NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

With three NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championships and a host of major E.T. bracket racing wins, Luke Bogacki’s racing speaks for itself. Bogacki is also a drag racing school instructor and founder of the popular ThisIsBracketRacing.com website, where he shares many of his successful secrets. Luke also hosts the Daily Driver Podcast, a short-form podcast designed to help racers take one small step toward becoming a more thoughtful, better driver each episode. 

It’s September. With the Big Go in the rearview mirror, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Professional classes are officially in their Countdown to the Championship. Likewise, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championship pictures are beginning to gain some clarity.

While it’s impossible to predict a champion at this point in the season, we can at least narrow down most fields to a handful of championship contenders. While it feels like there is a lot left to be determined, this year’s schedule actually has Sportsman competitors a bit farther down the path of their season than we traditionally see at this date on the calendar. With just five Sportsman national events and only 11 LODRS events remaining on the 2026 schedule, Lucas Oil Series competitors are more than 75% through the season. Two divisions (Division 1 and 6) have already completed their entire LODRS schedule. In short, time is running out.

While this picture will change — repeatedly — between now and the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, let’s take a moment to zoom in on the top contenders for the 2026 Lucas Oil Series titles.

Comp

THE LEADER

After making a real run at the 2025 title before ending the season in third place, Division 1 runner Joe Carnasciale appears primed to earn his first world championship. The Rhode Island-based runner has been nearly perfect in 2026, securing six victories and one runner-up finish already, and he still has a few events to improve his score. The only chink in the armor potentially is that each of Carnasciale’s victories has come in four-round races. While that’s the norm for Comp, there are multiple five-round events remaining on the schedule, which could give competitors a small window (the only way to beat perfect is to be perfect over more rounds!). That said, Carnasciale already sits atop the field with 616 points. Even if he fails to improve at all (which seems unlikely), that total would win the Comp title in three of the last five seasons.

ONE TOP CONTENDER

2024 world champ Cody Lane is the only driver in the current Top 10 who has a realistic shot at tracking down Carnasciale. If Lane could secure a national event victory, and Carnasciale failed to improve, the two would be tied atop the standings. There are more variables at play than that, but that’s the simplest scenario to bring the two totals together. In short, for Lane to emerge, he’d have to finish very strong … and Carniasciale would have to misstep.

THE LONGSHOT

A five-time NHRA world champion can never be a long shot, right? In this particular season, reigning champion Jeff Taylor might have to be considered just that. To this point, Taylor has attended just five events in 2026. And he’s lost just two rounds — both of them final rounds! What’s more? Two of Taylor’s wins came in five-round events (more points than Carniascale’s victories), and one of his runner-ups was at the NHRA U.S. Nationals (the only six-round race on the Comp tour). That doesn’t mean that Taylor is in the driver’s seat — that’s where Carniascale has solidly positioned himself. What it does mean is that if Taylor and his team decide to hit the road, the opportunity is there. Now, what does hitting the road look like? We’re talking about eight events between now and early November — it’s an undertaking. But if they decide to make the push, Taylor is among the most talented and accomplished competitors in Sportsman racing history and is backed by a team with the resources to make a back-to-back title run a reality.

Super Stock

THE LEADER

There must be something in the water in the state of Rhode Island. Like his Ocean State brethren Carnasciale, Justin Picillo sits atop the Super Stock standings. In fact, as strong as Carnasciale looks in Comp, I’d argue that Picillo’s odds of winning the 2026 title are even better.

Driving Pat Glade’s Super Stock machine, Picillo has driven to five final rounds — including four wins — in just eight appearances thus far this season. His current 555-point total is skewed because he has only been to one national event (which, you guessed it, he won). By simply staging for round one at two more national events, Picillo runs his total to 615. While that’s not typically a championship total by itself, given the season he’s having, adding a few win lights to his tally doesn’t seem like a crazy expectation. The biggest hurdle between this Division 1 team and a championship may simply be logistics. To fill a national event ledger, the team would have to attend five of the six remaining national events on the schedule. A trip to Rockingham would appear to be a given. An excursion to St. Louis is a bit more daunting, but likely doable. But to extend beyond that to Dallas, Las Vegas, and Pomona — from Rhode Island? That sounds challenging.

ONE TOP CONTENDER

The racer in the current Top 10 with the best opportunity to overtake Picillo is probably young Blaine Zaskowski. Zaskowski, who started the year with a flurry by winning both legs of the double divisional at South Georgia Motorsports Park, recently added another final-round finish to his ledger. Similar to Picillo, Zaskowski’s struggle is logistic: To fill his ledger, he’d have to attend four of the five remaining national events. In contrast to Picillo, Zaskowski would have to show out at those races to make a run at the title. Even if he were to win his next national event, he’d still be more than three rounds behind Picillo (assuming that Picillo simply staged for round one at two more national events).

THE LONGSHOT

Through seven events, Michael Brand has staged for the semifinal round four times (one win, two runner-ups, one semi). His current total of 456 points is even better than it looks, as his season has essentially been all or nothing. In the three events, where he hasn’t advanced to the semifinal, he’s fallen in round one. What’s that mean? There is opportunity for Brand to make a serious move, assuming he’s willing and able to hit the road. With three national events and four divisionals left to claim, that would require a pretty serious commitment. But if he can make the races, Brand is certainly capable of making a run at the title.

Stock

THE LEADER

Speaking of Michael Brand … Brand is the current leader in the Stock eliminator standings with a solid score of 601. He’s been to more events in Stock than Super Stock, so his ceiling looks a bit different in this category. Buoyed by back-to-back victories in the spring, Brand has been solid all season. That’s great in terms of his current points total. It’s not so great for his opportunities to improve. Brand has two national events at which he can improve a second-round loss. On the divisional side, he’d have to advance to round five to earn a single point! He can certainly win the title, but he’ll need at least one more deep run to crest 650 points. And in recent years, the score needed to win in Stock has typically been closer to 700 than 650.

ONE TOP CONTENDER

If not Brand, then who? That’s where this gets interesting. Brand’s score doesn’t align with those of recent Stock world champions, but no one is having a dominant season in the class. At least, no one has been dominant just yet. Shane Oakes sits second in the standings, just one point behind Brand, but Oakes has just one national event remaining on his points ledger. He’d have to win it to crest 650. The rest of the Top 10 is pretty tightly bunched, with perennial contenders Jeff Adkinson, Joe Santangelo, Cody Lane, Justin Lamb, and Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. all within striking distance. It seems likely that at least one of them will make a run, but they’ll have to in order to overtake Brand’s current score, much less post a total that would traditionally be title-worthy.

THE LONGSHOT

Just outside the current Top 10 lurks Matthew Lisa. Lisa doubled at the Division 1 event in Maryland and followed that with a runner-up at Lebanon Valley Dragway. He’s struggled at the events since, but that means there’s plenty of room to improve. With multiple races remaining on his points ledger, if Lisa were to hit the road and get hot, he could be a legitimate title threat.

Tuesday: Super Comp and Super Gas
Wednesday: Top Dragster and Top Sportsman