The 37th annual NHRA DENSO Sonoma Nationals proved to be an impressive affair, and one in which reigning and six-time world champion Greg Anderson exercised the opportunity to display great power with his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. With a semifinals finish, Anderson remains well in contention for both the regular-season championship and the overall season title.
At this event last season, Anderson reset the Sonoma Raceway track record for elapsed time to 6.491-second. This year at the DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals, that record was shattered again and again as Anderson and KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn traded blows in qualifying. In the first session, Anderson blasted to a 6.490 – the only run in the 6.40s for the session – with Glenn nipping at his heels with a 6.508. Aaron Stanfield and father Greg Stanfield chimed in with a 6.489 and 6.480, respectively, in the second session to temporarily dislodge KB Titan from the top, but Glenn came forth with a bold 6.473, and Anderson had final say for the round with another new track record of 6.472.
With the provisional pole in hand on Friday, Anderson was delighted by the conditions and eager for more.
“If you’re a Pro Stock racer, this is what you dream of, this is what you wish for all year long, and some years you don’t get it once – but this year we’ve gotten it two, three times,” said Anderson, who was part of the track record resetting flurry in Seattle the previous weekend. “It’s been a fantastic year to be a Pro Stock racer.”
Glenn snatched the Sonoma record back in the final session with a 6.471, but in the first round of eliminations on Sunday, there was more to be had. Anderson’s defeat of Chris McGaha was emphasized by a 6.467, and in the very next pair, Glenn stomped on it with a 6.461. With 110 Pro Stock wins, the most in the history of the category, Anderson knew to stay even-keeled and keep his intentions set on collecting win lights. With conditions that invite quicker-than-average runs comes an increased challenge, though, and the cars in the category were rattling the tires and getting loose left and right. In the second round, Anderson defeated Troy Coughlin Jr., 6.540 to 6.576, then things got spooky in the semifinals.
There, opponent Greg Stanfield shook the tires and was able to pedal and get back in it, but Anderson’s side of the racetrack threw a mighty curve – quite literally – yanking the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet violently to the left. The seasoned driver was able to save the car, but the run was lost, and Anderson’s day ended there. The semifinals finish was his third of the season, complementing six final round performances that include four wins, and he leaves Sonoma No. 2 in the Pro Stock points – just two rounds (37 marks) behind Glenn.
“Well, I’m certainly disappointed,” expressed Anderson. “This is not how I had pictured this day. I pictured our HendrickCars.com Camaro in the winner’s circle here at Sonoma, like we’ve done more than a few times before, but it just did not work out that way. The last two weeks of racing have been good for the KB Titan Racing team, but today was not great, and when we get to Brainerd in a few weeks, we need to be great. This is the point in the season where you better be at the top of your game, and we’ve had a strong start to the year. Now we need to keep that going and focus on finishing strong.”
In qualifying, Anderson picked up 10 bonus points as one of the quickest cars in each session, matching bonus marks awarded at the event to Dallas Glenn. The championship points will be reset after the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis ahead of the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs, and the extra qualifying points earned before then count toward the regular-season championship for the first time. Anderson and Glenn are both in the hunt for the first championship of the year up for grabs.
“I’m in a good spot, and so is Dallas; he’s got a great hot rod, and he drives the wheels off of that damn thing. We’ve had a bullseye on our back all year, but it’s good to see that they’ve gained on us, and I hope that reminds us that we can’t kick her in neutral, we have to keep digging,” said Anderson, noting the awakening competitiveness of KB Titan’s rival team, Elite Motorsports. “But that’s Pro Stock. It’s incredible. Not once in the past few months have I thought that this will continue all year long. It’s too great of a class. Nobody quits. Nobody just lays down and plays dead. They come fighting back, and it’ll be a battle the rest of the year. That’s what it should be, and I like that. I welcome the challenge.”
The next event on the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., August 14-17.
This story was originally published on July 28, 2025. 
The post Greg Anderson and HendrickCars.com Chevy Trade Track Records, Strengthen Battle For Regular-Season Title in Sonoma first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
