Langdon, Prock, A. Stanfield and Herrera win NHRA Midwest Nationals at WWTR

Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon won his fourth straight race of the season on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, defeating first-time finalist Will Smith in the championship round at the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Austin Prock (Funny Car), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 17th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the third of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Langdon, who qualified No. 1, went 3.732s at 335.90 mph in his Kalitta Air dragster to power past Smith, who suffered tire smoke early in the run. It handed Langdon his eighth win this year and kept him undefeated at the halfway point of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

En route to his 30th career victory, Langdon knocked off Tony Schumacher, Leah Pruett and Justin Ashley to reach the final round, turning in a series of standout performances, including a track-record blast of 341.68 in the first round. After a memorable victory in Indy to close the regular season, Langdon and his team have rolled to three straight playoff wins, showcasing a plethora of dominant runs during this spectacular playoff stretch.

His points lead now stands at a whopping 116 points over teammate Doug Kalitta, who fell in the opening round, and a massive 225 points over third-place Tony Stewart.

“The results we’re showing now come from the hard work of the last couple years. I’ve had a lot of faith and confidence in this race team,” Langdon said. “I knew the capabilities this team had. It was just a matter of things coming together, and I really feel like this year a lot of things have come together.

“We’ve been good when we needed to be good, but we’ve been great when we needed to be great. Every time I hit the gas, I know I’m going to have a really dang good race car. Hopefully I don’t mess that up. With what we’ve done, we’re going to have a big target on our backs. People are going to be gunning for us. It’s up to us to rise to the occasion and do even better at the last three races.”

Smith reached his first career final round thanks to round wins against Maddi Gordon, Stewart and Shawn Reed.

In Funny Car, Austin Prock got the best of Jordan Vandergriff when it mattered on Sunday in St. Louis, delivering an impressive run of 3.909 at 332.84 in his Motorcraft Ford Mustang in the final round to move to third in points.

It is Prock’s second victory this season and first in St. Louis, keeping the back-to-back world champion in the title conversation. He had performed well since May, but had only one win to show for it, coming up just short throughout the summer and early in the Countdown.

But that changed on Sunday in St. Louis, as he charged to the final round by taking down a loaded lineup of Ron Capps, J.R. Todd and No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman, who were all ahead of him in points heading into eliminations. That’s not the case anymore, and Prock then delivered a strong .045 reaction time in the championship round, leading wire-to-wire against Vandergriff to get his 23rd career victory.

It pushed him up to third in points, as the Funny Car standout for Tasca Racing is now 106 points behind leader Matt Hagan with three races remaining.

“This was a big win. For the points, for our family, for our team — this is the time to get hot,” Prock said. “After everything we’ve been through this year, all the hours we haven’t slept and seven days a week working at this, it really pays off when you get a win. We’re hot right now, and we’ve been hot for the last 12 races. We just haven’t been able to finish the job.

“We had a really dominant Ford Mustang this weekend. We had to run through a lot of hitters today. Each round was like a final round. Everybody we beat was in front of us in the Countdown. It was an epic way to cap it off. You don’t have days like this very often. When you run through four hitters like that, that’s like winning two races in one.

“We’re just over 100 points out of the lead. We’re in striking distance now going into Dallas and I’m really excited for these next three races.”

Vandergriff advanced to his sixth final round of 2026 after defeating Cruz Pedregon, John Force Racing teammate Alexis DeJoria and Hagan. He stayed second in points and now trails Hagan by 72 points.

Aaron Stanfield got the best of his father, Greg, in the Pro Stock final round on Sunday, getting the holeshot victory over the points leader with a run of 6.556 at 209.20 in his Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling Performance/Janac Brothers Racing Pro Stock car for Elite Motorsports, which also stayed undefeated in the Countdown to the Championship.

Greg was 6-1 against his son previously and 1-0 in final rounds, but Aaron got the last laugh on Sunday thanks to a brilliant .018 reaction time. That was just enough to keep Greg’s 6.547 at 209.85 at bay at the finish line, earning his third victory of 2026.

It’s also Stanfield’s 17th career victory, as he knocked off Deric Kramer, Matt Hartford and Troy Coughlin Jr. to reach the final round.

He follows wins by Coughlin and his father to keep Elite Motorsports surging in the playoffs, as Stanfield also moved to seventh in points with the memorable victory.

“It’s hard to get to the final round alone, and to be able to share it with my dad is pretty special,” Stanfield said. “He’s taught me absolutely everything I know in a race car. I told him I was fixing to show him what he taught me. We’re going to race as hard as we can possibly race. A thousandth at the stripe — it doesn’t get any better than that.

“At the start of the day, I would definitely say my car kind of pulled me along. As the day went on, I started finding myself on the Tree, and it ended up with me in the final round with my dad. As a whole, the entire Elite team ran really well this weekend. We just need to keep that trajectory.”

Greg built on his points lead by advancing to the final round for the fourth time this year, defeating Mason McGaha, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Dallas Glenn along the way. His lead is now 71 points over Glenn and 81 more than Hartford.

It was teammate versus teammate in the finals for the second straight race, but this time Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Gaige Herrera got the best of points leader Richard Gadson, going a strong 6.710 at 200.98 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to defeat Gadson’s 6.763 at 200.08.

The victory handed Herrera his fourth straight win at World Wide Technology Raceway, a spectacular run at the key Countdown race. He was outstanding this weekend, too, breaking the track record en route to qualifying No. 1 with a 6.644, and then defeating Michael Phillips and Ryan Oehler to reach the final round.

He became the third different rider in as many races to win in the Countdown, closing in on Gadson’s points lead. Herrera now trails his teammate by just 32 points with three races remaining, which means a thrilling duel between the two teammates who have won the last three world titles could be coming.

“The Countdown, the last six races, is when it all matters,” Herrera said. “Getting this win here in St. Louis means a lot. St. Louis holds a special place for me. I don’t know what it is with this place, but it’s always been very good to me. I wish we had all the races here.

“Racing Richard in the final puts a lot of pressure on me. He’s the man on the tree. He’s very consistent, and it was awesome to race him in the final. I felt like I was trying to push myself too much the last couple races. This whole weekend, I just reminded myself: I’m living the dream, I’m having fun and that’s what it’s all about.

“This is a big deal for me. Points-wise, we gained a little bit on my teammate. He still has the points lead, but it’s going to be a dogfight.”

Gadson, who stayed in the points lead thanks to his seventh finals appearance of the season, defeated Chase Van Sant, Matt Smith and Martin winner John Hall on Sunday.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Oct. 14-18 with the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex in Dallas.