NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

As the Mission Foods Drag Racing stars take to the all-concrete quarter-mile at Texas Motorplex for the first time at 4 p.m. Central, it's already been a full day of action, including the opening round of the JEGS Allstars competition, which will conclude tomorrow.

Jegs Allstars

The following drivers advanced to the semifinals of the Allstars:

Top Alcohol Dragster: Matt Cummings, Joey Severance (pictured), Jared Dreher, Shawn Cowie

Top Alcohol Funny Car: Jim Whiteley, Bob McCosh, Christine Foster, Brian Hough

Comp: Joshua Lee, Taylor Chomiski, Monty Bogan, and Joe Carnasciale

Super Stock: Justin Picillo, Jason Deforrest, Jeremy Duncan, Larry Leazer

Stock: Landon Emmons, Parker, Ellis Buth, Steve Foley 

Super Comp: Bradley Snowball, Jordan Pratt, Tanner Thorp, Kevin Scholl 

Super Gas: Charles Kenopic, Roger Warren, James Perry, Nathan Prose

Super Street: John Leibham, Jason Hennessey, David Monsaas, Donald Webb

Top Dragster: Mark Grame, Blake Peavler, Dylan Hough, Vince Musolino

Top Sportsman: Michael Chitty, Dennis Dowson, Curt Fredrich, Bradley Johnson

The semifinals of the Alcohol classes will run tonight, with the semifinals of the other classes Saturday morning, and all of the final rounds just before 2 p.m Saturday.

Holley EFI Factory X championship update

The Holley EFI Factory X championship will be decided this weekend, but not before Saturday’s first round. Three drivers remain in contention — Lenny Lottig, Jesse Alexandra, and Connor Statler – and Lottig can clinch the title if he wins the opening round and Alexandra and Statler both lose early, depending on qualifying. Alexandra needs to make up three qualifying points (requiring Lottig to qualify fourth or fifth) to prevent Lotting from securing the championship with a first-round win. Statler, meanwhile, must have Lottig lose in Round 1 to stay in contention. After two of three qualifying sessions, Lottig is the No. 1 qualifier.

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q1

This opening session will be a tune-up for the“JEGS Friday Night Live,” featuring the popular “Battle for the Saddle,” which will reward more than $40,000 in bonus money for drivers in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. The low qualifier of Q2 later tonight will net Top Fuel and Funny Car stars $15,000 each in bonus money, with $7,500 going to the quickest qualifier in Pro Stock and $5,000 in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

If you looked at the points standings coming into the race and then the results after the first qualifying session, you'd see the same rankings. Points leader Richard Gadson grabbed the top spot with a 6.761, a few clicks ahead of his teammate, two-time and reigning world champ Gaige Herrera, who sits second at 6.767. Six-time world champ Matt Smith is third with a 6.777

"We know the next one will be the one that sets the field, but that was a great start," said Gadson. "Looking at the time slip, we think there's a little more in it for tonight, so we can sit on the cow [the saddle]."

Gadson, Herrera, No. 4 qualifier Brayden Davis, and No. 5 John Hall all cracked 200 mph; Matt Smith ran just 199 mph.

***

Pro Stock Q1

Greg Anderson, who came into the event trailing Dallas Glenn by 25 points, cut three points off of that lead after powering the HendrickCars.com Camaro to a  6.52 for the No. 1 spot, while Glenn, who had the fourth-best run, a 6.542, got no points. 

Cory Reed, who has shorn his long locks (he's a regular contributor to the Locks of Love charity), raced to the No. 2 spot with a 6.542 alongside six-time world champ Erica Enders, who checked in third at 6.539. Enders' speed on the run, 211.51 mph, was the best of the session.

Aaron Stanfield (6.545), Eric Latino (6.552), Matt Latino (6.554), and Deric Kramer (6.556) round out the top eight.

Fernando Cuadra Jr. sits in the current bump spot with a 6/597, ahead of six other drivers who will try to unseat him over the next three sessions.

***

Funny Car Q1

Bob Tasca III, winless for more than a year (Sonoma 2024), leads after the first session with a 3.932, one of just four three-second passes in the heat of the day. Tasca loves the Motoreplx; two years ago, he made his career-best pass, a 3.822.

"It feels great to come out and lay down a good pass like that to set us up for tonight," said Tasca. "We're really looking forward to tonight's run at the Motorlex."

Behind Hagan and in the threes were Chad Green (3.960), Ron Capps (3.966), and points leader Matt Hagan (3.970). Unfortunately for Hagan, who is chasing points leader Austin Prock, he just missed getting bonus points in the session. Prock, meanwhile, didn't make a complete run, losing traction at mid-track.

Hagan's run also did not come cheaply, as for what seems like the umpteenth time this year, he backfired the blower in the lights, damaging the body.

"I guess we're just earning our stripes this year," Hagan lamented. "We think we've got it figured out, and the next thing you know, it's blowing up again. It's not the crew chief; it's just parts. I hate it; it hurts for Tony and makes me sick, too."

Rookie of the Year frontrunner Spencer Hyde didn't get to make a pass as the Head Inc. machine had to be shut off after the burnout.

***

Top Fuel Q1

Justin Ashley, who needs to start making up ground on points leader Doug Kalitta, picked up three bonus points with a 3.766 in his Scag entry while Kalitta got no points as his off-pace 3.980 was just 11th-best in the session. Kalitta's lead is now 83 points.

Shawn Reed, still reeling in his first career win last month in Reading, had the next-best pass with a 3.774, the team's 21st full pass out of their last 23 tries.

"The guys have a handle on this car," said Reed. "We changed our mindset and know we have to get down the track. I’m so proud of this team. We’ve been through hell, but we’re back."

Texas hero Steve Torrence, making his last start of the 2025 season, clocked in with a 3.809 for the third position,

Rounding out the top eight are Tony Stewart (3.817), Antron Brown (3.825), Doug Foley (3.826), Jasmine Salinas (3.852), and Brittany Force (3.874).

The current bump spot is 6.140 by Ida Zetterström.

***

JEGS AllStars Top Alcohol finals

Top Alcohol Funny Car and Top Alcohol Dragster will run their semifinals tonight and final rounds tomorrow.

Brian Hough advanced to the Top Alcohol Funny Car final round after Christine Foster was unable to make the call because her car's body wouldn't latch. In the other semi, Jim Whiteley had an issue getting his car to light and had to do a short burnout before taking on Bob McCosh. Whiteley showed no ill effects, running 5.475 to earn lane choice over Hough's 5.506. 

Matt Cummings drove around Jared Dreher's big holeshot to advance the Top Alcohol Dragster final with a 5.253. Joey Severance won a titanic battle with his West Coast supercharged rival, world champ Shawn Cowie, advancing to the final and earning lane choice with a 5.21 to 5.24 decision.

***

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q2

"The "Battle For the Saddle" saw five different riders take the throne, starting with Chris Bostick (6.880), then Chase Van Sant (6.843), Angie Smitj (6.803), and Brayden Davis (6.772) before it ended up with Richard Gadson again in the top spot with a 6.747 that bettered his Q1-leading 7.61.

Davis had the second-best run of the frame, a 6.772, with Anguie third best with a 6.803, Gaige Herrera also ran 6.803, well behind his teammate Gadson's pace, but Smith's better speed gave her the third position and stole a point away from him.

"We felt we could go .73 or .74 and it did," said Gadson. "We feel really good. We know it's going to be a tight championship race, and I know we need to win at least one more, and I think it starts here in Dallas."

***

Pro Stock Q2

As it was with their two-wheeled counterparts, the Pro Stock drivers swapped out the low qualifier saddle on a regular basis throughout the session. Chris McGaha (6.576) had it first before that number was bettered by Stephen Bell (6.549), Chris Vang (6.535), Deric Kramer (6.534). Matt Hartford (6.515), and then points leader Dallas Glenn (6.507).

But, just as happened in Q1, six-time champ Greg Anderson stole the spotlight from his teammate Glenn with a 6.497. To make matters worse for Glenn, their third teammate, Cory Reed, grabbed two bonus points with a 6.504, meaning that Anderson has already lopped five points off of Glenn's incoming 25-point lead.

Erica Enders looked sporty again in front of her home-state crowd with a 6.519 that was fourth-best of the frame, and the father-son duo of Eric and Matt Latino, who were just .002-second apart in Q1, were close again, just .004-second separating Eric's 6.519 and Matt's 6.523.

David Cuadra's 6.554 is on the bump spot.

***

Funny Car Q2

 As it usually does, the Funny Car No. 1 spot was cemented as soon as world champ Austin Prock ran. Usually, it's at the end of a session, but after the Cornwell Tools team failed to make it down the track in Q1, they came up early in Q2. Chris King (4.157), Cruz Pedregon (3.929), and Paul Lee (3.915) all had the saddle before him, but "the battle" ended 3.876 seconds after Prock left the starting line and took the spot from Lee.

Lee introduced a new sponsor this weekend in product-warranty company EverythingBreaks.com, and, unfortunately for him, something did break — multiple things probably — that led to a huge fireball and engine fire. The veteran handler got it stopped with a great job of keeping the car off the guardwall.

"It was on a decent run going down there and just as I was about to lift at the finish line, it just blew up," said Lee. "It blew the windshield out and blew up everything. I couldn't see much, so the main thing was just to try to get it stopped and stay out of Danny's lane [Daniel Wilkerson].  I've got a [Everything Breaks] warranty on this car, so I'm not worried. I'm covered."

Ron Capps (3.889) and Jack Beckman (3.892) got the other bonus points in a session where 10 drivers ran in the threes and 12 cars are now qualified in the three-second range, and the bump spot is 4.147 by Chris King.

***

Top Fuel Q2

Shawn Langdon, who didn't make it down the track in Q1, was just the second driver to sit astride the saddle after his 3.684 took the spot from Ida Zetterstrom (3.788) in what was just the second run of a long session that saw a number of drivers come close to unseating him but just missed.

 Langdon’s speed on the run, 338.88 mph, broke Justin Ashley’s two-year-old mark of 338.40 mph, but it didn’t last as the sport’s first 340-mph Top Fuel driver, Brittany Force, did it again, making her 12th 340-mph run of the season at 340.57 mph on a 3.03 pass alongside Doug Kalitta’s 3.701. As fast as it was, it’s “just” the 11th fastest in history. Crazy.

Shawn Reed (3.685) and Justin Ashley (3.688) finished two and three behind Langdon in the final pair of the session, making it a nailbiter for Langdon all the way to the wire. Antron Brown also busted into the 3.60s with a 3.695, which was followed by the 3.70s of Kalitta and Force to highlight a great session.