Reigning Top Fuel world champion Doug Kalitta shattered the track speed record in the final round en route to the win on Sunday at zMAX Dragway, beating a loaded final quad of Shawn Langdon, Tony Stewart and Leah Pruett at the 16th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.
Ron Capps (Funny Car), Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the fourth of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Kalitta went 3.692-seconds at 342.98 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster, setting the track record and making the third-fastest run in NHRA history, as the Top Fuel points leader collected his second win this season and the 60th in his career.
Kalitta won each of his first two quads to reach the final round, where teammate Langdon moved first on the starting line. But Kalitta enjoyed a monster run to power past everyone and get his third career win at zMAX Dragway. After winning two world titles in the past three years, there has been no let-up from Kalitta, who became the first Top Fuel driver to get two wins in 2026.
“Alan [Johnson, crew chief] thought it was going to run over 340 mph, so that was good. I don’t know how he predicts these things, but the guy’s a wizard tuning these cars and I’m just very, very fortunate,” Kalitta said. “It’s a hell of an opportunity to work with him and Connie’s [Kalitta, team owner] given us everything we need with all three of our cars. I’m sure he is pretty proud of what we accomplished.
“The guys pulled through for me. I was really happy to see that light when it came on. We had a lot of support here and this is the kind of race you want to win.”
Langdon finished as the runner-up in his second visit to the finals this season, while Pruett took third.
Funny Car’s Ron Capps stayed red-hot in the loaded category, winning for the second time in three races thanks to a run of 3.905 at 334.90 in his 12,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra in the championship round to hold off past world champions Jack Beckman, Matt Hagan and J.R. Todd in a thrilling finale.
Capps had the dominant car all weekend, qualifying No. 1 and making the quickest pass of the weekend in the first round of eliminations when he went 3.865 at 333.00. He followed that with a runner-up to Todd in the second round quad, sending him to the stacked final quad.
Capps left first and never trailed in an impressive wire-to-wire victory in the finals, enjoying his 79th career victory and his fifth in Charlotte, the most among active Funny Car drivers. It continued his impressive start to the year, as it gave Capps his third straight final round. The three-time world champion also has a pair of No. 1 qualifiers in 2026, as everything appears to be lining up for a strong championship push for the veteran and points leader.
“I still can’t believe it,” Capps said. “You have cars like this at times in your career and you just don’t want to mess up as a driver. It sounds funny, it sounds strange, but you’re given something that leaves the trailer and all the knobs turn in the right direction to go win a race. Any driver will tell you this and if they don’t, they’re lying, but it’s like you’re given this to not screw up and to cut a light and, most importantly, drive it, keep it as straight as possible in a Funny Car.
“The four-wide brings such a unique mentality to everything. I’m getting older, but it’s just so much fun to get up there and have the confidence from everybody on the team that I could still do it in the seat. This is especially cool because this is the only four-wide race this year. Sunday night’s over with, and you look back and say, man, everybody came together really made this a great event.”
Beckman took the runner-up spot, while Hagan was third and is now second in points.
In Pro Stock, Matt Hartford won for the first time at zMAX Dragway, rolling to his second win in four races to open 2026 with a run of 6.526 at 210.05 in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro to defeat Cody Coughlin, Greg Anderson and Matt Latino in the finals.
Hartford won the opener in Gainesville, but then struggled in Phoenix and Pomona, losing in the first round at both events. The veteran, though, bounced back in impressive fashion this weekend, getting his second win of the year and 10th in his career.
He won his opening-round quad and was second to Anderson a round later to advance to the championship round. There, he was quicker than Anderson and Coughlin off the starting line, posting a strong .024 reaction time and then the quickest run of the quad to pick up his first career four-wide victory.
This one sent him to third in points, as Hartford made the most of his opportunities on Sunday in Charlotte.
“If you’re going to win in this class, you pretty much have to leave ahead of everybody and that’s really hard to do,” Hartford said. “I struggle with it. I was .024 in the final and I thought that was great for me, especially on the four-wide, which is hard. You’ve heard from everybody; there’s a lot going on. It’s very confusing, and I just took my time, made sure I was ready and rolled in.
“An easy way to see our team versus the other teams is who’s standing up on the line during a final. Just look and see how many people are behind our car and how many people are behind the other car. Some of these teams, it looks like there are 60 people behind their car. With our team, there’s Amber, Eddie and Adam, that’s it. So to come out here and run and be competitive with these super teams, it’s just incredible, and it’s an honor to have my wife do it alongside me, my brother do it alongside Eddie and me.”
Coughlin continued the solid start to his season, taking the runner-up for the second time this season and third time in his career, while Anderson was third. Dallas Glenn stays in the points lead.
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Gaige Herrera was back to his winning ways this weekend at zMAX Dragway, capped off by a victory on Sunday with a run of 6.758 at 199.88 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to outlast a quad that included teammate and reigning world champion Richard Gadson, Clayton Howey and Chase Van Sant.
It’s the first win of the year for Herrera and, remarkably, the 29th in his young career, a day after winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. After back-to-back world championships in dominant fashion, Herrera finished second to Gadson a year ago. He still enjoyed a strong season and Herrera was back in top form in Charlotte, showcasing a stellar .019 reaction time in the final quad.
Both Gadson and Howey left before Herrera, but he tracked them both down quickly, rolling to his third NHRA 4-Wide Nationals victory in Charlotte and fourth overall at the stellar facility.
“I knew we all were going to push the tree in the final and I think that’s the tightest I’ve seen a four-wide final in the bike category,” Herrera said. “It’s pretty cool to have all Suzukis in the final, too. I had a bracket bike all day long, same with Richard and Clayton, and it’s awesome to get the four-wide win here at zMAX and to get my first diamond in Wally. It’s pretty cool to win in NHRA’s 75th anniversary.
“Losing the second round in Gainesville lit a fire under me and I didn’t want that to happen to me again this weekend. I knew I had to be better as a rider at everything and feel like this weekend I proved it to myself.”
Gadson, who won the season-opening Gatornationals and remains the points leader, finished as the runner-up, while Howey took third.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action May 1-3 with the NHRA Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Ga.
This story was originally published on April 26, 2026. 
The post Kalitta, Capps, Hartford, and Herrera Race to Wins at NHRA 4-Wide Nationals first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
