Four NHRA championships are still up for grabs at Pomona, although Shawn Langdon might not need to wait until Sunday to collect his. Matt Hagan has a rookie chasing his fifth title, Dallas Glenn holds an 87-point Pro Stock lead, and two Pro Stock Motorcycle teammates have unfinished business from Las Vegas.
The In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals will close the sanctioning body’s 75th anniversary season with championships undecided in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Points-and-a-half during eliminations could make Sunday uncomfortable for anybody who hasn’t already clinched.
Langdon holds a 107-point advantage over Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta, who kept his Top Fuel championship hopes alive by winning Las Vegas. The reigning champion needs help to keep Langdon from collecting his second career title.
“We’re still in a really good spot,” Langdon said. “We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and go to Pomona to see what we can do. We know where the points are and the challenges we face. We also know what our goals are and what the Kalitta Air team can do.”
Langdon can clinch by winning Sunday’s opening round if qualifying doesn’t change the margin. He could finish the job Saturday by outscoring Kalitta by at least 13 points during qualifying.
Kalitta knows about championships slipping away at Pomona, having lost the 2006 title to Tony Schumacher on the season’s final run. Twenty years later, he’s the one trying to pull off the comeback.
Matt Hagan had more breathing room in Funny Car before Jordan Vandergriff won Las Vegas. Now the four-time champion heads to Pomona just 39 points ahead of a rookie who hasn’t shown much concern about the company he’s keeping.
Vandergriff needs to advance at least two rounds further than Hagan unless qualifying changes the numbers. Cutting the deficit below 30 points could set up a winner-take-all meeting.
Hagan has eight Pomona victories, second only to John Force among Funny Car drivers. A fifth championship would move him ahead of Don Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein on the all-time title list.
“I’m excited to come back to Pomona for the finale,” Hagan said. “Obviously, we want to win the 2026 Funny Car world championship, and we put our Dodge in the winner’s circle in April with the prestigious 1000th Funny Car race. I’m tied with the ‘Snake’ and ‘King Kenny’ at four world championships, and I really want to be second to John Force with Funny Car titles.
“We have been running very well with our Dodge//SRT Hellcat in the six-race ‘Countdown (to the Championship). We had a strong car at Las Vegas two weeks ago and just missed on advancing to the semifinals. Now, we know what is on the line at Pomona — the coveted fifth title. I know our TSR Dodge crew is up for the challenge. It’s time to perform and take the championship.”
Vandergriff beat Hagan to the winner’s circle in Las Vegas. Doing it again at Pomona could cost the veteran his fifth championship.
J.R. Todd remains in contention, although his 104-point deficit leaves little room for error. He’ll need a strong Pomona performance and early exits from Hagan and Vandergriff to have a shot at his second Funny Car championship.
Dallas Glenn has won the last two Pro Stock races, qualified No. 1 at both and made the quickest run in class history. He leads Matt Hartford by 87 points and Greg Stanfield by 99.
Glenn predicted a bloodbath before the Countdown, then experienced some of it himself. A first-round loss in Michigan and semifinal defeat at Rockingham preceded his late-season turnaround.
“I felt like I absolutely got crushed in the semis of Rockingham,” Glenn said. “We felt a little bit better, but we put up a good fight in St. Louis, but still lost to Stanfield.”
If Glenn stretches his advantage over Hartford beyond 90 points entering eliminations, an opening-round victory will secure the championship. Otherwise, he could need to reach the second round, depending on qualifying points.
Glenn admitted in Las Vegas that he hadn’t realized his advantage had reached 87 points. A few qualifying bonuses could make Sunday considerably easier.
“I didn’t know it was 87, so that makes me happy that it’s kind of close to that 90 mark,” Glenn said. “If I can get enough points in qualifying over Hartford, then maybe we can squeeze another round against him there and that will kind of take a lot of the pressure off for Pomona.”
Richard Gadson and Gaige Herrera have two races to settle at Pomona, beginning with their postponed Las Vegas Pro Stock Motorcycle final during Saturday qualifying. Gadson enters with a 55-point championship advantage over his teammate.
A Gadson victory would increase his lead to 75 points, while Herrera could cut it to 35 by winning. Qualifying bonuses could reduce Herrera’s deficit below 30 points, opening the possibility of a winner-take-all meeting Sunday.
Herrera and Gadson have waited two weeks to finish their Las Vegas final. They’ll settle that Saturday before racing for the Pomona trophy and potentially the championship Sunday.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be emotional. It’s going to be heart-aching. We’re both going to be sweating the whole weekend basically,” Herrera said. “Richard’s going to have two weeks to think about me open him up two times at Pomona. So we’ll see what happens.”
Gadson knows Herrera’s motorcycle is fast enough to make his weekend miserable. He figures a little extra attention to crew chief Eddie Krawiec might not hurt, either.
“His bike’s fast,” Gadson said. “So for me to look in the rearview mirror and look at what’s coming behind me, it’s hard to watch, right? So I’m going to just do a lot of praying and a lot of… I might bring Eddie some dinner or something like that. Say, ‘Man, you got any tricks up your sleeve?'”
Gadson isn’t complaining about having the championship decided on the racetrack. He’s ready for the challenge, even if it means racing his teammate twice.
“This is what we were born for. This is what we were built for. This is the way it should have been,” Gadson said. “You better have a lot of fun Friday because Saturday and Sunday is going to be serious as hell.”
Glenn has already experienced how quickly a championship lead can shrink during the Countdown. His 87-point advantage provides some insurance, but he’s not planning to change his approach.
“We just have to kind of keep our head down, keep working, keep trying to improve and keep making good runs because if I know anything about Pomona, you definitely can’t relax no matter how much of a point lead you have,” Glenn said.
