Rockingham (NC) Dragway waited 28 years for the return of NHRA nitro racing. Doug Kalitta and Ron Capps didn’t waste much time reminding the place what it had been missing.
Kalitta, the 2025 NHRA Top Fuel champion, came out on top Friday with a 3.682-second run at 338.09 mph. Capps closed the night by hammering out a 3.870 at 330.40 to lead Funny Car qualifying at the NHRA Nationals at The Rock.
Matt Hartford grabbed the provisional No. 1 position in Pro Stock with a 6.476 at 212.87, and Angie Smith turned homestate Rockingham familiarity into a career-best 6.674 at 201.61 to lead Pro Stock Motorcycle.
For a track returning to the NHRA schedule for the first time since 1998, when it last hosted the non-points Winston Invitational, action Friday provided something better than nostalgia. It provided numbers.
Kalitta supplied the biggest one in Top Fuel.
Second in the Countdown standings behind Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon, Kalitta was the only driver to break into the 3.60s Friday. His 3.682 moved him around Tony Stewart and put him in position for a sixth No. 1 qualifier this season.
“The car is just going down the track nice and smooth,” Kalitta said. “When we were in Michigan [last weekend], the track was just in great shape there, but it’s a lot happier here for some reason. The track seems nice and smooth. Alan [Johnson] and Mac [Savage, crew chiefs] and all my guys were super hungry. Brian [Husen and teammate Shawn Langdon] won the last two races, so we’re trying to keep up with him and everybody else out here.”
Qualifying points “can be so important. Every point counts. We’ve all lost close points races,” he added. “I try not to get too wrapped up in it – more on Sunday where there are 20-point swings – but we’re down to five races, so you have to. I’ve got a great car, great group behind me. We have a lot of momentum, so we just got to carry on and see what we can do to keep leading the charge.”
Stewart ended Friday second at 3.720, 336.32, with Leah Pruett third at 3.734, 323.74. Langdon, the points leader and winner of the previous two races, sits seventh.
If Kalitta made the loudest statement in Top Fuel, Capps saved Funny Car’s best shot for last.
The three-time champion unloaded a 3.870 at 330.40 in the second session, one of only two Funny Cars to reach the 3.80s. Capps entered Rockingham fourth in points, 63 behind leader Matt Hagan, making every qualifying point increasingly valuable with a handful of races remaining.
Capps also had a reference point most of the field didn’t. He raced here the last time NHRA came to Rockingham in 1998 and reached the final round.
“Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli] and I, we’re like these two OG dogs. We were talking about how we were pulling up the first run. I said, ‘Man, I’m having flashbacks,’” Capps said.
“This is a completely different track. it used to be pretty bumpy, but now it’s very smooth. They did a great job. Everybody worried a little bit after the rain on Thursday. It’s got some transitions that everybody was talking about and Guido went up and watched the first Funny Car go down, and it hardly moved at all. So we were like, ‘Wow!’ And then I made my run in the left lane, and we were No. 2 at the time, but smooth. I couldn’t believe how smooth it was. So, great job by everybody.”
Austin Prock sits second after a 3.893 at 326.80, followed by Jack Beckman’s 3.911 at 327.03. Hagan ended Friday sixth with a 3.935.
The naturally aspirated cars weren’t exactly tiptoeing around The Rock, either.
Hartford fired the first serious Pro Stock shot with a 6.476 at 212.87 in the opening session, then backed it with a second-round 6.49. The points leader is chasing a third consecutive No. 1 qualifier and the eighth of his career.
“We knew it was going to be really tight when we rolled up there, and we knew we had to make a run, but we didn’t make the best run,” Hartford said. “Fortunately for us, everybody else made some good runs, but not quite quicker than us. We made a respectable run, but not what we were looking for.
“We have no data at all for this. We had no data in Martin, Maryland, Valdosta. So these new tracks are a curveball for us, but I’ve got a lot of faith in my crew and my team. They all know how to analyze what the air conditions are, what the track conditions are, and give me a car that has proven that we’ve been able to run pretty well at these new facilities.”
Dallas Glenn is second at 6.478, 212.06, with Matt Latino third at 6.479, 211.67.
Angie Smith didn’t have Hartford’s data problem. Rockingham might be a new stop on the NHRA schedule, but it is anything but unfamiliar territory for the Smith camp. Her home in King, N.C., is roughly 115 miles from The Rock.
Smith turned roughly 60 test runs at the facility this year into the quickest pass of her career, a 6.674 at 201.61. Four riders reached the 6.60s Friday, but none got around her.
“Matt [Smith] went 6.68 in the first session and I went 6.69, so I gave him some crap about it because us racers, we’re greedy,” Smith said. “We always want to go fast. I knew my bike had a little bit more left in it and he said, ‘Well, I’m going to tune you up, so you better be ready.’ Well, I was ready, and then after the run, he was like, ‘I guess I tuned you up too much.’
“I love it here. … We test here all the time, and the track personnel that runs this track when there’s not a national event here, they do an amazing job prepping the track so all the data that we get when we’re here testing, it always translates, and that’s a really good thing. So, hats off to everybody that runs this facility. I’m really glad to be here because it’s kind of home. It’s an hour and a half from our house, and there’s been a lot of fans stop by the pit to see us, and everybody likes it.”
Matt Smith sits second at 6.681, 204.17, with Ryan Oehler third at 6.681, 202.25. Points leader Richard Gadson is fourth with a 6.683 at 202.41.
The second session also included the Last Driver Standing Laptop Giveaway presented by IGTG and Perimeter.One, with the session’s top qualifier receiving an ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Nebula laptop. The Top Fuel and Funny Car low qualifiers also collected $1,000 bonuses.
Two qualifying sessions remain Saturday, beginning at noon EDT. Sunday’s eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
