Jordan Vandergriff continued his breakout Funny Car season with his second victory of the year, while Doug Kalitta extended his Top Fuel dominance at Sonoma Raceway, and Greg Stanfield successfully defended his Pro Stock title Sunday at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge.
The 11th race of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season concluded before another sellout crowd, giving NHRA three consecutive days of capacity attendance at the northern California facility.
Vandergriff defeated Daniel Wilkerson in the Funny Car final with a run of 3.900 seconds at 330.72 mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS, collecting the second victory of his career. The Brea, Calif., native capped a dominant weekend after qualifying No. 1 and posting the quickest Funny Car elapsed time during eliminations.
After sweeping through qualifying, Vandergriff eliminated Jason Rupert, Matt Hagan and reigning NHRA champion Austin Prock to reach the final. The victory also moved him to second in the Funny Car point standings.
“My team behind me had the car running so well and so smooth at this race,” Vandergriff said. “Today was one of those days where I got up there, and I knew I was going to go straight and true. Heading into this final round, I knew that we had the car.
“Getting my second win, it means a lot because after my first win, I remember sitting home, on the couch, looking at the Wally, and I’m thinking, ‘You know, how do I get a second one?’ The first one felt like such a whirlwind and a dream come true. This is my job. My job is to come to John Force Racing and win Wallys for Cornwell Quality Tools. Now I’m going to go home and look at two Wallys and ask myself how to get a third.”
Wilkerson reached his second final round of the season after defeating Hunter Green, Spencer Hyde, and Jack Beckman. Ron Capps maintained the Funny Car points lead despite a first-round loss, and holds a 74-point advantage over Vandergriff.
Kalitta added another milestone to his Sonoma résumé by earning his seventh Top Fuel victory at the facility, defeating Jasmine Salinas in the final with a pass of 3.731, 339.36, in his Aflac dragster.
The reigning NHRA champion qualified No. 1, earned the Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier bonus and defeated Clay Millican and Antron Brown before meeting Salinas in the final. The victory was the 61st of Kalitta’s career and his second straight at Sonoma Raceway.
“This is a very special place for me,” Kalitta said. “We had a little dry spell through the years, but I’m glad that we managed to get the last two wins here.
“It’s been 30 years since, unfortunately, we lost Blaine Johnson and I’m going to have the honor of giving this trophy to Alan this evening once we get done with this. It’s very deserving with everything he’s put into this sport. Blaine was a hell of a driver, so this is going to be an honor. This is the time of the year where it gets really fun because we’re all battling for points. We’re still quite a ways behind Shawn [Langdon], but we’ve got enough time to do it.”
Salinas advanced to the first final round of her Top Fuel career with victories over Josh Hart, Langdon and Leah Pruett. Kalitta closed to within 85 points of teammate Langdon in the championship standings.
Stanfield also repeated as Sonoma winner, defeating Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders on a holeshot in the Pro Stock final. Stanfield’s .015 reaction time and 6.551-second pass at 211.30 mph held off Enders’ quicker 6.550-second run.
The victory was Stanfield’s seventh career professional win and marked Elite Motorsports’ fifth consecutive Pro Stock victory at Sonoma Raceway. Stanfield reached the final by defeating Aaron Stanfield, Mason McGaha, and Jeg Coughlin Jr.
“I’m not sure why I do so well here. It must be the wine,” Stanfield said. “It’s a great place with great fans and I just feel really comfortable here. The Elite cars are fast right now. I’m just proud, excited, and thankful to be driving for them.
“The racing is so tight today, so the driving part of it is really critical. Today was obviously a good day. When I race, I really don’t look who’s in the other lane. I just try to focus on my side and what I can do and try to do the best I can.
“On Saturday, I just looked at the ladder and thought, ‘Oh, boy, this ain’t good.’ I just try to do my part to not let everybody down. I won the first round due to pure luck against Aaron, because I should have been beat right there. That was my mulligan of the day.”Â
Enders reached her first final round of the season and the 85th of her career with victories over Kenny Delco, Matt Latino and Troy Coughlin Jr.
Dallas Glenn retained the Pro Stock points lead despite a first-round loss, carrying a 21-point advantage over KB Titan Racing teammate Greg Anderson.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns July 24-26 for the 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle.
