Hagan, Langdon, G. Stanfield and Gadson roll to wins at NHRA Nationals at The Rock

Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan rolled to his fourth victory of the season for Tony Stewart Racing on Sunday in front of a near-capacity crowd at Rockingham Dragway, defeating Paul Lee in the final round at the NHRA Nationals at The Rock.

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel, pictured above), Greg Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 16th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Hagan went 3.922s at 327.75 mph in his Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car, powering past Lee, who lost traction midway through the run. It is Hagan’s 59th career victory as the four-time world champion defeated Dave Richards, Ron Capps and J.R. Todd to reach the final round.

He now has an 84-point lead over Jordan Vandergriff with four races left in the season, advancing to the finals for the fourth straight race, including back-to-back appearances to open the playoffs.

Hagan won in Brainerd and now Rockingham during that stretch, as he remains in command in his search for a fifth Funny Car world championship, which would pair the veteran with John Force as the only two drivers in NHRA history to win five or more Funny Car world titles.

“It's unbelievable that I get to have a great race car underneath me, and it's going down the racetrack, and I know that every time I sit in that car every Sunday morning, I have an opportunity to win, and that's huge,” Hagan said.

“The points chase is super competitive. There's six cars that could just change the landscape at any given moment. As much as I'd love to sit here and say how great we're doing, it takes one or two races of going out the first round, and it changes it. We have to keep working hard and keep putting that foot forward. I want to win this fifth championship not just for me but for my crew chief and the team. I'm excited for what we have. I've been very, very successful in this sport as far as four championships and so many races and a bunch of world records and all other stuff that's happened, but I've never had what I've had what I have right now with this group.”

Lee reached his first final of 2026 with round wins against Cruz Pedregon, Alexis DeJoria and Austin Prock. Todd is currently third, 106 points behind Hagan.

Top Fuel’s Shawn Langdon saved his best for last and delivered in a big way, giving Rockingham Dragway its first 340 mph run by defeating Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round on a holeshot with a 3.739 at a booming 342.73 in his Kalitta Air dragster.

Kalitta ran a quicker 3.722 at 330.40, but Langdon left first with a .024 reaction time, holding off the reigning world champion at the finish line, in part thanks to the massive speed in the championship round.

It’s the second time this year the points leader has won three straight races, giving the past world champion his sixth victory of the year and the 29th in his career. This one comes at a perfect time, as Langdon has strung together victories at the U.S. Nationals and now the first two races in the Countdown to the Championship, opening up a 25-point lead over Kalitta.

The pair of teammates have put significant distance between themselves and the next batch of competitors, as Tony Stewart is currently third in points, a distant 155 points behind Langdon. On Sunday, Langdon defeated Cam Ferre, Billy Torrence and Shawn Reed to reach the final round, moving one step closer to a second world title.

“We knew for the final round we had to make a picture-perfect run,” Langdon said. “AJ [Alan Johnson, Doug Kalitta crew chief] has been running really well. He's got a great handle on that car. The Mac Tools guys have been doing a great job, and Doug's been really lights-out this year. I knew going to the final, I had to figure out a way to find something on the starting line, and Brian [Husen crew chief] knew we were down four-hundredths in the semis, and we're going back to that same lane and AJ wasn't going to lay up. Brian was very, very aware of that, so he was doing some homework and I knew I had to do everything I could.

“Brian's really worked with the guys and the guys have done a great job working together to be perfect. We're out here to win races and you have to be perfect in order to do things like this. We’re just bonding together and working hard and keeping our heads, working just as hard for the next one.”

Kalitta reached the finals for the eighth time this season and 134th time in his career with wins against Rit Pustari, Maddi Gordon and Will Smith.

Greg Stanfield helped Elite Motorsports stay undefeated in the Pro Stock championship race, moving into the points lead and knocking off rookie Cody Anderson in the final round on a holeshot with a run of 6.537 at 210.48 in his Janac Brothers Racing car.

Stanfield was a deadly .019 on the starting line, which was enough to hold off Anderson’s 6.525 at 209.99, denying the standout first-year driver his first career win. It gave Stanfield his second victory this season and continued a strong performance in the Countdown to the Championship for Elite Motorsports, following Troy Coughlin’s victory at Martin last week.

It was a huge day for Stanfield, moving past Matt Hartford for the points lead and finishing his day at Rockingham Dragway with his eighth career Pro Stock victory. To reach the final round, Stanfield had to get by his son, Aaron, Matt Latino and reigning world champion Dallas Glenn, posting an incredible .005 reaction time against Glenn in the semifinals.

His lead stands at 31 points over Hartford and 39 over Glenn.

"To be able to do this today, it definitely feels good,” Stanfield said. “Any time you can hold a Wally, it's a great day. I'm just trying to do the best I can and not let everybody down who works their butt off for me to be able to drive. I think I've let our team down through the year, getting to the semis, then not closing it. For me to be able to close it out today, it means a lot. There's a lot of young drivers that are really talented right now, and for me to try to rise up to their level and race with them is tough.

"Anybody can win in this class right now. I mean, it’s incredible how tight it is. So, the points battle is going to go all the way to the end. I feel like it's going to be that way. So what's going to happen next week? I can't predict it. We're just going to try to work hard, work smart and if it's meant to be, it'll be."

Anderson reached the final round for the first time in his young career by knocking off Erica Enders, his father, six-time champion Greg Anderson and Hartford.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Richard Gadson got the victory on the starting line when teammate Gaige Herrera went red in the championship round, handing the points leader and reigning world champion his third victory of the year on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki.

Herrera left .018 early, handing the victory to Gadson, who delivered a solid run of 6.789 at 199.65 en route to his seventh career victory. After an early loss last week in the playoff opener, Gadson got back on track in a major way, opening up a 64-point lead over Herrera with four races remaining.

On Sunday, he got past Geno Scali, Ryan Oehler and Chase Van Sant to reach the final round and set up another marquee matchup with his Vance & Hines teammate. They’re now 3-3 against each other in final rounds, but it was Gadson who took the victory at Rockingham Dragway to keep him in a great position to win a second straight world championship.

“I feel like I got away with one here this weekend. It's kind of been our M.O. It wasn't fancy. It wasn't glamorous. It wasn't headline-worthy, but you know, we're here holding our third diamond Wally,” Gadson said.

“Gaige and I are extremely competitive with each other, sometimes to the point where the lines are blurry in our competitiveness because he's a friend. I’ve got a lot of respect for the guy, but I'm playing mind games the whole time. He's playing games the whole time, and you know I said. ‘It's his race to lose,’ hoping that he would lose the race somehow. In order to win the race, you've got to be green four times. Gaige went for the E.T., and he got away with it three rounds, but we decided we're just going to race our lane, so it's a lot of strategizing, and it paid off.”

Herrera reached the finals for the fourth time this season and 36th time in his career thanks to round wins against Lance Bonham, Clayton Howey and Joey Gladstone. M. Smith is 81 points back in third.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Oct. 2-4 with the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis.