Dodge Power Lights Up Gainesville

The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series was one for the record books for Tony Stewart Racing. Tony Stewart, behind the wheel of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT^® Top Fuel dragster, captured two national event wins and the 2025 regular-season championship, a remarkable achievement for a driver just starting to build his nitro legacy. In the Funny Car, four-time world champion Matt Hagan proved that the partnership between the Virginia native and Dodge still has plenty of fire in it. Running with a brand-new crew chief pairing in Mike Knudsen and Phil Shuler, Hagan rolled to three victories at Seattle, St. Louis and Las Vegas, entering the season finale at Pomona sitting in second place, just 101 points behind champion Austin Prock. When rain canceled the Pomona finale entirely, Prock claimed his second consecutive Funny Car title, and Doug Kalitta secured his second Top Fuel crown. For TSR, it was a season that proved the combination was championship-caliber. For 2026, the team arrived at Gainesville with something extra: Leah Pruett back in the seat of a Top Fuel car.

The 2026 season marks a landmark moment for the National Hot Rod Association, as the sport celebrates its 75th anniversary with a 20-race schedule and a special Diamond Wally Trophy waiting for every event winner. The Top Fuel class returned to Gainesville stacked with proven talent. Reigning champion Doug Kalitta brought his dragster back as title favorite, joined by four-time champion Antron Brown, Tony Schumacher and Josh Hart, who made a high-profile move to John Force Racing during the offseason. The biggest storyline entering the weekend, however, was the return of Leah Pruett. After stepping away from full-time competition following the 2023 season to welcome her son, Dominic, Pruett came back to the TSR Dodge Top Fuel cockpit with months of testing and a competitive fire that never went cold. Meanwhile, Stewart, transferring the TSR dragster back to Pruett, elected to continue racing in 2026 under the Elite Motorsports banner, setting up the very real prospect of a husband-and-wife Top Fuel showdown at any event on the calendar.

In Funny Car, the class underwent significant shuffling. Defending champion Austin Prock returned in his Cornwell Tools entry. Cruz Pedregon, running a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat body for the 2026 campaign, keeps Dodge muscle front and center in the flopper ranks. Matt Hagan arrived in Gainesville for his 19th season piloting a Dodge Funny Car, the longest active driver-manufacturer combination in the class, with his sights locked squarely on a fifth world title. The 55-time national event winner was eager to build on the momentum of that strong late-season push with Knudsen and Shuler calling the shots.

​Qualifying for the 2026 Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals opened Friday under ideal conditions at Gainesville Raceway, and Josh Hart immediately made a statement. In his debut with John Force Racing, the Ocala native fired off a 3.658-second pass at 340.30 mph, setting a new track record and claiming the Top Fuel provisional No. 1 spot. Leah Pruett made her return to competition count right from the jump, laying down a 3.690 at 329.10 to end qualifying in the third spot.

In Funny Car, three-time champion Ron Capps was on top with a 3.890 at 334.07, claiming the 38th No. 1 qualifier of his career. Hagan slotted in fifth with a 3.931 at 331.36 in his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, showing strong speed in the opening sessions. Cruz Pedregon ran his new SRT Hellcat body to a 3.948 at 329.91, landing sixth to open the weekend with promise.

Saturday brought the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout bonus race, a special eight-car invitational that counted as a qualifying session for participants. Antron Brown took the $80,000 bonus by defeating Clay Millican in the final round, becoming the first two-time Callout winner in the event’s short history. Qualifying concluded Saturday with Hart officially locking up the Top Fuel No. 1 position, and Capps earning his spot atop the Funny Car ladder.

Sunday morning at Gainesville Raceway opened with cool conditions that the crew chiefs knew would not last. Leah Pruett made the most of them, posting a 3.713 at 333.41 mph to eliminate Jasmine Salinas in round one, her first competitive side-by-side pass since 2023, delivered with the kind of authority that reminded the Top Fuel field exactly what they had been missing.

Pruett advanced to the quarterfinals, where she drew Doug Kalitta and his Alan Johnson-tuned dragster. Johnson made a key adjustment from round one, and Kalitta answered with a commanding 3.764 to Pruett’s 3.871, ending her day at the quarterfinals. The eighth-place result understates her and the team’s genuinely strong performance, a clear signal that Pruett and the TSR Dodge Top Fuel program are back and ready to compete at the front of the field.

In Funny Car, Matt Hagan put his TSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to work immediately, posting a 3.976 at 326.63 in round one to eliminate Julie Nataas. It took five pairs before Hagan delivered the first three-second run of the Funny Car session, a sign of the tough track conditions that were beginning to develop as the Florida sun climbed higher. Cruz Pedregon, running his SRT Hellcat body, was eliminated by Alexis DeJoria in round one after Pedregon crossed the centerline at 660’, giving the win to DeJoria despite her having to pedal her Funny Car through the finish.

Hagan advanced to the quarterfinals, where he faced defending event champion Chad Green. Green, who had already won five straight rounds at Gainesville Raceway dating back to his 2025 victory, produced a holeshot for the ages, clicking off a 3.975 to Hagan’s 3.960 on a reaction-time decision that sent the TSR Dodge Funny Car to the trailer. It was the kind of heartbreaker that defines drag racing, as Hagan’s SRT Hellcat was actually quicker on the scoreboard, but Green left the line first and never gave it back. Hagan earned a fifth-place points finish from the event, leaving Gainesville sitting fifth in Funny Car championship standings with a strong combination and plenty of season remaining.

Green went on to win the event in Funny Car, defeating Alexis DeJoria in the final round with a 3.959 at 329.91. In Top Fuel, Josh Hart closed out a dominant debut weekend with John Force Racing by defeating reigning champion Doug Kalitta in the final round, 3.733 to 3.877, to claim his third career national event victory and the season-opening Diamond Wally Trophy.

With Round 1 of 20 in the books, the early 2026 Top Fuel standings are led by Hart with 122 points, followed by Kalitta at 96 and Brown at 76. Leah Pruett sits fifth with 57 points, well-positioned for the long haul of an NHRA championship season. In Funny Car, Green leads with 115 points, followed by Alexis DeJoria at 93 and J.R. Todd at 82. Matt Hagan checks in fifth at 59 points, in striking distance, race-proven and coming off a quarterfinal showing that reflects a car capable of making deep runs every Sunday.

For Tony Stewart Racing, the 2026 NHRA season is off and running. Leah Pruett is back, the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is fast and Matt Hagan has made it abundantly clear he has unfinished business when it comes to a fifth world championship. The next round of NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series action takes place March 20-22 at Firebird Motorsports Park in Phoenix for the FMP NHRA Arizona Nationals. Stay tuned for the next event recap.