Doug Kalitta rolled into Route 66 Raceway on Friday night looking like a driver ready to remind the rest of the Top Fuel field that the road to the championship still runs through Kalitta Motorsports.
The reigning NHRA champion blasted to a 3.720-second run at 338.17 mph to grab the provisional No. 1 qualifying position at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals. It puts Kalitta in line to be the top qualifier for the second race in a row and for the 68th time in his career.
The Chicago-area track has always treated Kalitta well, even if victory lane has stayed quiet for him there over the last two decades. The veteran driver owns three wins at the facility, but another one Sunday would erase the four-point gap in the points between him and the Top Fuel leader, teammate Shawn Langdon.
Friday night showed just how narrow the performance margin has become.
“I was happy to hear that Alan [crew chief Johnson] was happy on the starting line. That was cool. I was super happy,” Kalitta said. “It was kind of interesting before that run. They put weight on the clutch, and the next thing you know, they’re doing this, doing that so you can kind of tell that they’re hopping it up. It looked like we needed every bit of it because everybody’s running super close.
“This place is a cool place to run. It’s close to home, and we’ve just got a lot of our friends from Michigan here, so, we’re just happy that we have a good run in.”
The biggest surprise in Top Fuel might not have been Kalitta sitting No. 1. It may have been rookie Maddi Gordon continuing to run like somebody who’s unfazed by on-the-job training.
Fresh off a pair of 340-mph blasts in Valdosta, Georgia, two weeks ago, Gordon landed second Friday with a 3.738, 334.90 run. Billy Torrence sits third with a 3.746, 336.32, while Langdon ended the night in the 13th spot.
In Funny Car, Jack Beckman picked up right where he left off a year ago at Route 66 Raceway.
Driving the PEAK-backed Chevrolet for John Force Racing, Beckman ran 3.913 at 329.99 to secure the provisional top spot. If it holds, Beckman will collect his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 34th of his career.
The run mattered after an early exit two weeks ago in Valdosta. Funny Car has been unforgiving this season, and drivers who stumble one weekend suddenly find themselves chasing the field the next.
“That last run was entertaining and scary. It was just a handful and it was entertaining. I hope everybody in the stands was half as entertained as I was,” Beckman said.
“I’m just incredibly satisfied that we’ve got some bonus points so far. We’ve made two absolutely solid runs, one in each lane. We have great data. We can now afford to push on Saturday, and if we push too hard, that’ll teach us something as well. It really just sets us up for a lot more race-day success.”
Ron Capps was an ultra-close second at 3.916, 330.31, while Cruz Pedregon grabbed third with a 3.920. Points leader J.R. Todd sits fourth.
Valdosta winner Jordan Vandergriff ended up 16th after officials disqualified his second-session run because of a pinned parachute.
If Friday night proved anything in Pro Stock, it is that Erica Enders led the way in qualifying to show that Elite Motorsports may be about to break out of an early season slump.
Enders drove to the provisional top spot with a 6.542, 209.92, at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, the same facility where she earned her first Pro Stock victory back in 2012. The six-time champion entered the weekend sitting seventh in points after a frustrating start to the season.
On Friday, her car responded, the confidence returned, and suddenly the conversation around Elite Motorsports shifted from survival mode to possible event contender.
“It’s definitely a good feeling and I’m excited,” Enders said. “It’s fun to have the provisional No. 1 after the first session. I’m obviously surprised that we stayed No. 1, but I honestly don’t think that we’re fast. The [2025] season was extremely rough for our entire organization and ’26 hasn’t started off on the right foot, either, but we’ve been working really hard, and it’s about tenacity and not giving up, and just keep plugging away at it, and that’s what my guys are really good at.
“I love coming here. I’ve been coming here my entire life and embracing it in all different categories. But I remember vividly winning here in 2012 and being in this very press room, and I was talking to the media, and Bob Glidden called my phone and I’ll never forget it. That was so cool because he was my hero and a legend, and that was my first win. It’s been a long, crazy, crazy road, but I think it is serendipitous, and I love racing here. I think it would be great if this were the turning point.”
Jeg Coughlin Jr. landed second with a 6.543 while teammate Greg Stanfield completed an Elite Motorsports sweep of the top three.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Angie Smith continued what has quietly become one of the strongest qualifying stretches in the class.
Smith led both Friday sessions and finished with a 6.738, 200.17 on her Denso Auto Parts Buell. The performance places her in position for a second No. 1 qualifier this season and keeps Matt Smith Racing planted firmly at the front of the category in qualifying.
The only thing missing so far has been a win. Smith made it clear Friday she knows exactly what people around the class have been saying.
“It felt really good,” Smith said. “We went home, and after Valdosta, since we had some time, we took my motor out and freshened it up.
“I knew it was a good run. I did not think that it would hold, just because of Gaige [Herrera], Richard [Gadson] and Matt’s [Smith] success with tracks like this that are fast tracks, but it did, and I’m pretty happy with it. We’ve been working hard on our 60-foot program, because there have been a couple of other people in the class talking a little bit of smack, telling us that we needed to go to work on our 60-foot program.”
Reigning NHRA champion Richard Gadson sits second with a 6.778, while Gaige Herrera ended Friday in the third spot.
Qualifying resumes at noon Central on Saturday with Top Fuel action at Route 66 Raceway.
