SONOMA — Navigating their way through the day on an ever-changing track, Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Austin Prock (Funny Car), Greg Stanfield (Pro Stock), and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all claimed impressive victories at Sonoma Raceway in Sunday’s 37th Annual Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge, the 12th of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

After powering past Ron August Jr. and Josh Hart in the opening two rounds, Kalitta received a bye in the third round due to a short field of only ten Top Fuel entries to face off with reigning world and race champion Antron Brown.

Brown, who advanced to the finals after knocking off Ida Zetterstrom, Justin Ashley, and season points leader Shawn Langdon, stayed even with Kalitta for most of the run before fading near the finish line, as Kalitta ripped off a 3.752-second, 334.57 mph pass to edge Brown at 4.067.

“I knew it was going to be a tight race, and I was glad to have lane choice. Antron is never easy,” Kalitta said. “I was just happy when the light came on in my lane.”

It was a welcome win for Kalitta, who has qualified at No. 1 six times this season without coring a victory.  

“We've been trying to get a win for quite a while. Obviously, we’re qualifying well, and for me, it's definitely a confidence builder,” Kalitta admitted. “It is good timing for me and my team going into the stretch here.”

The 2023 former world champion now has a record six Top Fuel career victories at Sonoma Raceway, the last coming in 2005, breaking a tie with Brown for the most wins in the Wine Country and 56 overall in his career.

Kalitta’s teammate Shawn Langston, who bowed out to Brown in the semifinals, now leads the Top Fuel standings over Tony Stewart, who was upset by Hart in the opening round, by a 48-point margin.

Reigning Funny Car champion Austin Prock continued his season-long domination of the class by tearing to his fifth victory in 2025 for John Force Racing, with a pass of 3.904 at 333.82 to defeat rookie Spencer Hyde, who ran a respectable 3.956 at 323.35 in defeat.

“This is huge. The crowd here all weekend long was outstanding, and I never realized

how many fans I had here in Sonoma County. I was pretty awesome all weekend,” Prock said. “I got my first-ever sponsor here to begin racing when I was 10 years old, so to win here for the first time today is like coming full circle.”

Taking advantage of the cool, overcast conditions on Sunday morning, the “Prock Rocket” roared to the first 340-mph run for a Funny Car this season by posting a blistering 3.833 at 340.90 pass in his opening-round win against Cruz Pedregon. Later in the day he would dispose of Paul Lee and four-time former champion Matt Hagan by mere inches to set up the final round matchup against Hyde.

“Every time we drag this race car up there the conditions here are different, and you have to adjust for those conditions,” explained Prock. “My job is difficult, but my crew chief’s is much harder. I try to be a machine, do the exact same thing every single time, and not make his job harder.”

Hyde faced off with Prock’s John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the semifinals after knocking off Alexis DeJoria and Ron Capps in the first two rounds. In a wild race, Hyde actually crossed the finish line behind Beckman when both drivers spun their tires as the track turned slippery in the afternoon heat. However, Hyde was later awarded the win when it was determined that Beckman had crossed the center line as he desperately tried to maintain control of his fishtailing car near the end of the run.

Prock now holds a commanding 185-point lead on Beckman, and 201-point advantage on Hagan with just two races remaining before the points reset for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Returning to Pro Stock this season after leaving the cockpit in 2014, Greg Stanfield defeated his son, Aaron, in a fairytale final round matchup in Pro Stock.

In the first-ever Pro Stock matchup for the father-son Janac Brothers/Rod Shop teammates, Greg ran a 6.552 at 211.49 to nip his son, who beat him off the line, by about one foot at the finish for his first Pro Stock win since 2011.

The whole day was magic for Greg Stanfield. After beating Stephen Bell in the opening round, Stanfield reached the final by pedaling to tire-slipping wins over both Matt Latino and reigning world champion Greg Anderson as the track began to heat up under the bright afternoon sun.

“I think we are both still in shock right now. We both obviously dream about this, so

to be able to do it is incredible. It was just a fun day. How we ended up here, I haven't figured that out yet,” Stanfield said. “Aaron is better than me, so for me to win, I knew I would have to do something extra.”

Aaron Stanfield, the defending event winner, reached the final round for the first time this season by taking out Cory Reed, Cody Coughlin, and No. 1 qualifier Dallas Glenn.

“They asked me if I cut him any slack, and I said, ‘Heck no. He is not going to cut me any,’” Aaron said with a smile. “I grew up around this sport and watching my dad race Pro Stock. He has always been my hero, and he taught me everything I know.”

Despite his third-round setback, Glenn still leaves Sonoma with a 37-point advantage over Anderson after 10 Pro Stock races this season.

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s picked up his second career win by riding his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki bike to a 6.756 at 199.97 pass over John Hall, who went 6.807 at 196.04. After qualifying at No. 1, Gadson picked off Brad Hawkes and Angie Smith before receiving bye to reach the final round.

The victory was sweet revenge for Gadson, who entered Sunday with a bad taste in his mouth after he fell to Hall’s teammate Matt Smith in Saturday’s GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout when he red-lighted by .001 in the final round.

“Normally, when something like that happens, you’ve got to sit on it for a week or however long until the next race. Luckily for me, I got to go back out the next day and try it again,” said Gadson, who now trails his teammate Gaige Herrera by a 70-point margin in the 2025 standings. “Today, revenge was on my mind. We lost the battle but won the war.”

Gadson also explained why he enjoyed Sunday’s win more than his first career victory at Bristol five weeks ago.

“When I won at Bristol, to be honest, it was more of a relief just to finally get the monkey off my back, but with this one I can just relax and really enjoy it.”

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series now heads to Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota for the Lucas Oil Nationals on August 14-17.

Friday Night Qualifying Record:

After setting the record for the fastest run in NHRA history at 341.85 mph in qualifying for the Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Brittany Force stunned the crowd – and her fellow competitors – at Sonoma by laying down a track-record pass of 3.645 seconds at a stunning 343.16 mph to smash her own record on Friday night under the lights.

 “I couldn’t hear anything on my radio, and then they repeated the 343 speed, and I thought they were joking. I’m so pumped and so excited to do this in front of all the fans here,’ said Force, who now owns seven of the eight fastest runs in NHRA Top Fuel history. “This is still settling in. We’ve run great mph lately, but our goal is always elapsed time, not mph, but to jump over 342 and go right to 343, I still can’t believe we did it.’

However, despite qualifying at No. 1 for the third time this season and the 55th time in her career, the two-time Top champion’s euphoria was short-lived after she was bounced in the first round of Sunday’s eliminations by Shawn Langston.