitely had her hopped up good and you know the track is incredible out here. I guess that’s the kind of conditions that my car likes. Obviously Alan [Johnson, crew chief], just what can I say about him and Mac [Savage]? You know they they’re just really incredible. It’s a great privilege to be in the spot I am, driving this thing.
“It was definitely a sigh of relief to see that win light come on against Shawn, to finally to get by those guys. That was what I was hoping for, to get a shot at Shawn in the third round and hopefully beat him, and so it worked out well. I have to admit, [the championship] feels like a long shot, but anything can happen with points and a half at Pomona. Pomona is really one of my favorite places to race.”
Pruett reached her fourth final round of 2026 and the 29th in her career thanks to round wins against Tony Schumacher, Josh Hart and Antron Brown.
In Pro Stock, Dallas Glenn capped off his second straight flawless weekend with another dominant performance, stretching his points lead and picking up his sixth win of the season after going 6.587 at 206.26 in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to hold off Troy Coughlin Jr. in the final round.
It is Glenn’s 27th career victory and the reigning world champion now holds a commanding 87-point lead over Matt Hartford headed to Pomona, where Glenn will look to close out another standout season and an incredible late-season surge.
Glenn entered the Dallas race 71 points back of Greg Stanfield but responded with two No. 1 qualifiers – including the world record – and two victories, while Stanfield fell in the opening round at both races. With his fourth victory in Vegas – and third in a row – he’s now on the cusp of a second straight world title. To reach the championship round, Glenn took Erica Enders and Hartford, delivering the quick run of the weekend in the finals against Coughlin.
Following his 27th career event win – Dallas Glenn now sits in the drivers seat for a potential/likely 2nd straight NHRA Pro Stock World Championship!
“When [Greg Stanfield] lost first round of Dallas, it definitely caught our attention,” Glenn said. “Like we have a really good shot to make up a lot of ground. We knew we could really put a hurting on them. I didn’t know it was 87 [point lead], so that kind of makes me happy that it’s kind of close to that 90 mark. If I can get enough points in qualifying over Hartford, then maybe we can squeeze another round against him there, and that will kind of take a lot of the pressure off for Pomona.
“When we left Michigan [the first race of the Countdown to the Championship], we were definitely scratching our heads. We came home and we basically tore the car completely down and just checked everything out and started over from scratch. We’ve been working on it, and it’s been getting better every single race.”
Coughlin advanced to the final round for the third time in 2026 after defeating Stanfield, Shane Tucker and Greg Anderson.
Windy conditions pushed the Pro Stock Motorcycle final between Vance & Hines teammates Richard Gadson and Gaige Herrera to Pomona, setting up what could be a thriller at the finale. The final round will take place during the third qualifying session, which is slated for 1 p.m. PT on Saturday, Nov. 14.
Herrera, who was the No. 1 qualifier, went as quick as 6.752 at 200.05 in knocking off Chris Bostick, Clayton Howey and Joey Gladstone as he will try to track down his teammate and points leader at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.
Gadson, the reigning world champion, qualified second and knocked off John Hall, Angie Smith and Ryan Oehler. He’ll head to Pomona with a 55-point lead over Herrera, looking to clinch his second straight world championship.
The 2026 season series finale for the JBS Equipment Pro Mod Drag Racing Series feature a title clinching event win for Canada’s Justin Bond — (photo below) details for that event can be viewed within our (Nash Competition Engines) Pro Mod Portal post: HERE
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series closes out its 75th anniversary season with the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on Nov. 12-15 at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
Sportsman Racing Final Round Summary
Top Alcohol Dragster – Melanie Johnson 5.201 secs 274.50 mph def Jackie Fricke 5.268 secs 272.72 mph.
Top Alcohol Funny Car — (Sean Bellemeur V Annie Whitely – deferred)
Top Sportsman — Ed Olpin 6.993 secs 189.55 secs def. Aaron Steinkey 6.436 secs 224.85
Competition (Comp Clash) — Jeff Taylor 6.708 secs def. Taylor Chomiski 8.981 secs
Super Stock – Justin Piccolo 9.526 secs 133.99 def. Carl Youngstrom 9.338 143.31
Stock Eliminator — Jeff Adkinson, Chevy Camaro, 9.437, 138.91 def. Justin Lamb, Chevy Copo, 9.625, 128.21.
Super Comp — Toby Payne, Dragster, 9.086, 158.76 def. Blu Hayball, Dragster, 9.196, 155.19.
Super Gas – Nick Alejandre 10.066 secs 131.08 mph def. Jordan Pratt 10.044 secs 164.57 mph
NHRA’s Summit Racing ET Finals were also contested at the Las Vegas Nationals event with those 2026 season national titles being captured by Duston Wurtz (Super Pro) – Nick Bowman (Pro) – Tyler Janourek (Sportsman) and Jeff Green (Super Pro Bike)
The 64 very best ET racers from across North America contested for the Summit Racing ET Series Finals event – presented during the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals weekend.
Posted with files by NHRA Communications & Bruce Biegler
Photos by David Ostaszewski & Courtesy of NHRA
Link to the event’s LMLC Media Photo Gallery: HERE (Coming soon!)
