SONOMA — Doug Kalitta in Top Fuel, Jordan Vandergriff in Funny Car, and Greg Stanfield in Pro Stock all posted impressive victories in front of a sold-out crowd during Sunday’s final eliminations for the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series at Sonoma Raceway.

Kalitta once again showed why he is the toast of Sonoma Raceway, which is tucked in the heart of the Napa wine country, as the reigning world champion denied San Jose native Jasmine Salinas of her first career victory with a blistering 3.731-seconds at 339.36 mph run in the final round with his Kalitta Motorsports Aflac-sponsored dragster.

It’s the second straight victory and seventh overall at Sonoma for Kalitta, which is the most in Top Fuel history.

Kalitta dominated the entire weekend. The two-time Top Fuel champion qualified No. 1, before rolling to an easy win over a tire-smoking Clay Millican in the opening round and five-time Sonoma winner Antron Brown in the semifinals. With only 14 Top Fuel cars competing at Sonoma this weekend, he also benefited from a second-round bye run.

Salinas was also impressive on Sunday, posting three consecutive runs in the 3.7s to get past Josh Hart, season points leader Shawn Langdon, and Leah Pruitt to reach the final. Against Kalitta, she left first and posted a strong 3.815 at 319.14 effort, but Kalitta was able to just run her down on the sun-baked track.

“This is a very special place for me. We had a little dry spell through the years, but I'm glad that we managed to get the last two wins here,” Kalitta said.

The victory was Kalitta’s second this season in 11 events and the 61st of his career in 127 final round appearances. The win also pushed him to within 85 points (1069 to 984) of his teammate Langdon for the season points lead as he vies for his third TF championship.

“This is the time of the year where it gets really fun because we're all battling for points,” said the Michigan native. We’re still quite a ways behind Shawn (Langdon), but we’ve got enough time to do it.”

Afterward, Kalitta credited his crew chief Alan Johnson for his recent success. In August 1996, he lost his brother Blaine Johnson in a tragic accident at the US Nationals in Indianapolis.

“It's been 30 years since, unfortunately, we lost Blaine Johnson, and I'm going to have the honor of giving this trophy to Alan this evening once we get done with this. It’s very deserving with everything he’s put into this sport. Blaine was a hell of a driver, so this is going to be an honor.”

Funny Car rookie Jordan Vandergriff was equally impressive as he also won for the second time this season. Driving the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet for John Force Racing, Vandergriff went 3.900 at 330.72 mph to defeat Daniel Wilkerson, who posted a 3.950 at 301.33 run, in their final round.

Wilkerson advanced to his second final this year and fourth in his career thanks to round wins against Hunter Green, Spencer Hyde and a tire-smoking Jack Beckman.

Qualifying at No. 1, Vandergriff powered by Jason Rupert, Matt Hagan, and Austin Prock in the earlier rounds to reach the final. Despite the tricky and ever-changing track conditions, Vandergriff was the model of consistency, posting sub-4-second runs in all four rounds on Sunday.

“My team behind me had the car running so well and so smoothly at this race,” Vandergriff said. “Today was one of those days where I got up there, and I knew I was going to go straight and tried and true. Heading into this final round, I knew that we had the car.”

His run in the semifinal against Prock was one of the most anticipated matchups of the 2026 season. After winning two consecutive Funny Car championships at John Force Racing, Prock elected to leave the team to take over Bob Tasca’s seat at Tasca Racing this past off-season. Vandergriff, his longtime friend, was selected to replace him, and Sonoma marked their first career meeting.

The matchup did not disappoint as Vandergriff posted a time of 3.911 at 329.91 to nip Prock, who left first running 3.921 at 329.67, by mere inches at the finish line.

“The race win means more, but that win in that semi was pretty cool too,” admitted Vandergriff. “He (Prock) made the decision to leave this car, but he is a two-time champion, and he earned every bit of it. I wanted to come into this car and hold my own and be better. To be the best, you have to beat the best, and today we beat the best."

The victory moved Vandergriff to within 74 points (852 to 778) of season leader Ron Capps, who was dumped in the first round by Prock, in the 2026 standings.

Afterward, Vandergriff talked about how winning just makes him hungrier for more.

“Getting my second win, it means a lot because after my first win, I remember sitting home, on the couch, looking at the Wally, and thinking, ‘You know, how do I get a second one?’ The first one felt like such a whirlwind and a dream come true. My job is to come to John Force Racing and win Wallys for Cornwall Quality Tools. Now I'm going to go home and look at two Wallys and ask myself how to get a third.”

In Pro Stock, Greg Stanfield upset six-time world champion and Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders on a holeshot, with a run of 6.551 at 211.30 in his Janac Brothers Camaro to notch his second straight victory in Sonoma. Enders went 6.550 at 210.87, but Stanfield was lightning quick off the line, launching in just .0.015 seconds compared to Enders'. 032 start to upset the 49-time winner.

Last year, Stanfield defeated his son, Aaron, in the finals, while this year he again knocked him out on a hole shot in the first round before taking wins against Mason McGaha and Jeg Coughlin Jr. to reach the final.

“On Saturday, I just looked at the ladder and thought, ‘Oh, boy, this ain't good.' "I just try to do my part to not let everybody down," Stanfield said. “I won the first round due to pure luck against Aaron because I should have been beat right there. That was my mulligan of the day.”

Enders advanced to the final round for the first time in 2026 and the 85th time in her career after round wins against Kenny Delco, Matt Latino, and Troy Coughlin Jr.

Stanfield’s seventh career win capped a near-perfect day for Elite Motorsports team, which put all four cars in the semifinals and won in Sonoma for the fifth straight time.

"I'm not sure why I do so well here. It must be the wine,” Stanfield joked. “It's a great place with great fans, and I just feel really comfortable here. The Elite cars are fast right now. I’m just proud, excited, and thankful to be driving for them.”
The opening round of Pro Stock produced plenty of bedlam as four of the five top qualifiers, including No. 1 Chris Vang, were taken out. In addition, Dallas Glenn and Greg Anderson, who qualified at seven and eleven, respectively, went down in the first round, drastically tightening up the Pro Stock points race. Glenn now holds a mere 21-point advantage (922-901) over Anderson, while Stanfield’s win moves him into a tie for third with Matt Hartford just 157 behind.

“The racing is so tight today, so the driving part of it is really critical. Today was obviously a good day. When I race, I really don't look who's in the other lane. I just try to focus on my side and what I can do and try to do the best I can.”
Manteca’s Chris Thode turned in a strong performance in his JC Automotive sponsored Top Dragster in the Sportsman Series before experiencing some bad luck on Sunday. After qualifying just 19th out of 29 entrants, Thode marched through his first three rounds of eliminations to reach the semifinals, where a broken tie rod did him in against Keith Winters, who would go on to beat Thomas Bayer in the finals.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns next weekend, July 24-26, with the 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Seattle.