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• Dodge racer Leah Pruett advanced to the final round Sunday with her Tony Stewart
Racing (TSR) Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster at the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Dodge driver Leah Pruett, competing in her penultimate race before stepping out of the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge Top Fuel dragster to expand her family, drove to a runner-up finish at the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge event, while TSR Dodge teammate Matt Hagan continues to hold the Funny Car points lead heading into the final event. In the Dodge Direct Connection Grudge Match at Vegas, John O'Malley raced to victory in the all-SIXPACK-powered Dodge Charger Scat Pack final round to claim a Grudge Match season sweep. Pruett, who returned to Top Fuel action this year after sitting out two years to start a family with her husband Stewart, was impressively consistent all weekend at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the Arizona driver qualified sixth in the 16-car field and defeated eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, who will replace her in the Dodge Top Fueler in 2027, Josh Hart and four-time world champion Antron Brown in the early rounds of Sunday's eliminations. Pruett, this year's New England Nationals Top Fuel winner, then had to face reigning world champion Doug Kalitta in the final round with cold and windy conditions at the popular drag racing strip north of the famed Las Vegas Strip. In the final, Pruett left the starting line with a superb 0.042-second reaction time but her 12,000-horsepower missile lost traction at midtrack and Kalitta went on to score the victory. Despite the final-round defeat, Pruett moved to fourth in the current NHRA Mission Top Fuel points standings with one race remaining in the 20-event NHRA Mission campaign at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, Calif., on Nov. 13-15. Pruett trails Brown by 15 points for third heading to the final event of the 2026 season. "Sometimes you have momentum and momentum propels you forward," said Pruett. "Other times, you hit speed bumps in your momentum. I say that because we had fantastic momentum in qualifying with four solid passes - a real bracket car. Race day started out with that momentum continuing to build with a 3.71 in the first round - not low of the session by any means, but something to work from. Coming into our second round of the day, the driver, crew chiefs, and team were all on the same page. It feels really good to get a holeshot win, as those are hard to come by. That was a heck of a race in the second round against Josh Hart - both running 3.68s, and we came up on the right side of it. "Going into the semi-final against Antron Brown, the weather conditions changed drastically which ultimately caught a number of people with their pants down. We realize we're not just racing to race; we are constantly analyzing how we're racing. Unfortunately, in the final, we shook into smoke in the right lane and were unable to capture that Diamond Wally for Dodge and Mopar at their title race. For the most part, I'm proud of my driving, and overall, I'm proud of our Dodge team and how we navigated this race day. On another personal note, I would absolutely be lying if I didn't say there were some emotions coming into these final races of the season that present an oxymoron. I'm living through moments that feel immediately nostalgic because I will be looking back on them and knowing I gave it my absolute all."
Four-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan, Pruett's TSR Dodge nitro teammate, continued his Funny Car point lead with a quarterfinal finish at the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals Sunday in his potent TSR Dodge//SRT Hellcat. Hagan, who has led the "Countdown to the Championship" for majority of the six-race finale, qualified second in the first ever sub four-second Funny Car 16-car lineup and posted a strong 3.882 in defeating veteran Dave Richards in the opening round of eliminations. He then had to face former world champion J.R. Todd in the quarterfinals. In a tight contest, Hagan's 3.890 pass wasn't good enough to better Todd's 3.883 at the finish line as the Virginia native now heads to the season finale at Pomona with a 39-point advantage over Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals winner Jordan Vandergriff. Hagan won last April in the NHRA Winternationals at Pomona, Calif. "Tough weekend here in Las Vegas," Hagan said. "We qualified well but obviously race day was a little challenging there. With how the ladder was, we really could have set ourselves up to put our foot on their throats, but it just wasn't in the cards today. Wish we could have gotten the job done for Mopar and Dodge at their title race, but the good thing is, we'll head into the Pomona Finals with the points lead. "At the end of the day, we just have to keep digging. There are going to be some tight, close races. I think the biggest thing is though, we still need to have fun. You can't lose sight of enjoying what we're doing, because when you do and you start getting knotted up about it. That's when you start making mistakes. The field is as tight as it's ever been, and the competition is as tough as it's ever been. We just have to keep doing the best job we can, and it'll be alright."
With Pruett's final round showing, Stewart moved to fifth in the current Top Fuel points (20 behind Pruett) with final race at the In-N-Out Burger Drag Strip, the location of Stewart's lone 2026 Top Fuel victory in the NHRA Winternationals in April.
John O'Malley of Tampa, Florida, drove his Boosted Motorsports SIXPACK-powered Dodge Charger Scat Pack to victory Saturday in the final round of the popular Dodge Direct Connection Grudge Match, defeating Adil Adams of Titan Motorsports to back up his Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge win in Metro Detroit during the summer. Dodge CEO Matt McAlear was also on hand to present the coveted Grudge Match trophy to O'Malley. O'Malley finished what began back in August on iconic Woodward Avenue at the Roadkill Nights event, claiming the Dodge Direct Connection Grudge Match overall championship in Vegas with a 9.193-second run at 151.14 mph. Adams also clocked a strong 10.567 pass at 136.54 mph.
"This is a huge victory for me," said O'Malley. "We are pretty much a one-man show. We had a restricted timeline for Roadkill Nights. So, we have been non-stop working on this Dodge Charger Scat Pack for that event in August and this finale in Las Vegas. We have worked hard to make it better every day and it paid off this weekend. I am just lost for words right now. Thanks to my sponsors. Thanks to Matt (McAlear) and Dodge. They build an awesome machine. It has taken a beating, but the results speak for themselves." The final 2026 NHRA national event, the IN-N-Out Burger NHRA World Finals3 in Pomona, Calif., will begin on Friday, Nov. 13, with two rounds of nitro qualifying at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. PST. Saturday's qualifying rounds are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. PST. Final eliminations are set for Sunday, Nov. 15, at 11 a.m. PST. The final eliminations will be televised on Fox Sports 1 on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 5 p.m. EST / 2 p.m. PST. For more information on NHRA, visit www.NHRA.com.
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