NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

This week, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to one of the most scenic and historic destinations on the tour, Bristol Dragway, for the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. 

The event is the eighth of 20 races this year in the NHRA Mission Foods Pro series, and it will include Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, along with the Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series, Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown, the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock class, and six classes in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

The event will also include the latest round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge of the season, which will pit the semifinal finishers from the recent Epping event in a race for bonus cash and additional points. These rounds are run concurrently with Saturday qualifying.

Coming into the Bristol race, Tony Stewart, Austin Prock, Greg Anderson, and Gaige Herrera are the championship leaders in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, respectively. 

Stewart already has a pair of wins in Las Vegas and Chicago, and he’s riding a five-race streak of final-round appearances. He currently enjoys a 60-point lead over Shawn Langdon, who recently won in Phoenix and Charlotte. 

Brittany Force is coming to Bristol with a lot of momentum after not only winning in Epping but also posting a near-record 341-mph speed.

Last week in Epping, J.R. Todd became the fifth different Funny Car winner in the first seven races of the season. Todd joined Prock, Jack Beckman, Paul Lee, and Chad Green as 2025 winners, and all five of the aforementioned drivers figures to be in the mix in Bristol. 

Prock also has two wins and two runner-up finishes, which makes him the points leader, although his lead is now just 38 points over teammate Beckman following a rare round-one loss in Epping. Prock is also the defending event winner.

Matt Hagan, currently fourth in the standings, is looking for his second win in Bristol and his first since 2015. Another driver worth watching is Spencer Hyde, who reached his first final round in Epping and is one the verge of cracking the Top 10 following DNQs at his first two races.

The Pro Stock class has been dominated by KB Titan Racing drivers Greg Anderson and Dallas Glenn, who have combined to win all the races so far in 2025. While Anderson and Glenn are certainly the favorites, there is plenty of competition, especially from inside the KB Titan camp as Cory Reed, Matt Hartford, Deric Kramer, Matt Latino, and rookie Cody Coughlin have each shown promise at various times this season.

As for the rival Elite team, they’ve recently shown positive signs after a slow start, particularly a runner-up finish by six-time world champ Erica Enders last week. The Elite fleet also features world champions Jeg Coughlin Jr., Aaron Stanfield, and Greg Stanfield. 

Herrera is the defending event champion in Bristol and won the most recent title in Chicago to reclaim the points lead over Matt Smith. Herrera and Smith are the odds-on favorites, but the Bristol field also includes Richard Gadson in his second year with the Vance & Hines team, as well as past NHRA Rookie of the Year Chase Van Sant.

One of the most intriguing entries of the entire event is Brayden Davis, who will be racing as part of the Vance & Hines customer lease program. Davis is racing in his second NHRA event and will be riding the same Suzuki Hayabusa that carried Herrera to a win in Chicago.

Things are also heating up in the Congruity Pro Mod Series as just 72 points separate the top three drivers, J.R. Gray, Mike Stavrinos, and Thunder Valley legend Rickie Smith.

2024 EVENT WINNERS
Tony Schumacher, Top Fuel; Austin Prock, Funny Car; Jeg Coughlin Jr., Pr Stock; Gaige Herrera, Pro Stock Motorcycle.
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MOST EVENT VICTORIES
Tony Schumacher, 7 TF; Ron Capps, 6, FC; Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Erica Enders, 3 PS; Gaige Herrera, Steve Johnson, Angelle Sampey and Jerry Savoie, 1, PSM

TRACK RECORDS
Top Fuel - 3.667 sec. by Steve Torrence, October ‘21; 336.49 mph by Justin Ashley, June ’23.
Funny Car - 3.884 sec. by Ron Capps, June ’16; 330.31 mph by Matt Hagan, October ’21.
Pro Stock –  6.613 sec. by Greg Anderson, June ’22; 209.26 mph by Bo Butner, June ’16.
Pro Stock Motorcycle – 6.759 sec. by Matt Smith, June ‘24; 200.05 mph by M. Smith, June ‘24

NATIONAL RECORDS
Top Fuel - 3.623 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept. ‘19, Reading; 341.59 mph by Brittany Force, April. ‘25, Charlotte
Funny Car - 3.793 sec. by Robert Hight, Aug. '17, Brainerd; 341.68 mph by Austin Prock, Nov. ’24, Pomona
Pro Stock – 6.443 sec. by Greg Anderson, March ’25, Gainesville, Fla.; 215.55 mph by Erica Enders, May ’14 Englishtown, N.J.
Pro Stock Motorcycle - 6.627 sec. by Gaige Herrera, Oct. ’23, Dallas; 205.04 mph by Matt Smith, July ‘22, Sonoma.

SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, June 6
NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series qualifying and time trials at 8 a.m.
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, June 7
Lucas Oil Series eliminations at 9:00 a.m.
Mission Foods Series qualifying at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

SUNDAY, June 8
Pre-race ceremony, 11 a.m.
Mission Foods Series eliminations begin at noon. 

TELEVISION
FRIDAY, June 6, FS1 will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 7:30 p.m. (ET)
SATURDAY, June 7, FS1 will televise one and half hours of qualifying highlights at 8 p.m. (ET)
SUNDAY, June 8, FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 3 p.m. (ET)