NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q2

“Saturday on the Saddle” has a nice ring to it, and that’s because round two of qualifying, which was supposed to feature the “Battle for the Saddle” and the bonus cash, was postponed from last night due to cold temperatures.

But that didn’t stop the class from throwing down in the cool Saturday air, and Joey Gladstone found himself on top of the saddle, taking home the cash after clocking a whopping 6.653.

“That was massive, and it felt really good,” said Gladstone at the top end.

Matt Smith set the track speed record with a 204.61 but fell to the number three spot after (6.673) Gaige Herrera’s run from last night held, but moved him down to number two.

Richard Gadson made a massive move on the ladder as he was seated no. 12 after last night’s run but now finds himself in the no. 5 provisional position.

GT Tonglet also improved on last night's run, dropping from 7.050 to 6.956, as he and his family run team chip away at the track this weekend.

Hector Arana Jr. and John Hall also made improvements during Q2, but they weren’t quite enough as they’re still sitting on the outside looking in.

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PRO STOCK Q2

Round one of qualifying produced the second-quickest Pro Stock field in history, and Q2 nearly produced an all-6.40 field for the first time in Pro Stock history. Crew chiefs were chomping at the bit as the conditions were “just right,” as Goldilocks would say, for the naturally aspirated machines.

In true Texas fashion, since everything is bigger in Texas, Aaron Stanfield not only won the “Battle of the Saddle” bonus, but he did it by tying the national e.t. record (and track record, of course) of 6.433 at 213.42 with Greg Anderson.

Anderson first set the record in 2025 in Gainesville in qualifying (6.433 at 212.06).

The field was also dangerously close to making history as an all 6.40-field (Shane Tucker is sitting in 16th with a 6.502). Before this round of qualifying, only two 6.44 passes existed in history, and today there were three in one session. Furthermore, Greg Anderson set the season-best run at 6.464 in Maryland.

Cody Anderson bumped his way into the field (6.468) after sitting on the outside looking in. Now, it’s Mason McGaha, Clifford Mayes, and Jerry Tucker.

Lastly, Kenny Delco ran his quickest time of the year at 6.471.

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TOP FUEL Q3

It's a record-ready 60 degrees as the first fuelers find fire, and hopes are high for performances as good (and hopefully better) than last night. We didn't quite get there but had four cars run in the 3.60s led by Shawn Langdon, who has so far swept all nine available session points with the best run of the first three sessions. This time it was a 3.657 (his best is 3.648 from last night).

No surprise here, either, as Doug Kalitta was right behind his teammate with a 3.677 at 340.57 mph, and he ran it alongside Langdon's 339.47-mph blast, making it the fastest side-by-side pairing in Top Fuel history.

Leah Pruett was third with her second 3.6-second pass of the weekend, a 3.691. Antron Brown clocked his first 340-mph pass at 340.03 in 3.693 seconds to round out the 360 Club.

Shawn Reed (3.727), Dan Mercier (3.748), Spencer Massey (3.758), class rookies Jake Sanders (3.844) and Chuck Loftin (3.926), and Cameron Ferre (4.021) all improved on their previous bests.

We're only a couple of spots from a record-quick field, with No. 14 Spencer Massey's 3.758 matching the bump spot from the 2022 U.S. Nationals. Sanders (3.844) is on the bump with Tony Schumacher No. 15 at 3.809.

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FUNNY CAR Q3

Alexis DeJoria and the Mine Neff- and Jonnie Lindberg-tuned Bandero Cafe team continued their performance resurgence with low e.t of the session (she was quickest in two of four sessions in Rockingham), a 3.875 that was just a few ticks off their Friday-night "hero run" of 3.873.

Three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps' NAPA Toyota was second-quick of the round with a 3.899 but exploded the blower in the lights that lifted his machine's rear tires off the ground for several hundred feet. He was not injured.

"It was running fine," he related. "I know Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli] was trying to run an .80, and it started just going left a little bit down there, and I wasn't sure, maybe it had a hole out, but it didn't feel like it did. It blew right before the lights. It was one of the biggest concussions I've had in a while, and I am shocked it didn't do more damage."

Austin Prock became the 15th driver to qualify in the threes this weekend with a 3.930 that was third best of the round but only the 13th-best on the qualifying sheets.

This is the fourth time in history that we've had 15 three-second qualifiers, and we're still looking for that first all-three-second field. Chris King is on the bump with a career-best 4.038 (and, thus, obviously has never run in the threes), but behind him are past three-second runners Jeff Arend, Jim Campbell, Terry Haddock, and Jeff Diehl, so hopes are still there.

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PRO STOCK Q3

For the first time in history, Pro Stock has posted an all-6.40 field. Jerry Tucker helped make it happen by running a 6.472 and bumping his way into the field in provisional No. 16. The record was previously set in 2023 with a 6.536.

Also making headlines this session, Dallas Glenn quickly rewrote the record books and is now the new national e.t. record holder with 6.434.

“I definitely knew I had the car for it, and when I left, it felt really good, and I knew I had all my shifts. It was definitely record-setting,” Glenn shared at the top end after his run.

Matt Hartford has uncharacteristically struggled through the past two qualifying sessions, coasting down the track to an 18.805 in Q2 and a 16.362 in Q3. The driver in championship contention, and only 81 points away from first place, will look to turn things around in the final qualifying session. He currently sits in 15th.

Texas native Mason McGaha will enter the final qualifying session without being secured in the field. With Jerry Tucker now making the ladder, Shane Tucker has been bumped out.

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PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3

It’s been a bit of musical chairs with the No. 1 qualifier award in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Just as quickly as Joey Gladstone earned it in Q2, Gaige Herrera took it back in Q3. Herrera said he loves this track, where he previously held both ends of the records, so it’s no surprise he once again looked comfortable riding to an impressive 6.651.

Matt Smith posted his best run of the weekend (6.659) and was the second-quickest in the session. Smith’s speed: a blistering 204.18.

Angie Smith also picked up a bonus point this round.

Geno Scali was one thousandth off his career-best run at 6.789.

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TOP FUEL Q4

After running quick in the first three sessions, points leader Shawn Langdon had added three points to his incoming 116-point lead over teammate Doug Kalitta, who was second in all of those sessions, but those three points were reversed when Kalitta went low in Q4 with a 3.682 and Langdon smoked the tires. Langdon remained the No. 1 qualifier, his 30th such honor, boosting his lead by one point with Kalitta in the No. 2 spot.

Hats off to tuner Alan Johnson for wrenching Kalitta to an impressive foursome of runs: 3.693, 3.668, 3.677, and 3.682. Langdon went three for four with 3.6-second passes, right on his team's class-leading complete-run percentage of 75.2%.

Leah Pruett had the second-best run of the frame, a 3.721, with her husband, Tony Stewart, third with a 3.723.

Billy Torrence improved by a hundredth and a half to a 3.730, and Tony Schumacher picked up a half-tenth to a 3.755.

Although he's just 10th on the sheets with a 3.716 best, Clay Millican and the Rick Ware team have made three straight low-3.7-second passes after a Q1 miss. Josh Hart had been the inverse of Millican, running 3.714 right off the trailer (fifth-best run of Q1) then two misses, but the David Grubnic-tuned Speedmsters car rebounded with a 3.749 at 340.83 mph. We've had at least one 340-mph run in all four sessions.

Hopes for a record-quick Top Fuel field faded when both Cameron Ferre and Jake Sanders decided not to run; Sanders, whose team was thrashing to replace a broken rear end from Q3, sat on the bump spot and hoped to hang on as Lee Callaway and Chuck Loftin took shots at unseating him, but they were not able to. 

Sanders' 3.844 ended up as the bump spot, and he will make his raceday debut in just his second event in the class. The record field is 3.758 from the 2022 U.S. Nationals. That number ended up being No. 15 here, by Martin runner-up Spencer Massey.

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FUNNY CAR Q4

It's been more than 15 years since Matt Hagan made the first three-second run in Funny Car history (Sept. 16, 2011), and you would think we'd have an all-three-second field by now, right? Well, it's been 15 years,1 month, and 2 days ( 5,511 days, but who's counting?) and we're still looking.

Five drivers had a shot at making it an all-three-second field, but Chris King, Jeff Arend, Jeff Diehl, and Jim Campbell all failed. Texan Terry Haddock gave it a ride in front of his homestate crowd with a 4.033 for No. 16 that bumped King's 4.038, but it's now just the seventh-quickest field in history. It's the fourth time we've had 15 three-second qualifiers, and the record bump still stands at 4.005 from the 2019 U.S. Nationals.

Jack Beckman was atop that record field seven years ago at Indy, and he's atop the field here with his Q2 blast of 3.852, a run that the team amazingly almost matched in leading Q4 with a 3.855. Alexis DeJoria continues to shine, clocking a 3.878, with Jordan Vandergriff third-quick with a 3.889. After a Q1 miss, DeJoria's team finished out qualifying with three straight 3.87 passes.

Although there have been an incredible 36 three-second runs in the class this weekend, only two teams, Chad Green's Bond Coat operation and Spencer Hyde in the Head Inc. flopper, ran under four seconds on all four attempts.

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PRO STOCK Q4

Chamber of Commerce weather turned up for the final qualifying session of Pro Stock after the hero runs in Q3, but crew chiefs still used Q4 to gather more data for race day.

Collecting bonus points this round are Greg Anderson, Greg Stanfield and no. 1 qualifier Dallas Glenn. This is Glenn’s fourth no. 1 qualifier award this year and 15th of his career.

Nearly half the field put up 6.40s throughout all four qualifying rounds, which included: Greg Anderson, Greg Stanfield, Dallas Glenn, Matt Latino, Erica Enders, Troy Coughlin Jr. and Deric Kramer.

It’s also been a pivotal Countdown for Troy Coughlin Jr., who has put up consistent numbers and moved up to no. 5 in the points. But in a turn of events, Erica Enders is battling to stay in the top ten in points.

Texas’ own Mason McGaha will not qualify at his home state event. Shane Tucker, Mason McGaha and Clifford Mayes will also not race on Sunday.

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PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q4

Gaige Herrera ran the table in the final two qualifying sessions and will take home three bonus points in this final qualifying session, helping him close the gap on his Vance & Hines teammate, Richard Gadson, in the championship hunt.

Matt Smith and Richard Gadson posted second and third low e.t., respectively, and will also notch bonus points.

Hector Arana Jr. secured his spot in the field; however, his father, Hector, won’t race on Sunday, and neither will Blaine Hale.