- HART, CAPPS, C. COUGHLIN & A. SMITH START 75TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON WITH PROVISIONAL NO. 1 SPOTS AT GAINESVILLE
- Travis Harvey Storms to Provisional No. 1 in Pro Mod at Season-Opening Gatornationals
- Cody Coughlin Edges out Hartford for the Pprovisional No. 1 spot During Round 2 of Pro Stock
- Capps Tops Funny Car Qualifying after Round 2 at the Gator Nationals
- Josh Hart Provisional #1 in Top Fuel Qualifying after Round 2 at the AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals
- XTREME RACEWAY PARK JOINS NHRA MEMBER TRACK NETWORK IN DIVISION 4
- Monster Energy Joins Maddi Gordon, Ron Capps Motorsports for Multi-Year NHRA Partnership
Rick Ware Racing’s NHRA Program All Under One ‘Canopy’
Two Top Fuel Dragsters, One Team Going Into Season-Opening Gatornationals
MOORESVILLE, NC – In a sport decided in split seconds, where winning can be measured in a thousandth of an inch, consistency is key. In 
the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, that consistency goes beyond what a driver does before rocketing down a 1,000-foot long straight in less than four seconds at 340 mph.
At Rick Ware Racing (RWR), consistency extends to the pair of Top Fuel dragsters driven by Clay Millican and Tony Schumacher, where each chassis is the same. There are no nuances between Millican’s No. 51 Parts Plus dragster and Schumacher’s No. 15 American Communications Construction dragster.
Getting to this point ahead of the season-opening Gatornationals this weekend at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway meant each driver had to try something new. For Schumacher, it meant getting accustomed to the kind of chassis Millican uses, and for Millican, it meant jettisoning an open cockpit for a closed-top canopy – a design pioneered by Schumacher and debuted by him in 2012. Continue reading
TOP FUEL’S DOUG KALITTA LOOKS TO STAY AT THE TOP STARTING AT AMALIE MOTOR OIL NHRA GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE, FL – For the second time in three years, Top Fuel veteran Doug Kalitta will start the season as the reigning world champion 
heading into this weekend’s Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, an impressive feat considering Kalitta’s longtime quest to win a world title in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
Kalitta will open NHRA’s special 75th anniversary season as the driver everyone is chasing after a brilliant run in the second half of the 2025 campaign. He remained poised and consistent in the Countdown to the Championship, winning twice in the playoffs to capture a second world championship in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster.
It’s a moment Kalitta continues to treasure as he heads to Gainesville to open NHRA’s milestone year. He’ll have a chance to defend his title in the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout specialty race as well. The bonus race takes place on Saturday and Kalitta enters as the No. 1 seed with the opportunity to have a magical weekend in Gainesville. Continue reading
LEGENDS RACE WITH BERNSTEIN, AMATO, WJ & LARSON SET FOR AMALIE MOTOR OIL NHRA GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE, FL – In addition to their appearance at the upcoming Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, legendary NHRA drivers 
Kenny Bernstein, Joe Amato, Warren Johnson and Bruce Larson will take to the track on Friday and Saturday for a special legends match race at Gainesville Raceway.
It’s another added item for NHRA’s kickoff to the 75th anniversary season in Gainesville, as fans will see four of NHRA’s biggest names take to the track in 550-horsepower 2026 Dodge Charger Sixpacks.
The first round is slated for 2:20 p.m. on Friday, March 6, leading into the opening round of qualifying in the 12,000-horsepower, 340-mph Funny Car and Top Fuel ranks.
The two winners will meet up in the final round at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, right before the opening round of the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout. The winner of the four-car legends race will also receive the special Golden Gator trophy given to all Gainesville winners.
It’s an incredible four-car lineup with some of the biggest names in NHRA history. Johnson racked up six world championships in Pro Stock and a remarkable 97 wins, while Larson raced in both Funny Car and Pro Stock, winning a Funny Car championship in 1989. Bernstein earned six world titles across Top Fuel and Funny Car, and Amato was a standout force in Top Fuel, winning 52 races and five world titles. Continue reading
WORLD CHAMPION MARK PAWUK CHASES HISTORIC THREE-PEAT AS FLEXJET FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN REVS UP AT NHRA GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE, FL – The 2026 Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will rev up March 5-8, 2026, at the historic NHRA Gatornationals, 
with two-time world champ Mark Pawuk looking to hold off a host of challengers. Pawuk, the 2024 Gatornationals winner, will strap into the all-new, Hemi-powered 2026 Dodge Charger Hustle Stuff Drag Pak by Direct Connection and will face some of the toughest competition from Ford Cobra Jets and Chevrolet COPO Camaros in on-track action over a nine-race coast to coast schedule. The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will be one of the many highlight classes at Gainesville Raceway as the NHRA celebrates its 75th anniversary as the premiere drag racing sanctioning body in the world.
“I started racing in the 1970s with Dodge and Plymouth, and I’ll finish my career with Dodge,” Pawuk said. “Debuting the new Charger Hustle Stuff Drag Pak during the NHRA’s 75th anniversary is special. We see tremendous potential. It’ll take time to develop—but I want to win one of those 75th-season Wallys, and I believe this car can do it.”
Pawuk’s return follows a dominant two-year run in the Empaco Equipment Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak, where he claimed back-to-back championships in 2024–2025 with victories at Bristol and Norwalk, plus multiple semifinal finishes. After several successful test sessions in Florida, the veteran from Richfield, Ohio, now sets his sights on a historic three-peat—this time in an entirely new platform. Continue reading
BUDDY HULL MAKING FUNNY CAR TEAM OWNERSHIP DEBUT IN GAINESVILLE
DALLAS – When the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season kicks off at the legendary AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA 
Gatornationals, March 5-8, at Gainesville Raceway, Buddy Hull will roll into the staging lanes with more momentum, and more pride, than ever before.
The event marks Hull’s third season competing in the ultra-competitive Funny Car category, but more importantly, it signifies his debut as a Funny Car team owner with Hull Racing. The Texas-based driver has spent the offseason building the program from the ground up alongside his wife, Madi, laying the foundation for what he believes will be a breakout year.
“This offseason has been the most meaningful of my career,” said Hull. “Madi and I have poured everything we have into Hull Racing. There were long nights, tough decisions and a lot of faith involved. But standing here now, heading into Gainesville as a team owner, I couldn’t be more excited. We didn’t cut corners. We built this the right way.” Continue reading
J.R. Todd, DHL GR Supra Funny Car Team Optimistic for a Great Year after Pre Season Testing
Gainesville, FL – “Entering the new season, I’m definitely more optimistic than years past. It seems like we’ve had somewhat of a clean reset. 
We have a new look on the car, two brand new cars that we tested to start the season and some different parts and pieces. We brought Todd Smith back on board to work with Dickie (Crew Chief Dickie Venables). I think if you put two smart minds together like that, you’re bound for success. I hope the early indications we had in testing are a sign of what’s to come throughout the season.
“Pre-season testing went really well; that’s probably the most successful preseason test I’ve been a part of; the guys had a lot of work this season in preparing two brand new cars. For us to unload both of them in a span of three days and have them pretty much run identical down to a few thousands of a second speaks a lot to the preparation. That shows what those guys did at the race shop over the winter – those guys are awesome!
“I hope we can get the results they deserve because that’s the best way to pay them back for all their hard work. Conditions during testing were good, track conditions were good and the air conditions were good so it yielded some really good runs – some of my career-best speeds, but none of that really means a whole lot in preseason testing. Hopefully, it’s a good indicator of things to come during the season. Continue reading
Shawn Langdon and the Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel Team have Renewed Confidence as the 2026 Season Begins
Gainesville, FL – “I feel good about the new season. We had a good test session down in Gainesville, so I think our entire Kalitta Air Careers 
team is looking forward to getting back there. The championship is obviously our goal – we’re definitely hoping to keep it at Kalitta Motorsports.
“I’m certainly not disappointed in last season’s second-place finish, but I know we have a championship-level team. Connie Kalitta (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) gives us all that we need to win, and when we have it all together as we have shown the last couple of seasons, we can be and have been the car to beat. I have very high expectations for 2026.
“We made some really strong runs during testing, but at the end of the day, it was a test session on a good track with really good conditions, so you kinda have to take that with a grain of salt. It was definitely nice to be able to make good runs like that and start the season off on the right foot. Continue reading
Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster Team Ready to Start the 2026 Season!
Gainesville, FL – “It’s really nice to go to the first race and have the No. 1 on your car, for sure. The first race kind of resets everything, and it’s 
off we go again. I’m real proud of what our Mac Tools team accomplished last year; it’s nice to have that number one back on the car for the year, and seeing it there on the car never gets old. It’s taken a while – we had a long time of trying to accomplish this goal, and it looks good on there, I think.
“Testing went very well. The car performed well; all the things you hope to find at a test session – we were able to work through a lot of issues, and I think we’re hopefully in good shape. The car ran really well, but we always win testing. It’s good to get everybody working again and doing our thing. We’ll be ready to hit the ground running.
“To pick our callout opponent, I think it’s just see how everybody does on Friday and then pick from there. Everybody will have a couple of runs before you have to make a decision, but they’re all tough. I can tell you the one guy we’re not gonna pick is Shawn (teammate Shawn Langdon). That car of his was really running in testing so hopefully we’ll save running Shawn for the final round – that’ll be our goal for the call out this year. Continue reading
Jim Dunn Racing Readies for the NHRA Gatornationals
Todd Lesenko Solid Start/True Brand Funny Car Driver for Jim Dunn Racing
Gainesville, FL – The 57th NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway is the first event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing 
Series’ 20-race calendar in 2026. Jim Dunn Racing brings its one full-time entry in Funny Car for Todd Lesenko to the north-central Florida track. A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Lesenko competed in the NHRA Funny Car class in 2012 for Jim Dunn Racing, so 2026 marks a homecoming for Lesenko and the iconic racing team.
As the NHRA celebrates its landmark 75th season in 2026, Jim Dunn Racing is celebrating 76 years of success in drag racing. Jim started drag racing when he was 15 years old and at 91 years old, he plans to keep going as long as he can. In 2024, Jim received the NHRA Lifetime Achievement Award. He has won some of the sport’s most significant races and has provided driving opportunities for some of the biggest names in the sport.
Jim Dunn Racing has won at least one NHRA tour event in four different decades with five different drivers. Jim Dunn won in the 1970s and ‘80s, son Mike won in the 1990s, as did Kenji Okazaki and Frank Pedregon, and Tony Bartone won in the 2000s. Continue reading
ELITE MOTORSPORTS SET FOR 2026 NHRA SEASON
WYNNEWOOD, OK – Elite Motorsports, NHRA’s largest professional team in the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series, will field a seven 
car professional team heading into the 75th Anniversary season of the NHRA.
For the first time, Elite Motorsports will have a Top Fuel dragster compete in the full 20-race season with motorsports icon Tony Stewart at the wheel and R+L Carriers as the primary sponsor. Veteran crew chiefs Mike Green and Joe Barlom will lead the Top Fuel program.
“It’s been an interesting and busy few months getting ready for NHRA’s 2026 season. I think everyone’s pretty anxious, it’s a new Top Fuel program for Elite which means a new crew trying to get their bearings, new parts, new programs and then the added factor that I’m racing against my own team. It took some getting used to, my trailer and gear being at the Elite shop down the street,” said Stewart who owns Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) and fields Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett and Funny Car driver Matt Hagan. “Mike Green and Joe Barlam really took advantage of testing, not just to figure out the car, but to figure out our routine, get the guys all on the same page and make sure we’re as ready as possible for the season opener. I won’t say we’re going to be perfect but if we can replicate some of what we did at testing we’ll definitely be ready to hold our own. Continue reading
