| 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season | |
|---|---|
| League | NHRA |
| Sport | Drag Racing |
| League champions | TBD (Top Fuel) TBD (Funny Car) TBD (Pro Stock) TBD (Pro Stock Motorcycle) |
The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season was announced on August 28, 2025. [1]
It will be the 71st season of the National Hot Rod Association's top drag racing competition. This season will also celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NHRA. [2] The NHRA will host 20 national events this season. Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock will compete at all 20 events, one (Top Fuel and Funny Car) or three (Pro Stock Car) more than in 2025. Pro Stock Motorcycle will compete at 14 events, the same as 2025. There will be All-Star Call Out races, which are based on a format used by the Discovery television program Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings, where the drivers select their opponents in early rounds. [3] Nineteen tracks will host NHRA races, including three new national event tracks in well-established drag racing markets and one hosting its first national event since 1998. On December 12, 2025, Maple Grove Raceway owner Kenny Koretsky announced his intentions to sell the track to a a rival sanctioning body, removing Maple Grove from the map after 40 years. [4] The NHRA promptly announced on December 15, 2025 that U. S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan would replace Maple Grove on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule. [5]
The 2026 season also is the first since John Force announced his retirement late in the prior year after more than 40 years as a driver. [6] In addition, Brittany Force announced in 2025 she would be stepping away from her Top Fueler to start a family. Replacing her for 2026 will be Josh Hart. [7] After the conclusion of the 2025 season, the Prock family announced a surprise exit from John Force Racing, with Jordan Vandergriff being named to drive the Cornwell Tools Funny Car on December 12, 2025, during the Performance Racing Industry trade show. [8] JFR also announced that Alexis DeJoria would be joining the team in a 3rd Funny Car, ending her tenure at JCM after 1 year. [9] [10]
In order to join JFR, Josh Hart sold his Top Fuel team, Josh Hart Racing, to Richard Freeman, owner of the Pro Stock powerhouse, Elite Motorsports. [11] Freeman then announced a technical alliance with Tony Stewart Racing, [12] and that the dragster would be driven by Tony Steward himself, as Leah Pruett would return to the Top Fuel seat at TSR after 2 seasons away. [13] In a move many months in the making, Ron Capps Motorsports will be expanding to enter a Top Fuel car in 2026, with Maddi Gordon behind the wheel. [14]
The Top Fuel Call Out, which is held at the Gatornationals, has its field set on November 1, 2025, at the conclusion of the Nevada Nationals, the last professional race qualifying session of the 2025 season. Champion Doug Kalitta won the top seed and will call out his opponent among Shawn Langdon (No. 2), Justin Ashley (No. 3), Tony Stewart (No. 5), Clay Millican (No. 6), Steve Torrence (No. 7, may skip the event; would be replaced by Josh Hart, No. 10), Shawn Reed (No. 8), and Antron Brown (No. 9, replaces Brittany Force, who retired).
Schedule was released August 28, 2025. Pro Stock & Pro Stock Motorcycle as well the Callouts confirmed October 2, 2025. Revised when Rockingham was added on November 10, 2025. Following the sale of Maple Grove Raceway announced December 12, 2025, the NHRA removed the track on December 15, 2025, and announced its replacement..
| 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Schedule [1] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Race | Site | TV | Winners | |||||
| Top Fuel | Funny Car | Pro Stock | Pro Stock Motorcycle | ||||||
| March 5–8 | NHRA Gatornationals TFCO, | Gainesville Raceway Gainesville, Florida | FOX or FS1 | ||||||
| March 20–22 | NHRA Factory Motor Parts Arizona Nationals Presented By NGK Spark Plugs | Firebird Motorsports Park Chandler, Arizona | N/A [a] | ||||||
| April 9–12 | NHRA Winternationals | In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip Pomona, California | N/A [a] | ||||||
| April 24–26 | NHRA 4-Wide Nationals 4 Lanes, | zMax Dragway Concord, North Carolina | |||||||
| May 1–3 | NHRA Southern Nationals | South Georgia Motorsports Park Adel, Georgia | |||||||
| May 14–17 | Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals Presented By PEAK | Route 66 Raceway Joliet, Illinois | |||||||
| May 29–31 | NHRA Potomac Nationals | Maryland International Raceway Mechanicsville, Maryland | |||||||
| June 5–7 | NHRA New England Nationals | New England Dragway Epping, New Hampshire | N/A [a] | ||||||
| June 12–14 | Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals | Bristol Dragway Bristol, Tennessee | |||||||
| June 25–28 | Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals PSCO, | Summit Motorsports Park Norwalk, Ohio | |||||||
| July 17–19 | DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals PSMCO | Sonoma Raceway Sonoma, California | NC [b] | ||||||
| July 24–26 | Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals | Pacific Raceways Kent, Washington | N/A [a] | ||||||
| August 20–23 | NHRA Brainerd Nationals | Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota | N/A [a] | ||||||
| September 2–7 | Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals 1.5FCCO, | Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Brownsburg, Indiana | |||||||
| Countdown to the Championship | |||||||||
| September 17–20 | NHRA Great Lakes Nationals | U. S. 131 Motorsports Park Martin, Michigan | FOX or FS1 | ||||||
| September 25–27 | NHRA Nationals at The Rock | Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, North Carolina | |||||||
| October 2–4 | NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals | World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway Madison, Illinois | |||||||
| October 14–18 | Texas NHRA FallNationals | Texas Motorplex Ennis, Texas | |||||||
| October 29–November 1 | NHRA Nevada Nationals | Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada | |||||||
| November 12–15 | In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals 1.5 | In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip Pomona, California | |||||||
The 2026 schedule features several key changes. The Winternationals in Pomona was pushed back two weeks from its 2024 date. Sonoma and Seattle swapped dates from 2024. [2]
The Las Vegas race in April was removed and replaced by a round in Adel, Georgia at South Georgia Motorsports Park, 2,200 miles east. It will be the first NHRA event in Georgia since 2021, as well as the return of the Southern Nationals which was previously held at Atlanta Dragway.
The DMV race moves from Virginia Motorsports Park to Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Maryland, which is 117 miles north of Dinwiddie.
The race in Mohnton, PA, at Maple Grove Raceway was removed after the Koretsky family sold the track to Darryl H. Cuttell, the owner of a rival sanctioning body which has also taken over the Virginia Motorsports Park sanctioning. U. S. 131 Motorsports Park, which announced on December 11, 2025, it will become an NHRA-sanctioned track, was announced as its replacement on December 15, 2025.
The fall North Carolina race moves from Concord to Rockingham Dragway, 82 miles southeast in Rockingham, North Carolina.
The Las Vegas race will be a standard two-lane race, making the April Charlotte round the only four-lane race of the season.
4 Lanes: The National event in Charlotte will compete with cars on four lanes.
1.5: The U.S. Nationals and In-N-Out Burger Finals will have their race points increased by 50% . Drivers who qualify but are eliminated in the first round receive 30 points, and each round win is worth 30 points. The top four receive 10, 9, 8, and 7 points, respectively, for qualifying positions, with the 5–6 drivers receiving 6 points, 7–8 drivers receiving 5 points, 9–12 receiving 4 points, and 13–16 receiving 3 points. Also, the top four, not three, drivers after each session receive points for fastest times in each round (4-3-2-1).
TF/FC/PS/PSM CO: All-Star Call Out competition for that category.