Courtesy of the NHRA
POMONA, Calif. – Reigning Top Fuel world champ Doug Kalitta powered to the provisional No. 1 position on Friday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, staying in the championship hunt to open this weekend’s In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.
Ron Capps (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the last of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the sixth race in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. The second session in both Top Fuel and Funny Car were canceled due to weather.
During Friday’s lone session, Kalitta went 3.677-seconds at 340.39 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster as the veteran looks to qualify in the top spot for the seventh time this season. The veteran still has an outside shot to track down teammate Shawn Langdon as he attempts to win his third world title in four years.
“I’m glad we got one round of qualifying in today because at this last race, you never know,” Kalitta said. “Alan [Johnson], Mac [Savage],and all of my guys were real hungry to have a good qualifying effort, and we went out there and did good today. I’m still hoping we can pull off a championship. I’ve been part of a bunch of close ones, and we’re just looking to go out there, throw down on every run and we’re going to try to get every point we can every round.”
Maddi Gordon is second with a 3.679 at 342.11, setting a new track speed record, while Leah Pruett is third after a 3.698 at 334.65. Langdon is currently in the 14th spot heading into Saturday.
In Funny Car, Ron Capps was the only driver to go into the 3.80s during the lone session of the day, going 3.894 at 331.53 in his 12,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra, taking the provisional No. 1 spot for what he hopes is the fifth time this season.
A championship may be out of reach for the three-time champ, but the veteran can still have a big finish to the weekend.
“You see a lot of teams every year that have been so-so or having issues, come alive at this race because you could pretty much throw everything at this track when the conditions are right there,” Capps said. “However, they were almost too good. ‘Guido’ [crew chief Dean Antonelli] did a good job of pulling it back just a little bit, about 300 feet, and then letting it go. We saw a few of those really fast Funny Cars get sideways and lose traction out there. So it was a tricky Pomona, but still fast.
“Tomorrow, it’s going to be clearer, a little warmer, which will be faster. It’ll still be cold enough, and the atmospheric conditions are going to be stout, so it’s going to be great. That .89 will probably end up being the bottom half of the field. We’re No. 1 right now, but we have to run better for sure tomorrow to stay top half.”
J.R. Todd is second with a 3.911 at 327.90 and Cruz Pedregon’s 3.931 at 318.02 has him third. Points leader Matt Hagan is 11th after one session and Jordan Vandergriff is currently not qualified and is 21st.
Looking for his second straight world title, Pro Stock’s Dallas Glenn took care of business on Friday, taking the provisional No. 1 spot in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro with a run of 6.512 at 208.42.
If that holds, it would be his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season, but with the bonus points he collected on Friday, he opened up a three-round advantage over Matt Hartford. Should that hold up, Glenn would only need to win the first round of eliminations – with what would be a first-round bye – on Sunday to clinch the championship for the second consecutive year.
“We made two really nice runs and so far we’ve done exactly what we wanted to do. We’ve gotten our bonus points that we needed. Now, the next major goal for tomorrow is to hold on to that No. 1 spot, make sure nobody takes that away [to maintain a first-round bye].
“As long as I do my job and stay No. 1, then it won’t matter [what anyone else does]. If I have to race one of them, I have a lot of confidence in my car right now, and I wouldn’t want it if I didn’t earn it anyway. I take it as like the biggest compliment ever that they want to try to race me first round, so I welcome all challengers.”
Matt Latino moved to second in qualifying with a 6.516 at 209.17 and Greg Stanfield, who opened the weekend 99 points out of first, is third with a 6.523 at 210.18.
Gaige Herrera took command on what is a huge weekend in Pro Stock Motorcycle for Herrera and the reigning world champion, Richard Gadson, making the quickest run in each session, including a 6.673 at 201.76 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vances & Hines Suzuki to take the top spot.
He gained two points on Gadson on Friday, but the big showdown will take place in the opening session on Saturday, when Herrera and Gadson will face off in the final round of the postponed Las Vegas final.
It’s Herrera versus Gadson, and Herrera can pull 20 points closer to the points leader with a victory over his teammate. They were the top two bikes on Friday in Pomona and an epic showdown awaits tomorrow.
“It’s definitely an ideal start for sure to go out there and run 6.67 on both passes and get the bonus points. Plus, Richard [Gadson] and I both went 1.01 to the 60-foot in Q2, so that was pretty unique. Mother Nature is going to mess with us this weekend, and it wouldn’t be Pomona if we didn’t have some rain. I feel very good this weekend.”
Gadson is currently qualified second with a 6.713 at 200.00 and Matt Smith is third after going 6.750 at 201.28.
Qualifying continues at 11:30 a.m. PT on Saturday at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
POMONA, Calif. — Friday’s results after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the 61st annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip, final of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday’s final eliminations.
Top Fuel — 1. Doug Kalitta, 3.677 seconds, 340.39 mph; 2. Maddi Gordon, 3.679, 342.11; 3. Leah Pruett, 3.698, 334.65; 4. Antron Brown, 3.705, 335.07; 5. Billy Torrence, 3.713, 333.66; 6. Tony Stewart, 3.717, 337.07; 7. Spencer Massey, 3.733, 327.98; 8. Tony Schumacher, 3.764, 301.13; 9. Shawn Reed, 3.778, 322.73; 10. Clay Millican, 3.786, 332.67; 11. Justin Ashley, 6.842, 85.04; 12. Josh Hart, 7.587, 80.52; 13. Bernie Plourd, 7.660, 84.28; 14. Shawn Langdon, 8.006, 87.90; 15. Will Smith, 12.984, 56.12. Not Qualified: 16. Cameron Ferre, broke.
Funny Car — 1. Ron Capps, Toyota GR Supra, 3.894, 331.53; 2. J.R. Todd, GR Supra, 3.911, 327.90; 3. Cruz Pedregon, Dodge Charger, 3.931, 318.02; 4. Jeff Arend, Charger, 3.973, 310.77; 5. Daniel Wilkerson, Ford Mustang, 3.976, 325.22; 6. Julie Nataas, GR Supra, 4.011, 303.50; 7. Jason Rupert, Mustang, 4.055, 290.19; 8. Jim Campbell, Mustang, 4.068, 300.26; 9. Terry Haddock, Mustang, 4.092, 287.29; 10. Austin Prock, Mustang, 4.145, 227.61; 11. Matt Hagan, Charger, 4.220, 218.97; 12. Jeff Diehl, Toyota Camry, 4.233, 238.17; 13. Jack Beckman, Chevy Camaro, 5.885, 125.56; 14. Cory Lee, Camry, 6.852, 103.88; 15. Blake Alexander, Toyota Supra, 7.147, 95.58; 16. Chad Green, Mustang, 7.618, 88.21.
Not Qualified: 17. Bobby Bode, 7.693, 78.08; 18. Dave Richards, 8.055, 79.43; 19. Alexis DeJoria, 8.279, 85.79; 20. Hunter Green, 11.513, 83.21; 21. Jordan Vandergriff, 15.343, 65.17; 22. Paul Lee, 17.749, 35.29.
Pro Stock — 1. Dallas Glenn, Chevy Camaro, 6.512, 208.42; 2. Matt Latino, Camaro, 6.516, 209.17; 3. Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.523, 210.18; 4. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.535, 209.95; 5. Troy Coughlin Jr., Camaro, 6.537, 209.46; 6. Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.538, 209.56; 7. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.549, 209.56; 8. Dave Connolly, Camaro, 6.550, 208.94; 9. Stephen Bell, Camaro, 6.562, 209.10; 10. Cody Anderson, Camaro, 6.580, 208.71; 11. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.582, 209.01; 12. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.595, 190.19; 13. Shane Tucker, Camaro, 6.596, 208.30; 14. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.817, 168.11; 15. Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.958, 154.12.
Pro Stock Motorcycle — 1. Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.673, 201.76; 2. Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.713, 200.00; 3. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.750, 201.28; 4. Clayton Howey, Buell, 6.755, 198.64; 5. Joey Gladstone, Buell, 6.756, 200.00; 6. Angie Smith, Buell, 6.771, 199.02; 7. Ryan Oehler, EBR, 6.774, 200.26; 8. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.793, 197.59; 9. Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.828, 197.97; 10. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 6.835, 197.59; 11. John Hall, Buell, 6.839, 200.47; 12. GT Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.854, 198.06; 13. Chris Bostick, Suzuki, 6.863, 194.72; 14. Marc Ingwersen, EBR, 6.875, 196.10; 15. Malcolm Phillips Jr., Suzuki, 6.890, 192.74; 16. Alex Laughlin, 16.523, 46.05.
Not Qualified: 17. Brad Hawkes, broke.
