Shawn Langdon delivered the quickest run of the night Friday at Texas Motorplex, racing to the provisional No. 1 spot at the 40th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals and earning a $15,000 “JEGS Friday Night Live” bonus.
Austin Prock (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also claimed provisional No. 1 qualifying positions at the 18th of 20 events during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, which also serves as the fourth of six Countdown to the Championship races.
Langdon powered his Kalitta Air 25th anniversary dragster to a 3.684-second pass at 338.88 mph as he aims for his first No. 1 qualifier of the year and the 22nd of his career. The former world champion won the “Battle for the Saddle” in Dallas against a stacked Top Fuel field and hopes to add his first career Texas Motorplex victory to remain in championship contention.
Langdon, who sits third in points behind Justin Ashley and teammate Doug Kalitta, knows he likely needs a win to keep his title hopes alive. “We know our team’s capable of it,” Langdon said. “We just ran into certain situations throughout the year and got behind a little bit here and there. Brian [Husen, crew chief] is doing a really good job with the car. We felt like tonight was important. Brian felt like he could go 3.68 and that was his target, and that’s what it ran, so it gives me a lot of confidence because it shows he’s got a handle on the car.”
“There’s three races left and we’re in the position we’re at, however many points back, so we just need to go win,” he continued. “We’ve got to get a couple wins in there.”
Shawn Reed followed closely in second with a 3.685 at 333.56, and defending event winner Ashley was third with a 3.688 at 338.02 mph.
More than $40,000 in total bonus money was at stake for the quickest drivers under the lights in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Top Fuel and Funny Car low qualifiers each earned $15,000, with $7,500 awarded in Pro Stock and $5,000 in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
In Funny Car, reigning world champion Austin Prock swept both “JEGS Friday Night Live” and the “Battle for the Saddle,” cashing another $15,000 bonus after running 3.876 seconds at 336.07 mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS.
Coming off an early-round loss in St. Louis, the strong performance was a critical recovery for Prock, who saw his lead shrink to just 20 points over Matt Hagan. With eight wins already this year, Prock said he’s not focused on the standings—just victories. “It’s whoever wins the most in these last three races,” Prock said. “I’m not even counting points at this point. It’s so close. We just got to go out there and try and win the next three races, and if we do that, we’ll be back-to-back world champions, and that’s got a nice ring to it.”
“The mindset this weekend was to just go out there and kill it,” he added. “Getting this No. 1 qualifier, this should hold on for the rest of the weekend. The track is going to continuously get better and hopefully we can do some damage on Sunday. I’m ready for the fight.”
Ron Capps is currently second at 3.889, 334.55 mph, and Jack Beckman follows in third with a 3.892 at 330.83.
Greg Anderson extended his mastery of Texas Motorplex in Pro Stock, earning the $7,500 bonus with a 6.497-second, 209.88 mph pass in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. For the second consecutive year, the reigning champion claimed the “Battle for the Saddle” title and continues his bid for a seventh No. 1 qualifier in 2025.
Dallas has long been favorable ground for Anderson, who has six career wins at the facility and is coming off a victory in St. Louis. The KB Titan Racing veteran has tightened the points gap behind teammate and leader Dallas Glenn and sees this weekend as another opportunity to close the distance.
“I’ve done this a while and there’s not much that gets my heart ticking, but it did tonight,” Anderson said. “When you look around and the lighting is just perfect, absolutely perfect, it’s magical. It feels fantastic, and you just tell yourself over and over, focus, man, focus. It really felt nice.”
“The run was very nice,” he added. “I saw Dallas’ [6.507] scoreboard ahead of me, and I knew that was going to be tough to get around, let alone Cory Reed in the other lane. I’m just super proud of the KB Titan team. They did a great job.”
Reed is second with a 6.504 at 210.99, and Glenn’s 6.507 has him third.
Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Richard Gadson claimed the top spot under the lights with a 6.747 at 201.59 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki. Gadson was the quickest in both sessions, earning the $5,000 “JEGS Friday Night Live” bonus and potentially his second No. 1 qualifier of the year.
It’s been a career-defining season for Gadson, who extended his points lead with two consistent passes. “From the championship standpoint, obviously, I’m counting every point I can find,” Gadson said. “I’m just feeling good about the bike, feeling good about the performance, and you know, I’m holding on for dear life [to the points lead] right now, so I’ll take anything I can get. I’m 29 points ahead with three races to go.”
“Championship battle aside, I’ve always wanted to have a specialty low qualifier Friday,” he added. “We have a few of them throughout the year, but none of them are like the Stampede of Speed, where you get to get up there on the [saddle]. I’ve always wanted to sit up there. I don’t think I ever have. So this was pretty cool.”
Defending world champion Gaige Herrera, seeking his third consecutive Dallas win, sits second at 6.767 and 200.35 mph, while rookie Brayden Davis holds third at 6.772, 200.53.
Qualifying continues Saturday at noon Central at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex.
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