{"id":103451,"date":"2026-04-25T04:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/langdon-capps-anderson-and-m-smith-snag-provisional-no-1-spots-at-nhra-4-wide-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T04:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:44:07","slug":"langdon-capps-anderson-and-m-smith-snag-provisional-no-1-spots-at-nhra-4-wide-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/langdon-capps-anderson-and-m-smith-snag-provisional-no-1-spots-at-nhra-4-wide-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Langdon, Capps, Anderson, and M. Smith Snag Provisional No. 1 Spots at NHRA 4-Wide Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top Fuel\u2019s Shawn Langdon was the only driver to reach the 3.60s on Friday at zMAX Dragway, powering to the provisional No. 1 position to kick off the 16th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.<\/p>\n

Ron Capps (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the fourth of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.<\/p>\n

In the final quad of the night, Langdon went 3.674-seconds at 339.19 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Kalitta Air dragster under the lights, giving the past world champion the quickest run in both of Friday\u2019s qualifying sessions as he looks for his second No. 1 qualifier of the season.<\/p>\n

Currently second in points, Langdon is also after his second win of the season as he is focused on keeping the team\u2019s strong start going in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a testament to the team,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cThe guys have done a great job giving me a great race car. It\u2019s all the hard work that they did in the off-season, a lot of things that they looked at to try to improve on from last year in the last two years, and just little by little, it\u2019s been shown. So it\u2019s a good feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel pretty confident right now that if the track conditions are hot, we feel like we can make the necessary changes. Then, when we get situations like this, where you try to throw down a little bit, we have a good handle on that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leah Pruett is currently second with her run of 3.700 at 333.82, and reigning world champion and points leader Doug Kalitta is third after going 3.711 at 334.73.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ron Capps (bottom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funny Car\u2019s Ron Capps made the most of ideal conditions under the lights to close out qualifying in the category, ripping off a strong 3.883 at 333.91 in his 12,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra. It continues a great streak for Capps, who shares the points lead with Matt Hagan, won in Phoenix and advanced to the final round in Pomona.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an ideal sign at this point of the season and it also puts Capps in a great position to qualify first for the second time this year and the 39th time in his career. Though it\u2019s still early, Capps loves the direction of the team and hopes for another big showing this weekend at zMAX Dragway, where he\u2019s won four times in his career. That\u2019s tied with Hagan for the most among active Funny Car drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is classic zMAX. The first run there was a little humidity, and the track hadn\u2019t been run on and everybody was tiptoeing,\u201d Capps said. \u201cBut this place is always good and when the sun goes down, it\u2019s great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started hearing the good numbers being run ahead of us, and I could hear \u2018Guido\u2019 [crew chief Dean Antonelli] on the radio. I knew he was getting after it. If we get some cloud cover tomorrow that won\u2019t hold, but it also depends on the humidity and the heat. We\u2019ll see what tomorrow brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Vandergriff went to second with a run of 3.899 at 328.70 and Hagan, who won the 1,000th Funny Car race in Pomona, is third after going 3.901 at 326.16.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Greg Anderson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Pro Stock, six-time world champion Greg Anderson showed no let-up after winning in Pomona, putting together a spectacular Friday, including a run of 6.498 at 211.23 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro that puts him in the top spot. Anderson was the only driver to dip into the 6.40s, putting him in position for third straight No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 143rd in his career.<\/p>\n

Anderson, who is second in points to only KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn, continues to dominate in qualifying this year and performing well in Charlotte in front of his sponsor is always a good feeling for the veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did feel very good. I can\u2019t lie. Sometimes when you make a run, you say to yourself that we felt pretty damn good, and that\u2019s what I said going down the race track. The scoreboard matched what I thought. I had fun today,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

Mr. H [Hendrick] was out here today, and he had a good time. He left before the second run and he called a little bit before it went up, and he\u2019s like, make sure you don\u2019t lose that pole. So I guess I got a little extra pressure there and got orders from the boss, and we got the job done. So you don\u2019t want to lay an egg in front of the boss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reigning world champion Glenn is currently second with a run of 6.521 at 210.77 and Matt Latino continues his solid season, with his 6.527 at 210.64 putting him third.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Matt Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Racing close to home has always been a good thing for Pro Stock Motorcycle\u2019s Matt Smith and that continued on Friday at his home track, as the defending event winner went 6.739 at 203.09 on his Denso Auto Parts Buell. Should that hold, it would give Smith 60 career No. 1 qualifiers, eclipsing Angelle Sampey for the most in Pro Stock Motorcycle history.<\/p>\n

Smith has always performed well at zMAX Dragway, winning four times, and he nearly set the speed record on Friday with his booming run. With the class racing for the first time since the season-opener in Gainesville, Smith was thrilled to start the weekend in such impressive fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it would stick. I drove to the center line, but all in all, it did stick, and we\u2019re number one,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThis is a great place to race and I love the four-wide. It\u2019s a challenge and I\u2019m getting old, and I like more challenges as I\u2019m getting old.<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow, we have the (Mission) #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, so we\u2019re going to be competing for some extra points and I have a good quad. My goal is to go out there and win that quad and really set a time. I think if the bike had gone straight there, I would have gotten a little bit more 60-foot, and I think I could have gone .71 there. If people can go faster than that, they deserve to be number one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Oehler showed strong improvement on Friday, going all the way to second, while Gaige Herrera is third with a run of 6.756 at 200.50.<\/p>\n

Qualifying continues at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on April 24, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Langdon, Capps, Anderson, and M. Smith Snag Provisional No. 1 Spots at NHRA 4-Wide Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top Fuel\u2019s Shawn Langdon was the only driver to reach the 3.60s on Friday at zMAX Dragway, powering to the provisional No. 1 position to kick off the 16th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. Ron Capps (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}