Well, there’s an old proverbial saying that good things come to those who wait, and if you’re a drag racing fan, you’ll just have to wait to see how the NHRA New England Nationals finals will wrap up. With Mother Nature playing tracks at the New England Dragway in Epping, NH yesterday, both the Top Fuel and Funny Car final matchups are coming this weekend in Bristol, TN at the Thunder Valley Nationals.
Of course, if you’re planning to watch these finals in person or on some form of media, the exact times for these two finals are still TBD, given that a new racing weekend starts this coming weekend.
The Top Fuel finals pit juggernauts Tony Stewart Racing against Kalitta Motorsports
With racing teams like Tony Stewart and Kalitta thrown into the mix for the NE Nationals Top Fuel finals, it comes as little surprise that both teams will fight it out to claim not only the win from Epping last weekend but a shot at the lead in the NHRA Top Fuel standings as well.
Shawn Langdon is coming off a three-peat win at the Potomac Nationals and is now looking for a fourth win in a row, and his fifth win this season out of eight total race weekends in 2026. Langdon will face off against Leah Pruett from Tony Stewart Racing, who is looking to stake her claim on her first victory for this season.
While it seems almost trivial to mention, yet again Kalitta Motorsports will find itself in the mix in an NHRA Top Fuel final this year with Shawn Langdon continuing to be on a dominant run up to this point in time.
John Force Racing continues to dominate the NHRA Funny Car world in 2026
Heading into this past Sunday’s final qualifiers in Epping, John Force teammates Jordan Vandergriff, Jack Beckman and Alexis DeJoria held the top three spots in the Funny Car category. With the JFR domination intact, this past weekend represents the 58th time that John Force Funny Car drivers are in a competition final, as Jack Beckman and Jordan Vandergriff were set to move on to Sunday’s final. However, the rain continued to wreak havoc on any plans to finish up the NE Nationals in Epping, as the Funny Car category has been moved to this coming weekend in Bristol as well.
Jack Beckman moved through the qualifying rounds with scores of 3.970/328.58 mph and 3.943/324.74 mph and then faced off against none other than the icon Ron Capps, and with a 3.904/39.75 mph score moved on to face teammate Jordan Vandergriff in the finals.
Vandergriff qualified first for the Sunday final with scores of 3.970/323.58 mph and 3.942/324.51 mph and then beat J.R. Todd in the semi-finals with a score of 3.982/316.52 mph to advance to the finals. With both drivers facing off against each other, teammates will guarantee another John Force Racing win and continue to chase Ron Capps in the NHRA Funny Car current standings.
Stay tuned as these two finals become a bonus round to set the tone for drag racing in Bristol this coming weekend.
