NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

In only his third season in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Gaige Herrera is just one win away from winning at all the tracks on the Pro Stock Motorcycle circuit. If he wins this weekend at the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway to open the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, he would have race wins at all Pro Stock Motorcycle facilities.
 
Herrera, the reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champion and rider of the RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki, has won seven of the nine motorcycle races this season, including most recently at the prestigious Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals.
 
He currently leads the points heading into the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs and is on a hunt for his second consecutive world title.

“Going up to Reading, that’s the one place I haven’t won yet, so I’m really determined to try to win this weekend,” said Herrera. “We just have to not take anything for granted. Last year, we obviously had the faster motorcycle out there, and I think we relaxed a little bit maybe, and it bit us in Reading. This year, we’re going to go in focused on the main prize, and that’s to be consistent each lap and do the best we can to have the best machine possible.”

Last season, Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Robert Hight (Funny Car), Matt Hartford (Pro Stock), and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all claimed wins in their respective categories, and this year’s race will again be broadcast on FS1 and FOX, including elimination coverage on FOX on Sunday, Sept. 12 beginning at 2 or 4:30 p.m. ET (based on local listings). It is the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Herrera earned 11 wins in 2023, only missing Bristol, Norwalk, Indianapolis, and Reading. This year, only Reading remains on his list. The only other two riders to win this season are 2023 NHRA Rookie of the Year Chase Van Sant, who won over Herrera in Seattle, and six-time champion Matt Smith, who won in Sonoma and opens the playoffs second in points.

“I feel like the whole class has tightened up,” said Herrera. “Last year was kind of unexpected to the whole class. Not only unexpected from myself, but to the whole class. What Vance & Hines and I were able to accomplish last year made everyone step up as a whole. This year, the Countdown is going to be very interesting. [Matt Smith Racing] has a good group of bikes, and my teammate Richard Gadson is solid, and Chase Van Sant is in there, too. All the riders and teams have really stepped up their game. The Countdown is going to be fun, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
 
In the Pro Stock ranks, leader Dallas Glenn heads to Maple Grove Raceway with a 25-point lead over Aaron Stanfield in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro. Glenn has picked up three wins this season and is on the hunt for his first NHRA world championship. Stanfield has been hot the second half of the year, picking up four wins this summer, including Indianapolis.

Glenn enters the Countdown as the No. 1 seed for the second year and is determined to do everything he can to stay atop a talent-heavy category.

“It feels good to be No. 1 going into the Countdown for the second year in a row,” said Glenn. “We just want to leave the Countdown the way we entered it. We all know what we need to do. There are technical things we need to improve on, there’s also horsepower, but moving forward, any time you are static in this class, you’re going backward. It’s constantly evolving, constantly moving forward.
 
“So, we know what we need to do. I know there were some mistakes on my part in the Countdown last year. In Reading, I was .001 red first round, which is something you cannot do the first race of the Countdown. I did a good job of driving to get to the final in Charlotte, and then in St. Louis, the car was just not really there. We had a couple other races where we just had some small parts failures, but that’s racing. We know what needs to be done, so we’re going to try to go up there and be as aggressive as possible. Drag racing is a very humbling sport. You can go from hero to zero in a heartbeat.”

Also in the Pro Stock mix is Greg Anderson, with two wins this season, and reigning champion Erica Enders, who picked up a win in Gainesville. Defending Pep Boys NHRA Nationals winner Matt Hartford hopes returning to Maple Grove can rejuvenate his season. Others to watch include five-time champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., Epping winner Troy Coughlin Jr., Jerry Tucker, and Cristian Cuadra.

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 2:30 and 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 13 and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, Sept. 14 at noon and 2:30 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 15. Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, as well as at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday and eliminations on FOX at 2 or 4:30 p.m. ET (check local listings) on Sunday.
 
To purchase tickets to the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, fans can visit www.maplegroveraceway.com. All children 12 and under are admitted free in the general-admission area with a paid adult.