Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA Nationals at the Rock outside of Rockingham.
1 – HAGAN’S FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT – Let the record reflect that Rockingham (NC) Dragway now holds victory No. 1 and No. 59 for Matt Hagan.
The opponent was even the same.
Eighteen years after Hagan beat Paul Lee in an IHRA Funny Car final at Rockingham, the two lined up again Sunday in the NHRA Nationals at The Rock. Hagan won again, this time with considerably more at stake.
Hagan powered to a 3.922-second pass at 327.75 mph as Lee lost traction, giving the four-time NHRA champion his fourth victory this season and 59th of his career. Hagan beat Dave Richards, Ron Capps, and J.R. Todd before dueling Lee in the final.
The victory pushed Hagan’s championship lead to 84 points over Jordan Vandergriff with four races remaining. It also marked his fourth consecutive final-round appearance, meaning it was also his second straight to begin the six-race Countdown to the Championship.
Then there was the Rockingham history.
Back in 2008, Hagan was a rookie Funny Car driver still trying to figure out a machine that seemed equally capable of winning races and trying to burn itself to the ground.
“I was on fire a lot. I felt like John Force back then,” Hagan said. “I was earning my stripes early on and we blew the steering wheel off the car and we pulled the heads off of it and the crank would fall off of it out of the bottom.
“And I really sat down and was like, ‘This thing might kill me. I don’t know if I want to keep doing this.’”
Yet he did, and four championships and 59 wins later, he found himself back at Rockingham lined up against Lee again.
“I didn’t know until we were right there to the final,” Hagan said. “It’s stuff that kind of makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. You’re going like, ‘Wow.’”
The symmetry wasn’t lost on him.
“Just how ironic and how wild that is to be able to kind of repeat history a little bit,” Hagan said. “It’s pretty cool that it came full circle again, and here we are once again winning at The Rock.”
This time Hagan left Rockingham chasing something considerably bigger than establishing himself as a Funny Car driver.
“We have the parts and pieces and the people to do it,” he said of a potential fifth title. “It’s just a matter of us doing our job and stepping up and rising to the occasions.”
2 – THE PART-TIME, FULL-TIME TEAM GETS THEIR WINS – Paul Lee took a step back from the full-time tour, but as he has said, no matter how many races his team runs a year, it rolls through the gates with a chance to win.
He put words to action after reaching the semifinals, having taken out Cruz Pedregon and Alexis DeJoria to reach that point. Lee then took out a surging Austin Prock to reach the finals.
It was a great weekend for Lee, who debuted IGTG.com and PerimeterOne.com sponsorships.
“We’re a professional full-time team, racing part-time,” Lee said. “That’s what we are. We have a team as good as anyone out here. I’m really proud of my team and everybody loves racing with us. IGTG, Scott, the whole crowd, thanks for being with us this weekend and giving them a good show.
“I’ll tell you what, we’re out here to win. When we come out here to race, we’re here to win. We’re not out here just to qualify or go rounds, we’re here to win.”
3 – LANGDON SWEEPS THE NEW VENUES – NHRA added four new facilities to the schedule for the 2026 season. Six months later, Shawn Langdon can boast something no one else can: He won all four.
Langdon completed the sweep Sunday at Rockingham Dragway, beating Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta on a holeshot in the Top Fuel final and giving The Rock its first 340-mph run in the process.
Langdon left with a .024-second reaction time and covered the track in 3.739 seconds at a booming 342.73 mph. Kalitta was quicker with a 3.722 at 330.40, but Langdon’s starting-line advantage and massive speed at the finish made the difference.
The victory was Langdon’s third straight, following wins at the U.S. Nationals and the Great Lakes Nationals. He’s 2-for-2 in the Countdown to the Championship postseason.
It is also his second three-race winning streak this season. With four races remaining, Langdon now has seven victories and owns a 25-point advantage over Kalitta.
“We knew for the final round we had to make a picture-perfect run,” Langdon said. “AJ [Alan Johnson, Doug Kalitta’s crew chief] has been running really well. He’s got a great handle on that car. The Mac Tools guys have been doing a great job, and Doug’s been really lights-out this year. I knew going to the final, I had to figure out a way to find something on the starting line.”
Langdon needed it.
Kalitta had been four-hundredths quicker in the semifinals, leaving crew chief Brian Husen with some homework and Langdon knowing there was little room for error.
The result was about as close to perfect as they could ask.
Langdon defeated Cam Ferre, Billy Torrence, and Shawn Reed before facing Kalitta, putting considerable separation between the Kalitta teammates and everyone else. Tony Stewart sits third, 155 points behind Langdon. Kalitta Motorsports has now won 11 of the season’s 16 events.
“We’re out here to win races and you have to be perfect in order to do things like this,” Langdon said. “We’re just bonding together and working hard and keeping our heads, working just as hard for the next one.”
4 – WELL, BACK IN MY DAY – There was a day when Greg Stanfield saw himself as one of the young guns in a Pro Stock class loaded with seasoned veterans. That was roughly 25 years ago.
Now Stanfield looks around, sees the young talent coming after him, and figures there is no better place to be than right in the middle of the fight.
Stanfield proved Sunday at Rockingham Dragway that experience still travels pretty well.
He defeated rookie Cody Anderson on a holeshot in the final round of the NHRA Nationals at The Rock, running 6.537 seconds at 210.48 mph after leaving with a .019-second reaction time. Anderson was quicker at 6.525, but Stanfield had already done the decisive damage at the starting line.
The victory was Stanfield’s second of the season and eighth in Pro Stock, moving him into the championship lead by 31 points over Matt Hartford and 39 over Dallas Glenn.
Stanfield earned every bit of it. He beat his son Aaron, Matt Latino, and reigning NHRA champion Glenn, cutting a .005 light against Glenn in the semifinals before taking down Anderson.
“Anybody can win in this class right now,” Stanfield said. “I mean, it is incredible how tight it is. The points battle is going to go all the way to the end.”
The irony isn’t lost on Stanfield. When he came into Pro Stock, racers built their cars, served as crew chief, worked on their engines, and often drove the transporter, too.
Today, the veteran can concentrate on driving — and occasionally sitting down between rounds.
“So at my age, I feel great,” Stanfield said. “I can come back, make a run, I’ll go sit in a chair and go, ‘Man, this is nice, not [having] to worry about what the next call is.’ So I’m enjoying it. I love racing with Aaron. So, I’m having a blast.”
5 – PLAYING THE GAME – Richard Gadson didn’t have the quickest motorcycle at Rockingham Dragway. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t mandatory for a victory Sunday.
Gadson decided survival was more important than swagger, and four green lights later, the reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champion was holding the Wally and carrying a larger points lead out of town.
Gadson won the NHRA Nationals at The Rock when teammate Gaige Herrera left .018-seconds too soon in the final. Gadson went 6.789 seconds at 199.65 mph for his third victory this season and seventh of his career, increasing his championship lead to 64 points over Herrera with four races remaining.
“I feel like I got away with one out here this weekend,” Gadson said. “It wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t glamorous, it wasn’t headline worthy, but we’re here holding our third Diamond Wally here at Rockingham Dragway.”
The starting line became as much an opponent as anyone in the other lane.
Gadson said reaction-time characteristics during the past two events – brought into play by a different timing system than the racers had seen all season – forced riders to adjust. For someone who has spent years training himself to attack the tree, his solution was counterintuitive — practice slowing himself down.
He used an app Saturday night until he fell asleep, practiced again Sunday morning, and returned to it in the trailer between runs.
“In order to win the race, you’ve got to be green four times,” Gadson said. “So that was my motto today.”
Herrera chased elapsed time. Gadson chased win lights.
“Gaige went for the E.T., and he got away with it for three rounds, and we decided, ‘You know what, man? We’re just going to race our lane,’” Gadson said. “So this weekend it was survival, and I had four green lights and it got me a win here at Rockingham Dragway.”
There was psychological warfare, too. Gadson admitted publicly declaring Herrera had the better motorcycle and calling it his race to lose was calculated. The longtime grudge racer isn’t apologizing for using every available weapon in a championship fight.
“I’ll take whatever I can get, whatever edge I can get, whatever I can do,” Gadson said. “The gloves are off.”
And Gadson knows exactly where his advantage might have to come from.
“So if it’s psychological warfare, then that’s what it is because I can’t beat them in E.T. warfare,” Gadson said. “I’ll take what I can get.”
6 – CLOSE ENOUGH – Michael Stavrinos didn’t have the quicker race car in Sunday’s Pro Mod final at Rockingham Dragway – but he had something Justin Bond couldn’t overcome, and that was the starting line.
Stavrinos used a .039-second reaction time and a 5.664-second pass at 254.09 mph to steal the NHRA Nationals at The Rock final on a holeshot. Bond was quicker at 5.656 and faster at 257.29, but by then Stavrinos had already gobbled up enough real estate to make the difference.
The payoff was bigger than another Wally.
Stavrinos’ second victory of the season and fifth of his career vaulted him into the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series points lead for the first time this year. With two races remaining in the Road to the Championship, he holds a razor-thin nine-point advantage over Bond. Pro Mod teams are back in action next weekend (Oct. 2-4) at Madison, Ill., and wrap up their season Oct. 29-Nov. 1 in Las Vegas.
Nothing about the trip to the final suggested Stavrinos had stumbled into the opportunity.
He took out Kevin Rivenbark before eliminating reigning NHRA titlist J.R. Gray and veteran Rickie Smith. Then, with the championship lead effectively a duel between himself and Bond, Stavrinos delivered where drivers get paid — on the starting line.
“I was focused as I could be,” Stavrinos said. “What a day at Rockingham. This place is awesome and to get the first win here, that’s just great. I love it here and my team is amazing.”
Bond didn’t exactly back into the championship round, either. He defeated Mike Castellana, Tony Wilson, and Derek Menholt to reach his fourth final of the season.
Menholt remains close enough to make Stavrinos and Bond uncomfortable, sitting third and 43 points out of the lead. Billy Banaka is fourth, 84 points off the pace.
7 – REED STILL FUMING – Apparently Shawn Reed hasn’t calmed down after last week’s ruling his 11th-place finish in the regular-season points standings didn’t qualify for a Countdown to the Championship berth despite having attended all events. Reed alleged NHRA said he was okay to miss a session back at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, and then reneged on the permission.
“NHRA, they didn’t let me in the Countdown this year, and I’m pretty pissed off about it and my guys are pretty pissed off about it,” Reed said. “So all we can do is come out here and hopefully we can get a response out of NHRA. But for now, we can just come out here and piss people off and that’s all we aim to do.
8 – YOUNG BULL BEATS OLD BULL – Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. Greg Anderson told his son and fellow Pro Stock racer Cody Anderson to, “kick my ass,”
Never say Cody Anderson doesn’t listen to his old man.
The younger Anderson left the line first, .034 seconds to .060, and never looked back as his dad pushed in the clutch, winning with a 6.532, 209.30.
“It’s so bittersweet right now,” Cody said. “A little emotional. I’ve always rooted on my dad and here we are, we’re beating him and, yeah, that’s tough. But I’m looking forward to going to the next round and we beat two greats today, so we’re having a great day.”
9 – WHAT DID I DO TO YOU? PART 2 – Last weekend at the NHRA Great Lakes Nationals, Daniel Wilkerson was cruising through the first round of eliminations until he ran into a suddenly on-track Jordan Vandergriff, who had gotten the derailed Cornwell Tools Funny Car back on track.
Wilkerson wasn’t necessarily derailed in Rockingham, but his 13th-best run of 3.98 seconds in qualifying wasn’t the worst in Funny Car – nor was it in the ballpark as Jack Beckman’s 3.911.
Wilkerson won it on a holeshot with his best run of the weekend, a 3.931. 327.27 that beat Beckman’s 3.916, 324.44. The margin at the finish was 6/10,000ths of a second.
“That’s a pretty lucky win, I think,” said Tim Wilkerson, Daniel’s father. “That’s a great team over there, but Dan’s doing a great job and I’ve been letting him down. So I thought it’d go a little faster than that, to tell you the truth. I wouldn’t have beaten anybody else in this round, but we were racing the right guy and God bless that.”
Daniel didn’t care – a win is a win.
“I finally got one, huh? I’m just so proud of these guys,” Dan said. “We had some adversity this weekend. These stupid funny cars do stupid funny car stuff, so we overcame a little bit there on that run.
“Team owner Randy Gloede was a little nervous about racing Jack Beckman first round and I told him, ‘We did that on purpose, bro. We were stock racing again. We’re back to our bracket-racing days. We’re loading the ladder on purpose. We got to get these big guys out of here first.’”
“We’re not trying to just be eighth, ninth, seventh, we’re trying to win this whole stupid thing.”
10 – PLOURD LOSES AND WINS TO HEADLINE SPORTSMAN – Brad Plourd came within one round of pulling off a Rockingham double. When that opportunity disappeared, he found another way to make the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock memorable.
Plourd lost the Stock Eliminator final to Cody Phillips, then returned to win Right Trailers Top Dragster, becoming only the third driver in NHRA history to win national events in seven categories.
Phillips made sure the double was never going to be easy. He drilled the Tree with a perfect .000 reaction time and ran 10.351 on his 10.31 dial to defeat Plourd by .012 seconds, roughly two feet, for his second career Wally.
Plourd didn’t have to wait long for another shot. Steve Furr went red by .001 in the Top Dragster final, handing Plourd his first victory in the category and putting a seventh eliminator on his NHRA résumé.
Joe Carnasciale won Competition Eliminator despite Monty Bogan’s .012 reaction time to his .084. Carnasciale chased him down with an 8.876 against his 9.46 F/EA index for his fifth career Wally and second this season.
Super Stock ended at the starting line when Dan Fletcher left .002 too soon, turning the win over to Bryan Worner. The victory was Worner’s ninth career Wally.
Hayden James made his first national event final count, cutting a .003 light and running 8.920 on the 8.90 Super Comp index to defeat Mike Robilotto for his first Wally.
Tim Powell finished the Sportsman winners list with a .007 reaction time in Super Gas. Jock Lisenby broke out with a 9.854 against the 9.90 index, giving Powell his third career Wally and second this season.
10B – DO WHAT???? – There’s a few nuggets of information that often slips out in starting line and shutdown interviews.
“We’ve made up some really good points this weekend, ran hella good yesterday. We made Saturday our bitch.” – Alexis DeJoria discussing her team’s good Saturday performance after her first round win.
“Cameron is a fantastic driver. If the man just had a good race car, he would be a world champion.” – Top Fuel team co-owner Jerry Freeman after his driver Cameron Ferre gave Shawn Langdon a challenge in the first round.
“That’s the second time that car has gone down the track, and I’ve had about 10 different tuneups in it.” – Rob Wendland, after his driver Clay Millican defeated Tony Stewart in the first round.
“It feels like the good ol’ DSR days.” – Matt Hagan on his second-round match against former teammate Ron Capps.
“Yeah, well, the interim crew chief, he’s making headway for the real thing.” – Shawn Reed correcting top-end announcer Courtney Enders after she described Ryan Elliot as his crew chief getting his first round win.
“There is something about racing dad that seems to get to Aaron Stanfield.” – NHRA announcer Jason Galvin after Aaron went red against Greg Stanfield in the first round.
“I was trying to keep my composure because I love America and firing up. It’s just so patriotic here, but what a great place to race.” – Maddi Gordon after beating Justin Ashley in the first round.
“Let me tell you, [at] half-track it was pulling me. It pulled my head down and toward the finish line, it wanted to move me inside again.” – Jordan Vandergriff on his first round win over Chad Green.
