Although Dallas Glenn is the reigning NHRA Pro Stock champion and has won two races in 2026, he wasn’t brimming with optimism for this weekend’s New England Nationals.
“Honestly, I didn’t have the most confidence coming into this race,” Glenn said. “I know that we went to the final at the last race. But historically, I don’t feel like this has been one of my better racetracks. The starting line is fairly tricky, especially when the sun comes out.”
Well, Glenn’s thoughts on Epping made a 360-degree turn by Sunday evening since he was standing in the winner’s circle.
Glenn won at New England Dragway for the first time, clocking a 6.543-second time at 209.39 mph to edge Matt Hartford’s 6.550-second at 209.92 mph.
Glenn boosted his victory chances, thanks to a .002-second reaction time in the finals.
“Final round was I didn’t know the rain was coming, but we got up there and [crew chief] Dave [Connolly] said that it was definitely going to run better if it went,” Glenn said. “He said he was going to be aggressive. I knew I had hit the tree pretty good the round before, so I just kind of left everything alone. And if he’s getting aggressive, it usually helps the light a little bit. …
“I was kind of happy that I didn’t have lane choice and they didn’t stick me in the right lane. I feel like it’s a little easier to cut a light in the left. So, we’ve been making good runs. I think the left lane’s just a little bumpier down track, and it kind of makes people a little nervous. We were just working on the car all day, just picking away at it, making it a little bit better and a little bit better. And apparently, if you give Dave Connolly enough runs, he finally gets it.”
Glenn, who drives the RAD Torque Systems Chevy Camaro for KB Titan Racing, won his 24th career NHRA Pro Stock Wally and his third this season to go along with his victories in Phoenix and Valdosta, Ga.
“I didn’t know it was .002,” Glenn said about his light in the final round. “When I got down there, I got out of the car and I said, ‘Please, was I at least double-oh something that time?’ I thought maybe a high .00 because you never know how much it’s really going to pick up. But I must have hit it pretty good, and the car was working the way it was supposed to. So, seeing 002, it’s kind of it was like, ‘Ooh, I’m glad I didn’t go red. That’s really close to being .001 red and throwing it all away.’ But overall, I knew Hartford was going to be fast. He had to do that engine swap for the semis and made a really nice run. So, I figured he was going to actually pick up a little bit.
“He dropped off a little bit. I was fully expecting him to go 53 something, and I knew I needed to get enough on the tree to get around him. But overall, it was a great day. Every race was a great race.”
Glenn’s victory march consisted of wins over Shane Tucker, Erica Enders, No. 1 qualifier and his teammate Greg Anderson – on a hole shot – and then Hartford.
“Greg had passed me with all of his bonus points that he has been getting, so I had to get him back,” Glenn said. “I seem to have a better track record of facing him in the semis, even though I prefer to race him in the final. Maybe I just need to qualify on the same side every time against him. He definitely always does his job against me, and I think that was no mistake there. He just didn’t make as good of a run as he normally does. I was hoping I could just get enough on the tree where it wouldn’t matter. You got to take out Greg Anderson before he really gets going.”
That’s a similar mindset opponents in Top Fuel might have regarding Kalitta Motorsports drivers Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta, who have won five of the seven national events this season. Glenn (three) and Anderson (two) have combined to win five of the eight national events in 2026. The Top Fuel and nitro Funny Car final rounds at Epping were postponed because of rain and will be completed Friday at Bristol, Tenn.
“I mean, just like the two Kalitta boys, anytime you have two cars and two fantastic drivers, you’re bound to have some really good drag races, and it’s the same as in our camp,” Glenn said. “We’ve got a lot of really good race cars and a lot of really good race car drivers. And Greg, there’s nobody who can say he doesn’t have any experience of being competitive in a final round. So, as long as we both do our job, then we’re going to put on a great show for the fans.
“Greg’s competitive nature is even though we have three [races] in a row right here, everybody’s tired, everybody’s wore out, I guarantee you come Monday night when he flies in, he’s still going to go to the shop and start working on stuff. I mean, the guy, he’s a workaholic. [We] try to get him to go golfing or take a vacation once in a while. It’s like a sin in the shop there. We can’t do that: ‘What do you mean, go golf or something? No, we got to take apart this engine.’ That just shows how competitive Greg is. And I know that there is nothing in this world that he wants to do more than to beat me every time that we race. I know that I have to do everything the best that I can and try to take a shot at him because his car’s fast, and he always does a good job against me.”
With Anderson and Connolly on his KB Titan Racing Team, Glenn knew he would be put in position to win. Connolly won in Epping in 2014, and Anderson has Epping titles in 2015-16, and 2025 on his resume.
“Those guys, they have a lot of knowledge of this track and how to make cars work well. And we were just kind of fighting my car a little bit. We were just kind of going back and forth on a few things, and it never quite hit its happy spot. I was thankful that I could do my job well enough to give Dave enough chances to try to find that nice, happy window that the car needs to live in.”
Up next for Glenn is the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., scheduled for June 12-14.
“I’m kind of looking at this season … like I never won at Phoenix before, and I won Phoenix. I had never won here [in Epping] and I won. Bristol’s another one of those that I tend to struggle at. I hear that it’s a new track surface, so we’re excited to get there and see what that is. Anytime a track does anything like that, you can see if it kind of behaves the same as it used to or not.
“And it’s kind of a weird one. Bristol’s uphill. So, for a Pro Stock car, it really is noticeable how much it slows down. But it’s another one of those that I’m really eager to do well at. Historically, it’s been a place where you need lane choice, and hopefully, this new track surface kind of takes that away because I think there were two runs, I didn’t have lane choice today and Safety Safari and NHRA did a fantastic job keeping the lanes even. It did not bother me one bit to be tossed in either lane. I was fine with whatever they threw me in. Hopefully, Bristol can be the same.”
Glenn acknowledged that when he shows up for a race weekend, he has a simple mission.
“Honestly, I don’t want to sound full or anything like that, but I come out here to get win lights. And my main goal for all of these regular season points races is, at minimum, semis. And if I’m not going to the semis, then I need to put my head down and figure out, ‘Is it me? Is it the car? Is it a combination? What do we need to do to make sure we, at minimum, get to the semis to get into that [Mission] challenge [race[? And if you get to the semis of every single race, then usually you’re pretty well up in points. And then it’s like, once I get to the semis, everything there is a bonus, and it’s time to start taking shots because anybody who’s left there, they’ve earned it, and they’re doing good, and it’s going to be tough. So honestly, I still don’t feel like a world champion. I just feel like, ‘Okay, yeah, I’ve done it once. I know I can do it. I don’t need to think about it.’
“I’m just focused on this year, and going up there and trying to be a little bit more relaxed. I don’t have that pressure of trying to prove that I can be a world champion.”
