Leah Pruett in her Dodge Mopar powered NHRA Top Fuel dragster, wins the postponed New England Nationals from New Hampshire today held at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee, beating Shawn Langdon – Motorsport America Photo
Final Round: NHRA New England Nationals
NHRA NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS RACE RECAP:
LEAH PRUETT WINS POSTPONED NHRA NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS
BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 12, 2026) – After rain postponed the NHRA New
England Nationals Top Fuel final round from being completed at New
England Dragway, Leah Pruett and the Dodge Top Fuel dragster team picked
up their first win of the season Friday at Bristol Dragway when they
defeated points leader Shawn Langdon.
Pruett, who last won at Dallas in 2023 before stepping out of the
driver’s seat to start a family, handled her Dodge dragster to a
3.794-second pass at 332.43 mph defeating Langdon’s 3.852 at 328.54 for
the 13th Top Fuel victory of her career.
“I’m happier than I thought I would be. Now I finally get to take a
breath and enjoy it. This race didn’t come by accident. It didn’t come
by somebody falling short or smoking the tires. We earned this,” Pruett
said. “To see the smiles on my crew and my crew chiefs’ faces — that’s
all-time. The Diamond Wally is super cool, but seeing what this means to
my team means even more. We’re chipping away at it and that’s what gave
us confidence coming into this final round.
“When the season started, a couple races in, I found myself not really
knowing how to collect my new self, not knowing how to emotionally
manage myself and I got pretty down. But I have an incredible team
behind me so we took a few steps back, and worked on hitting marks that
were obtainable for me. We had a plan, a systematic approach with a team
that is unwavering behind me. That’s why this win is so fulfilling. I
think I’m in a better spot than I’ve ever been as a driver.”
En route to the finals, Pruett took down Scott Farley, Maddi Gordon and
Billy Torrence before rain persisted and forced the finals for both Top
Fuel and Funny Car to be postponed to the second qualifying session of
the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
-TSR-
LEAH PRUETT
Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster
Unofficial Points Standing:
3rd
* Now a 13-time NHRA National Event Winner
* Finished 2023 runner-up in championship points
* Finished runner-up up at the 2026 NHRA Arizona Nationals
* Has finished quarterfinals or better all season
* No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA Winternationals
QUALIFYING
Qualifying: No. 2
3.712 seconds at 335.73 mph
Bonus Qualifying Points: 6
Q1: 3.808 at 329.18
Q2: 3.712 at 333.49
Q3: 5.214 at 138.57
Q4: 3.764 at 330.88
Race Results
E1: 3.766 at 331.45 def. Scott Farley 8.966 at 76.14
E2: 4.696 at 200.06 def. Maddi Gordon 5.623 at 179.06
Semis: 3.770 at 331.28 def. Billy Torrence 3.826 at 329.50
Finals: 3.794 at 332.43 def. Shawn Langdon 3.852 at 328.54
Quotes From Sunday, June 7th
“It’s going to be a week of anticipation trying to wrap up the final
round for Epping. but we kicked off this race weekend in great fashion.
We missed the No. 1 qualifier by just a little bit. It’s more
important than ever this year with the low car count to get that number
one spot with a bye in the first round.
Anything can happen on Sunday, first round we needed to make sure that
we got down the track. Moving on to E2, I was clearly, really hoping to
run Tony today [in the second round] based on the ladder. It was a super
bummer to see him go out of eliminations in front of me. When that
happens for me, it makes me want it more. We have to carry the flag,
carry the torch.
Running Maddi in second round, we went up there to run a mid-3.70, and
it surprised us all smoking the tires, and I pedaled it and knew very
quickly that I didn’t let it settle enough as it started to fishtail so
I got out of it. I don’t see her. I said, literally in my mind,
‘Breathe, let it settle.’ So, I felt like I spent an entire day in
the middle of the track, letting the car settle down. And then I got a
little bit of traction. I couldn’t hear her so I knew that she wasn’t
right there with me so that was a great win.
It did cause a lot of confusion for us though, because we had a fuel
nozzle break on that run. We weren’t sure if we had smoked the tires
because we were over-tuned and missed the tune-up, or did we smoke the
tires because we had fuel on the tire causing a situation. We had to
make the call going into the semis. So, we rolled the dice, and
collectively, it was decided we would run the semis with what we had in
second round. It did slow down a little bit to a 3.77.
For me, my journey that I’m on, consistently being the best,
lightest-staged driver that I can every single round, is my goal. That’s
what’s gotten us to the point we’re at. We did not have lane choice all
day except for first round and we don’t have lane choice going into the
final at Bristol. The motto of our team is ‘One Team, All Team,’ and
consistency is key. That’s how we got to the final today.
Watching the weather, tuning towards this final round, for the crew
chiefs was a little bit exhausting. The fronts coming in and out. So, we
get to refresh our brains. We all joke, we should run this final off the
trailer, Q1 at Bristol. So obviously we’re pumped.”
MATT HAGAN
Dodge//SRT Hellcat
Funny Car
Unofficial Points Standing: 4th
* Four-time world champion (2023, 2020, 2014, 2011)
* Finished 2025 season runner-up
* Won the NHRA Winternationals, NHRA’s 1000th Funny Car race
* 14 season streak with at least one win
* Winningest professional driver at New England Dragway with four
victories (2022, 2019, 2018, 2017)
Qualifying:
Qualifying: No. 7
3.954 seconds at 328.46 mph
Q1: 6.135 at 114.39
Q2: 3.954 at 328.46
Q3: 4.061 at 262.64
Q4: 3.977 at 324.90
Race Results:
E1: 9.501 at 44.74 def. Del Worsham, -.171 red
E2: 4.020 at 323.04 lost to Jack Beckman 3.943 at 324.75
“I’ve never seen so much pollen in one place. It was unreal on the
race track. You could see the layer of it. Kind of made you scratch your
head a bit and think, is it going to be slick or sandy or something
else. We went up there first round and just had a little bit more Hemi
horsepower than we expected. Luckily, we got a gift from Del Worsham
when he went red. He’s a great driver, a champion and I have a lot of
respect to him. It was definitely wild to see him red light and then hit
cones as well. He wasn’t alone that first round, I think eight or nine
cones got hit.
Second round, we went up there and we just got beat. It was a good drag
race, and we were just on the backside of it. Those John Force Racing
cars are really running well over there, but like [crew chief] Phil
Shuler has said, ‘We have to sweep our own porch and focus on what we
have, and not what everybody else is doing.’ I think we are just fine.
So, we move on to Bristol and try to get it done close to home.”