NHRA Las Vegas Nationals: Vandergriff, Kalitta and Glenn Win the Pro Classes at The Strip — and Every Title Fight Goes to Pomona
The pro classes finished what the wind interrupted in the sportsman ranks. Jordan Vandergriff beat Ron Capps in the Funny Car final to pull within 39 points of the lead, Doug Kalitta ran 3.658 to beat Leah Pruett in Top Fuel, Dallas Glenn stretched his Pro Stock lead to 87 — and the Pro Stock Motorcycle final will be settled in Pomona.
Funny Car produced the day's biggest championship swing. Jordan Vandergriff, in his Funny Car debut season, ran 3.873 seconds at 331.36 mph to beat Ron Capps's 3.921 at 335.15 in the final at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — his fourth win of the season, and the one he needed. Vandergriff worked through Julie Nataas, Spencer Hyde and J.R. Todd, and Todd's second-round win over points leader Matt Hagan opened the door: Vandergriff now heads to the season finale in Pomona 39 points behind Hagan instead of out of the fight. Capps reached his fifth final of 2026 with wins over Cruz Pedregon, No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman and Austin Prock.
Top Fuel stayed alive, too, by the narrowest of threads. Doug Kalitta beat his own teammate, points leader Shawn Langdon, in the semifinal and then ran 3.658 at 338.60 past Leah Pruett's troubled 5.751 at 124.89 in the final — his fifth win of the year, the 64th of his career and his fourth in Las Vegas. Kalitta still trails Langdon by 107 points with one race left, and Pruett's run to her fourth final of 2026 and the 29th of her career kept her own season in the frame. In Pro Stock, Dallas Glenn ran 6.587 at 206.26 to beat Troy Coughlin Jr. for his sixth win of the season and the 27th of his career, stretching his lead over Matt Hartford to 87 points heading to Pomona.
One pro final did not finish in Las Vegas. The same excessive winds that pushed the sportsman finals to Monday morning also pushed the Pro Stock Motorcycle final — an all-Vance & Hines meeting between points leader Richard Gadson and No. 1 qualifier Gaige Herrera — to the Pomona finale, where it will be run during the third qualifying session on Saturday, November 14 at 1 p.m. Pacific. Gadson carries a 55-point lead over Herrera into it. The Las Vegas Nationals were the 19th of 20 races in the 2026 Mission Foods season and the fifth of six in the Countdown to the Championship — and after Sunday, not one of the four pro titles is settled.
