The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season was announced back on August 28, 2025.
It is currently the on going 71st season of the National Hot Rod Association's top drag racing competition. This season also celebrates the 75th anniversary of the NHRA from their founding. The NHRA is scheduled to host 20 national events this season. Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock will compete in all 20 events, which is planned to be 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 also be All-Star Call Out races for each of the 4 pro classes, 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. Nineteen tracks will host NHRA races, including three new national event tracks in well-established drag racing markets and one hosting its first ever national event but on the schedule for the first time since 1998. On December 12, 2025, Maple Grove Raceway owner Kenny Koretsky announced his intentions to sell the track to the IHRA, removing Maple Grove from the map after 40 years. 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.
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. https://johnforceracing.com/blog/john-force-announces-retirement-after-unparalleled-nhra-career/ 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. 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 (PRI) trade show. In January 2026, the Prock family announced their move to Tasca Racing, with Austin driving Bob Tasca III's Ford Mustang for 2026. JFR also announced that Alexis DeJoria would be joining the team in a 3rd Funny Car, ending her tenure at JCM after 1 year.
In order to join JFR, Josh Hart sold off his personally owned Top Fuel team, Josh Hart Racing, over to Richard Freeman, who is the owner of the Pro Stock powerhouse, Elite Motorsports. Freeman then announced a technical alliance with Tony Stewart Racing, and that the dragster would be driven by Tony Stewart himself, as Leah Pruett would return to the Top Fuel seat at TSR after 2 seasons away. 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. In another expansion move, SCAG Racing announced the addition of another Top Fuel car to be driven by Will Smith.
The Top Fuel Call Out, which was held at the Gatornationals, had their field set on November 1, 2025, which was 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 called 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 The national event schedule was released on August 28, 2025. Then that was followed up by the Pro Stock & Pro Stock Motorcycle classes as well the Callouts all getting confirmed on October 2, 2025. The schedule was then revised when Rockingham was added on November 10, 2025. Then following the sale of Maple Grove Raceway announced December 12, 2025, that was followed by the NHRA removing the track on December 15, 2025, and announced its replacement. The TV schedule was added to this page on February 13, 2026 the same day it was announced.
2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Schedule DateRaceSiteTV WinnersTop FuelFunny CarPro StockPro Stock MotorcycleMarch 5–8AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals TFCO Gainesville Raceway Gainesville, FloridaFS1Josh Hart (I)Chad Green (I)Matt Hartford (I)Richard Gadson (I)March 20–22FMP NHRA Arizona Nationals Presented By NGK Spark Plugs Firebird Motorsports Park Chandler, ArizonaShawn Langdon (I)Ron Capps (I)Dallas Glenn (I)N/AApril 9–12Lucas Oil NHRA WinternationalsIn-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip Pomona, CaliforniaTony Stewart (I)Matt Hagan (I)Greg Anderson (I)N/AApril 24–26NHRA 4-Wide Nationals 4 LaneszMAX Dragway Concord, North CarolinaDoug Kalitta (I)Ron Capps (II)Matt Hartford (II)Gaige Herrera (I)May 1–3NHRA Southern Nationals South Georgia Motorsports Park Adel, GeorgiaShawn Langdon (II)Jordan Vandergriff (I)Dallas Glenn (II)Matt Smith (I)May 14–17Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals Presented By PEAK Route 66 Raceway Joliet, IllinoisShawn Langdon (III)Chad Green (II)Aaron Stanfield (I)Matt Smith (II)May 29–31NHRA Potomac Nationals Presented By JEGSMaryland International Raceway Mechanicsville, MarylandFOXShawn Langdon (IV)Austin Prock (I)Greg Anderson (II)Angie Smith (I)June 5–7NHRA New England Nationals Presented By bproauto New England Dragway Epping, New HampshireLeah Pruett (I)Jack Beckman (I)Dallas Glenn (III)N/AJune 12–14Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley NationalsBristol Dragway Bristol, TennesseeFS1Antron Brown (I)Matt Hagan (II)Matt Hartford (III)Gaige Herrera (II)June 25–28Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals PSCOSummit Motorsports Park Norwalk, OhioFOXMaddi Gordon (I)Ron Capps (III)Aaron Stanfield (II)Richard Gadson (II)July 17–19DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals Presented By PowerEdge PSMCOSonoma Raceway Sonoma, CaliforniaFS1Doug Kallita (II)Jordan Vandergriff (II)Greg Stanfield (I)NCJuly 24–26Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest NationalsPacific Raceways Kent, WashingtonFOXDoug Kallita (III)J.R. Todd (I)Greg Anderson (III)N/AAugust 20–23NHRA Brainerd NationalsBrainerd International Raceway Brainerd, MinnesotaFS1Doug Kallita (IV)Matt Hagan (III)Greg Anderson (IV)N/ASeptember 2–7Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals 1.5 FCCOLucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Brownsburg, IndianaFS1 & FOXShawn Langdon (V)Jack Beckman (II)Dallas Glenn (IV)Matt Smith (III)Countdown to the ChampionshipSeptember 17–21Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals Presented By MOPAR US 131 Motorsports Park Martin, MichiganFS1Shawn Langdon (VI)Jordan Vandergriff (III)Troy Coughlin Jr. (I)John Hall (I)September 25–27NHRA Nationals at The Rock Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, North CarolinaShawn Langdon (VII)Matt Hagan (IV)Greg Stanfield (II)Richard Gadson (III)October 2–4NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals World Wide Technology Raceway Madison, IllinoisFOX Shawn Langdon (VIII)Austin Prock (II)Aaron Stanfield (III)Gaige Herrera (III)October 14–18Texas NHRA FallNationalsTexas Motorplex Ennis, TexasFS1October 29 – November 1MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals Powered By Dodge Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, NevadaNovember 12–15In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals 1.5In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip Pomona, California
Schedule Changes
The 2026 schedule features several key changes to it. The Winternationals in Pomona was pushed back two weeks from its 2025 date. Sonoma and Seattle swapped dates from 2024.
The Las Vegas race in April was removed and it got 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, one of four former NHRA national event circuits Darryl H. Cuttell, owner of a rival sanctioning body, acquired in the off-season.
The DMV race moves from Virginia Motorsports Park (also acquired by Cuttell from the Franklin family) to Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Maryland, which is 117 miles north of Dinwiddie.
The race that was in Mohnton, Pennsylvania, from Maple Grove Raceway was removed after the Koretsky family also sold their track to Cuttell. Then it was that announced U. S. 131 Motorsports Park, on December 11, 2025, would become an NHRA-sanctioned track, with that followed by an announcement that it was the replacement on December 15, 2025 for the series schedule.
The fall North Carolina race moves from Concord over to Rockingham Dragway, which is 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.
Additional rules for specially marked races 4 Lanes: The National event in Charlotte will compete with cars in four lanes. All cars will qualify on each lane as all four lanes will be used in qualifying. Three rounds with cars using all four lanes. In Rounds One and Two, the top two drivers (of four) will advance to the next round. The pairings are set as follows: Race One: 1, 8, 9, 16 Race Two: 4, 5, 12, 13 Race Three: 2, 7, 10, 15 Race Four: 3, 6, 11, 14 Semifinal One: Top two in Race One and Race Two Semifinal Two: Top two in Race Three and Race Four Finals: Top two in Semifinal One and Semifinal Two Lane choice is determined by times in the previous round. In first round, lane choice determined by fastest times. Drivers who advance in Rounds One and Two will receive 20 points for each round advancement. In Round Three, the winner of the race will be declared the race winner and will collect 40 points. The runner-up will receive 20 points. Third and fourth place drivers will be credited as semifinal losers.
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.
Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge The Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge was a collaboration that was created between both the NHRA and Mission Foods as it was introduced in the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. The challenge spices up Saturday qualifying schedule at regular-season events. Semifinalists from the previous race compete anew, culminating in a final during the last qualifying session. Winners gain a purse, as well as bonus points. At the U. S. Nationals (Monday finals), the event takes place on Saturday.
Bonus points are awarded as follows: Winner (3) Runner-up (2) Quickest losing semifinalist (1)
Bonus points earned from the challenge will be added to a driver’s total points at the start of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.