TEXAS NHRA FALLNATIONALS PREVIEW

ENNIS, Texas (Oct. 15, 2026) — The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship rolls into Texas Motorplex for the 38th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals, and Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) enters the fourth event of the six-race playoff with strong momentum across both Nitro categories.

Mobil 1 Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Funny Car driver Matt Hagan head to Ennis, Texas, looking to solidify their championship bids during one of the most celebrated and high-stakes events on the NHRA calendar.

The Texas NHRA FallNationals serves as the centerpiece of the 10-day Stampede of Speed festival—a premier celebration of motorsports featuring fan fests, concerts, and continuous drag racing excitement near Dallas. TSR will kick things off by attending the Pre-Stage FanFest Thursday evening at the Railyard in Waxahachie.

Leah Pruett and her Mobil 1 dragster team enter Texas Motorplex sitting fourth in points after uncharacteristically early exits in the first three Countdown races. Pruett has maintained a strong presence in the top tier of the points standings all season, leveraging consistent round-wins—she has only had two first-round losses—and top-tier qualifying performances—the Mobil 1 team has qualified inside the top five 11 out of the 17 events so far this season.

“Our team is many things, but resilience is the leading current value. Our Countdown hopes have been stressed and bent, but our ability to bounce back and end this season strong is the true form I look forward to showing this weekend,” Pruett said. “The team’s focus has been understanding and rectifying the mechanical issues we had in St. Louis, and finding our strong performance stride once again.”

The last time Pruett competed at Texas Motorplex she ended the weekend sharing the winners circle with teammate Matt Hagan in TSR’s first double up in 2023. It was her first and, so far, only professional Countdown to the Championship victory, she’s hoping to change that this weekend with her second win of the season.

Pruett also visited the winners circle racing Factory Stock Showdown in 2018 making the Motorplex the only track where she’s won in multiple categories. .

“Ennis always has a way of serving up incredible cowboy hat memories. All great things for me in Ennis have come in pairs, from winning this race in 2018 and locking up the Factory Stock championship, to the memorable TSR double up in 2023, to being fully pregnant at the Champions dinner in 2024,” Pruett explained. “All of these things were ultimate goals that came to full actualization, which lends itself to confidence and momentum that everything is bigger in Texas. For me, getting a second diamond Wally of the season it’s the premier goal.”

Four-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan brings the JHG Funny Car into Ennis holding the championship points lead. Fresh off capturing the 2026 NHRA Regular Season Championship, Hagan is in the middle of a six-race streak where he’s finished semi-finals or better.

“I think this JHG Dodge team is in a really good spot mentally. We’ve been going rounds and the car is running well, and we just have to keep moving along. It’s so easy to get knotted up in thinking and worrying about it, but things change so fast. We saw someone go from sixth to third in just one race—that can happen with any of us all stacked in here like we are,” Hagan said. “We just have to keep plugging away and it’ll be just fine moving forward. I’m excited about it. We have everything that it takes to be able to win this thing. We won the regular season championship and there’s no reason we can’t win the overall championship too.”

With a 72-point lead and four victories already this season, Hagan is returning to a venue at which he boasts an impressive resume. He’s captured three FallNationals victories (2010, 2016, and 2019) along with six runner-up finishes and appeared in six straight final rounds from 2019 to 2024 at the facility. Already with four wins this season, Hagan hopes Despite holding the lead in the standings, Hagan approaches the final three races with a balanced perspective.

“The Countdown is always nerve-racking, but we’ve been doing this a long time and it’s kind of business as usual,” Hagan said. “We have to look at it as we have three more races left to win. We already have four of the 75th Anniversary Diamond Wallys but I’d like to add to it and there’s only three opportunities left. It can be overwhelming and nerve-racking, and it’s always harder to lead than it is to chase, but I’d rather be 72 ahead than 72 behind.”

Texas NHRA FallNationals Schedule

Qualifying:
Friday at 5:15 and 8:00 p.m.
Saturday at Noon and 2:30 p.m.

Eliminations:
Sunday at noon

Television Coverage:
FOX Sports 1 (FS1)
Qualifying Sunday at 2:00 p.m. ET
Eliminations Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET