NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

TOP FUEL CALLOUT ROUND 1

The Right Trailers NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout kicked off the second day of Pro qualifying. The first round of the special event also counts as qualifying runs for the eight drivers in the field. The quickest of the four first-round winners gets to call out their semifinal opponent.

Tony Stewart opened the Callout with a solo pass in the new R+L Carriers/Elite entry after Justin Ashley had to be shut off on the starting line as it was puffing oil pretty heavily. Ashley's crew chief, Tommy DeLago, suspected that a pushrod may have come loose inside the valvetrain. Stewart's engine went sour past halftrack, and he could muster just a 3.99 at only 237 mph.

2024 Callout winner Antron Brown also got what amounted to a free pass after provisional low qualifier (and 2023 Callout champ) Josh Hart's mount lost track a few hundred feet downtrack. AB turned on the win light with a 3.790.

Shawn Langdon not only won the battle of Shawns over Shawn Reed, but bettered Brown's e.t. by a thousandth of a second with a 3.789 to take down Reed's 3.83.

Clay Millican, running under a canopy for the first time in his career, then bettered Langdon's number in taking down tire-smoking defending Callout champ Doug Kalitta with a 3.783 to earn the right to pick his semifinal opponent and chose Stewart, citing Stewart's longtime NASCAR battles with his own car owner, Rick Ware. Brown and Langdon will make up the other semifinal.

TOP FUEL Q3

None of the cars outside the Callout field made a representative run on the warming track, with independent Scott Farley the best of that bunch with a 4.05. Millican's run remained the best of the session for three bonus points.

After sitting out both of Friday's runs, Cameron Ferre made his 2026 debut in the Freeman brothers' car but shut off early with a couple of dropped cylinders. He brings to 19 the number of Top Fuel cars to make a run this weekend.

Dan Mercier remained on the bump with his Friday 3.885, so Ferre, Farley, and Will Smith have one more chance to make the field.

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FUNNY CAR Q3

The Funny Cars struggled mightily, with most losing traction at half-track, and only a few drivers made it to the end under power.  with Matt Hagan's 4.032 and Daniel Wilkerson's 4.033 being the best of the session.

Alexis DeJoria, who entered the session on the bump spot at 6.45, improved by a ton with a 4.06 that moved her to midpack.  Todd Lesenko, making his first start in a dozen years and just his second ever at the Gatornationals, put Jim Dunn's car into the field after a troubled Friday, running 4.43 for the No. 13 spot.

With the offseason change from John Force Racing to Tasca Racing, a lot of their peers had agreed that crew chief Jimmy Prock and his two-time world championship driving son Austin would struggle early with their new, ground-up combination, and so far they're right as the PPG Ford failed to get down the track under power for the third straight run. They're 15th.

2025 Rookie of the year Spencer Hyde, Buddy Hull, and John Smith are the three drivers below Dave Richards' 5.501 bump spot.

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PRO STOCK Q3

After many Pro Stock machines failed to get down the tricky historic track, multi-time world champion Greg Stanfield proved that it could be done. He powered to a 6.556, grabbing five-hundredths of a second on the field. What’s also notable is his 60-foot time - a .981.

What’s perhaps just as shocking is that six-time world champion Greg Anderson is going into the final session of qualifying still unqualified for the kickoff of the 75th anniversary NHRA season. His pass of 6.608 only netted him 17th position. The last time Anderson did not qualify for a national event was in 2002 at the NHRA World Finals in Pomona, Calif.

Also picking up bonus points in addition to Stanfield are Matt Hartford and provisional No. 1 qualifier Cody Coughlin. 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3

The warm and humid conditions have presented a challenge to every racer in Gainesville but for the most part, Pro Stock Motorcycle riders tackled the challenge as 15 of them ran between Matt Smith’s 6.749 and Geno Scali’s 6.899.

There was plenty of movement within the field as Smith took over the top spot from his wife, Angie, who led after Friday’s two runs.  Angie Smith also remained in the 6.7s with a 6.751 while Vance & Hines teammates Gaige Herrera and Richard Gadson both ran matching 6.764 runs.

The best of the rest included Steve Johnson, who made a solid 6.807 run to move into the top half of the field, and Jianna Evaristo, who ran 6.814.

Finally, Clayton Howey continued his string of impressive runs with a 6.819 at 199.52 mph, one of the best runs of his career.

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TOP FUEL CALLOUT SEMIFINALS

Antron Brown kept alive his chance to become the only repeat winner in the Top Fuel Callout's five-year history as the 2024 event winner's strong 3.76 defeated tire-smoking Shawn Langdon.

Brown will have final-round lane choice over Clay Millican, who clocked a cylinder-dropping 3.88 to be traction-plagued Tony Stewart.

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TOP FUEL CALLOUT FINAL/Q4

Antron Brown came from behind to defeat Clay Millican to win the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout, smoking the tires early then driving by Millican, who ran into his own traction woes further downtrack. Brown became the first repeat winner in the five-year history of the Callout, 4.29 to 4.57.

Rookie Maddi Gordon showed well, and her 3.797 was the best run of the final session and backed up an earlier 3.793. She'll start from the No. 15 spot and will face her Top Fuel mentor, Shawn Langdon, in round one. Billy Torrence's 3.83 was the round's second-best performance.

With his Friday pass of 3.658 well safe under hot conditions, first-time polesitter Josh Hart became the 119th driver to be a low qualifier in Top Fuel.

Dan Mercier ended up on the other end of the field with a 3.885 on the biup spot and will be Hart's first-round opponent Sunday morning.

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FUNNY CAR Q4

High drama was in play in the final qualifying session as drivers battled to be part of the season-opening 16-car field.

John Smith went from outside the field to the inside with a last-ditch 4.188 that moved him from 19th to 13th, and reigning rookie of the year Spencer Hyde (4.104) and Dave Richards (4.127) both went past him and into the field and bumped out two-time and reigning world champ Austin Prock.

Buddy Hull then bumped his way into the field with a 4.213 (bumping 2025 championship runner-up Jack Beckman) but did so while battling a major fire that erupted near the finish line. Hull fought valiantly for control under hard braking and no vision and ended up sideswiping qualifying mate Terry Haddock in the shutdown area, sending both cars into the guardwall. Both emerged from their mounts under their own power. Even if Hull stays in the show, he does not have a backup to compete Sunday. Haddock, who cannot be bumped, will assess the damage on his car but reportedly does have a backup available if he needs it.

After a lengthy cleanup, the Procks got their chance, but it ended quickly with tire smoke, leaving Austin with the first DNQ of his 109-race nitro career. Their 4.83 best ended up 19th out of 19 cars.

"It stinks, but I'm not surprised the way things have been going," said a dejected Prock. "Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, but we'll be back, and we will win."

Right behind him, Jack Beckman did not suffer the same fate as his former John Force Racing teammate as "Fast Jack" went from outside to in and into the No. 9 spot with a 4.029, bumping Hull.

John Smith ended up on the bump spot with his 4.14 Q4 pass.

No other driver improved, and Jordan Vandergriff ended up with the best run of the round, a 3.99, with Cruz Pedregon (4.012), Daniel Wilkerson (4.018), J.R. Todd (4.021), and Paul Lee (4.029) also in the hunt.

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PRO STOCK Q4

Six-time world champ Greg Anderson will race on Sunday after he qualified with a 6.556, which ultimately landed him in 13th position. He made a clean run that put him in the show, alongside his son, Cody, who qualified for his first professional start.

Greg Stanfield carried over his performance from round three of qualifying and was the second-lowest E.T. of the session with a 6.550.

Also worth noting, number one qualifier Cody Coughlin couldn’t make the call because his car wouldn’t fire, therefore he didn’t make the final qualifying pass. 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q4

Highly prized qualifying bonus points went to Richard Gadson, Matt Smith, and Angie Smith after the fourth and final qualifying session of Pro Stock Motorcycle. Gadson, the reigning world champion, blasted to a 6.757 at over 199-mph to claim three points, but did not improve upon his earlier 6.746 that is good for the second spot in the field.

The Smith family is off to a great start this season as Angie is the top qualifier with a 6.740 on her Denso Buell. Husband, Matt is third after a 6.749 run, and also scored two bonus points in the final session with a 6.766.

Gaige Herrera, who has won the last two Gainesville events, is lurking in the fourth spot following a 6.761 best.

Aside from the Smith bikes and the Vance & Hines team, John Hall ran a 6.791 for the fifth spot while West Coast bracket racer Clayton Howey has been both quick and consistent with a best of 6.800.

Another noteworthy performance came from Chase Van Sant, who rode his Trick Tools Suzuki to a best of 6.803 to qualify in the top half of the field.