Shawn Langdon arrived at Route 66 Raceway with the Top Fuel points lead. He left with another trophy, another statement, and growing evidence that the first third of the NHRA season is beginning to tilt in his direction.
Racers competing in Top Fuel have spent the first six races throwing haymakers from every corner of the pit area, but Langdon walked out of Route 66 with another victory and a firmer grip on the No. 1 spot. Chad Green won in Funny Car, Aaron Stanfield snapped KB Titan Racing’s hold on Pro Stock, and Matt Smith added another victory in Pro Stock Motorcycle as the sixth of 20 events on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series came to a close.
Langdon defeated four-time champion Antron Brown in Sunday’s final round, posting a 3.775-second pass at 335.90 mph in his Kalitta Air dragster as Brown hazed the tires early. The victory was the 25th of Langdon’s career and his second straight triumph.
Early in the weekend, Langdon and his Kalitta Motorsports team looked more like a group hunting for answers than a team preparing for a winner’s circle photo. By late Saturday, the picture had changed.
Momentum first appeared with a victory in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday. Sunday turned that spark into a full afternoon of work.
Langdon cut down Shawn Reed, teammate Doug Kalitta, and Josh Hart before earning his shot at Brown in the championship round. The matchup carried plenty of weight, but by the time the final round arrived, Langdon’s team looked like it had finally found the rhythm it was searching for in qualifying.
“We definitely had a big turnaround from qualifying,” Langdon said. “Brian [Husen, crew chief] realized that we had to tame some things down in the car. Having to run Doug second round wasn’t ideal, but at the end of the day, we had to get some information for our car and make a good run, and from there, today was a little bit tricky.
“First round was really good, and then just with the clouds coming in and out, there were just a lot of last-minute changes. Brian’s gotten really good lately, just off of his gut feeling, making those last-second little changes. But I could tell that they had two different game plans, and one was when the sun was out and one for when the cloud cover was there. They were able to adapt when they needed to and provided a great race car for four rounds.”
Three victories in six races starts moving beyond a hot streak.
Langdon already owns two No. 1 qualifiers this season and delivered the fastest run in NHRA Top Fuel history at 345.00 mph earlier this year. In a category expected to produce a weekly dogfight, Langdon and Kalitta Motorsports are creating separation.
Brown reached his first final round of the season and the 145th of his career after defeating T.J. Zizzo, rookie Maddi Gordon, and Leah Pruett. Kalitta left Chicago second in points, 54 behind his teammate.
Funny Car delivered one of the closest races of the day, and Chad Green found himself standing under the winner’s circle confetti shower.
Green edged Alexis DeJoria with a 3.945-second pass at 324.75 mph in his Bond-Coat/bproauto Ford Mustang. The victory was Green’s second of the season and showed progress toward championship contention.
He worked past Jordan Vandergriff, Ron Capps, and reigning series champion Austin Prock before reaching the final. DeJoria countered with victories over Spencer Hyde, Dave Richards, and Matt Hagan.
“The whole team aspect of this sport doesn’t get enough recognition. This is 100 percent a team sport, just like football, basketball, and any of those other sports,” Green said. “The driver, they get a lot of the fame and glory, but to be honest, what these guys do is just incredible. To go out there and turn on four win lights on a Sunday is so difficult. These guys have to do everything perfectly every round, and we have to go out there and beat the best guys out there doing it. I can’t say enough about the team.”
DeJoria “is driving a John Force car, and that was a dang good race,” he added. “I never saw her during the race. When the win light came on, I thought, ‘Oh, she probably had problems or something,’ but then I looked at the time slip, she was right there with me.”
Ron Capps and J.R. Todd left Chicago tied atop the standings, with Matt Hagan only nine points behind. DeJoria’s second runner-up finish of the season also moved her into the title-contender conversation.
The longest active winning streak in Pro Stock finally hit a wall.
Aaron Stanfield handed Elite Motorsports its first victory of 2026 after Greg Anderson went red in the final round. Stanfield’s 6.595-second pass at 208.46 mph gave him his first win since 2024 and his 15th career victory.
KB Titan Racing had won the previous 10 races and looked nearly untouchable entering Chicago. But Route 66 Raceway felt different from the beginning of the weekend.
Erica Enders secured the No. 1 qualifying position and won Saturday’s #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Stanfield then followed by defeating Matt Hartford, Jeg Coughlin Jr., and his father, Greg Stanfield, before reaching the championship round.
“Our team’s definitely been waiting on this moment for a pretty good while. It’s the best feeling you can get out here when you see that win light come on in the final round,” Stanfield said.
“We had a great weekend and a great day today, and kind of had some luck roll my way in that final round. We felt like we had something [two weeks ago] in South Georgia, but the racetrack was a little tricky, so we really didn’t get to see it there.
“I think we saw it this weekend with a combination of KB being a little off. I think these guys have been working really, really, really hard. I think we’re going in the right direction and I felt very focused today.”
Matt Smith’s second straight Pro Stock Motorcycle win came with mixed emotions.
Smith defeated his wife, Angie Smith, in the final round after her motorcycle failed to launch. Instead of the side-by-side race many expected, Matt rolled to a 6.835 at 185.41 mph for his 44th career victory.
“I wanted a fair race. I wanted a good race, just like when we ran each other for the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge,” Smith said. “She had the best bike this weekend, but it just wasn’t meant to be for some reason.
“She’ll get it in Maryland. I feel confident that we will get things under control for her bike and get it back, because everybody here knows that she had the best bike.”
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action May 29-31. That’s when the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals presented by JEGS is scheduled for Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Md.
