NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Kris Whitfield doesn’t lie in bed at night and dwell on things that might have been, but he does admit he felt a bit of a sting of losing the 2025 NHRA Super Comp world title late in the season.

Whitfield is well respected as one of the sport’s best big money bracket racers, and he also puts a lot of effort into his NHRA Super Comp program. Last year, Whitfield, who operates an auto detailing business in his native Colorado, came out swinging last year when he reached the final round in four of his first five starts in Super Comp, recording two wins. He grabbed an early points lead and as the season progressed, he continued to pull away from the field.

Whitfield began his memorable run in Las Vegas in April. During a two-week stretch, he won the Four Wide National event and then scored a win and a runner-up at the Division 7 Lucas Oil Series event a week later. All told, he turned on 20 of 21 possible win lights and added 304 points to his total. His most impressive performance may have come in the national event final where he coupled a .006 light with a 9.055 on the 9.05 index to freeze out Cooper Chun, who actually left first with a .005 light, but broke out with a 9.036.

With just a quarter of the season in the books, Whitfield’s many friends and supporters were already beginning to call him “champ” but he knew better than to get complacent.

“Yes, there was a lot of that, but I think it’s because I have good friends and good support from manufactures," Whitfield said. "They’d say, ‘It’s over.’ And ‘It’s yours’ but I know how Murphy’s Law works. Even with big lead all year, I knew it wasn’t over. It may be easy to fall into complacency but every weekend there was another reminder that nothing is easy about this sport.”

Following his memorable Las Vegas performance, Whitfield rolled into St. Louis for the Division 5 double-header and boosted his score with a runner-up and a round three finish. If he wasn’t the championship favorite before, he certainly was after leaving the Gateway City.

Then, disaster struck. And Whitfield admits that it was largely of his own making. In this instance, the culprit was a stubborn race car, and the use of pre-event waivers.  

For those unaware, A fairly recent NHRA rules revision allows sportsman racers to waive their points prior to the start of a particular event. The rule is designed to help a racer who might be experiencing mechanical issues or is visiting a new track for the first time or for whatever reason does not feel confident. The problem is once a waiver is executed, there is no going back.

Whitfield elected to pre-event waive several races during the season and he ended up winning both of them. He got the Wallys and the prize money, but not the points.

“Last season was an interesting dynamic,” Whitfield explained. “We were struggling with the race car early in the season, but the win lights were still coming on. It wasn’t exactly my version of a good race car, but somehow we made it work. Going forward, we knew we needed to get it fixed in order to really contend for a championship.”

Having a car that would not produce consistent sixty-foot times put Whitfield in a position where he elected to waive several races.

“During the season, I had a lot of good conversations with some really smart racers; world champion caliber racers and the consensus was that I needed to get my car right. After St. Louis, we lost in the first round three times in a row in Brainerd. I’ve got a great support system, and we made a lot of changes from front to back, but we still couldn’t figure it out.”

“We got to St. Louis [in October] and made five runs during the Tuesday test session and I still didn’t have much confidence. I waived those races and won one of them. Honestly, that was the worst feeling. Here I am, with a trophy and I’m filling out contingency forums and I was so conflicted. It felt like a low point because as far as the championship goes that would have made all the difference in the world. I would have wrapped it up that day.

“f I had to go back and do it again, I feel fully justified in what I did,” Whitfield said. “We did what we thought was right. I just happened to win race but go no points for it. I did make a lot of good runs in St. Louis and I thought we’d be okay. I was in a really good spot with a lot of racing left.”

Whitfield’s plan was to claim points at the end of the season, specifically the Las Vegas track that had previously been so good to him. So, he went to Dallas and elected to use another waiver for the national and divisional event. Naturally, he won again.

“Yes, I shot myself in the foot a second time,” he admitted. “I did beat some guys who would have been in contention for the title so I did what we set out to do, but I would have locked it up again if I had counted points. In Dallas, with the JEGS Allstars, there are so many great racers there. With the waiver, I knew I wasn’t getting any points, but my goal was to make sure no one else got them. I wanted to put my fate in my own hands. Sometimes, a win isn’t measured with a Wally and that was all part of our strategy.

“The truth is that I used my first waiver at the [Division 5 Lucas Oil event] in Earlville and that would have been my eighth divisional. I lost in the first round so in the end, my score would have been the same if I had never used a waiver. So yes, I played the game, but in the end, the result would have almost certainly been the same.”

Even after waiving two wins, Whitfield entered the final weeks of the season with the points lead, and a strong shot to win the title. He wasn’t able to improve his score in Las Vegas and Pomona finishing with a respectable total of 623 points.

On the final day of the season, Whitfield watched as Chad Webber faced a must win situation at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals and made it happen, winning the title by just 12 points.

“I can be pretty superstitious, so I tried a few different things,” Whitfied said. “I stood on the starting line when Chad ran a couple of times and that didn’t work so then we went to the stands and he still kept winning. For the final, I was in out pit with my girlfriend. We didn’t watch the race, but we listened to the radio and heard Chad win. I hated to have my fate in someone else hand but that’s how it played out.”

Whitfield is clearly an optimist, and when he looks back at his 2025 season, he sees three wins in Super Comp, a Division 5 championships, and a very respectable second place finish in the national standings. Whitfield also continued to build on an impressive bracket racing resume. His biggest win came at the original Mickey Thompson Million Dollar Race in St. Louis, where he won one of the $20,000 warm-up events, outlasting a field of nearly 700 racers. Whitfield was also in the final round of a $50,000 to win race at U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, Mich., earning another solid payday.

“Winning a race at the OG Million was big. It wasn’t a huge payday, but the money doesn’t matter,” Whitfield said. “It gets spent buying more parts or taking more trips. When they give you that trophy, no one can take that away. I got down to six cars in the $50,000 race the next day so it was a good weekend. We raced until 3:30 a.m. for two nights in a row.”

So, what in store for Whitfied in 2026?

“This year, I’ve got my car figured out and I’m not going to touch it and my schedule might look significantly different,” Whitfield said. “There are new places on the schedule and I want go try some of them. My plan is to fill in the calendar with a lot of NHRA stuff and a lot of bracket races. When my rig leaves Colorado, its gone for most of the season so I try to hit races two and three weeks at a time because I fly in and out.”

As Whitfield previously noted, he’s got an incredible support system that includes his parents, Steve and Nancy, brother, Kameron, his aunt, Marcie, and girlfriend, Victoria Christensen. He also gets a boost from several prominent businesses including Dialed In Details, Get Em Carburetors, Mickey Thompson Tires, DMP Awnings, Bishop’s Performance, Go Lithium Batteries, Alliance Racewear, This is Bracket Racing.com and Goethe Enterprises.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more motivated to get season kicked off,” he says. “What happened last year is the biggest thing that will push me. You know, they say do you love to win or hate to lose? I hate to lose. That’s what keeps me up at night. The cuts and scars of losing the championship faded quickly, and now that’s turned into the excitement of 2026. I feel good. If I hadn’t come so close last season, I might not have the same drive as I do now but I’m very motivated.”