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<\/p>\nComing off back-to-back Top Fuel wins, points leader Shawn Langdon made the quickest run on Friday in NHRA\u2019s debut at Maryland International Raceway, powering to the provisional No. 1 position at the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals presented by JEGS.<\/p>\n
Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Angie Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the seventh of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.<\/p>\n
Langdon, who already has three wins in 2026, went 3.758-seconds at 336.23 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Kalitta Air dragster, putting on a remarkable show in his first appearance at the facility. The past world champion is after his third No. 1 qualifier of the year and 25th in his career as he continues to enjoy a spectacular start to NHRA\u2019s 75th anniversary season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t think we could make that kind of run here today,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cWe actually underestimated the track on the first run, and so Brian [Husen, crew chief] realized he could get after it a little more and we were able to take the No. 1 from Doug. This is just such a great team effort from everyone at Kalitta Motorsports, starting with Connie, and I\u2019m just proud to be able to drive the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow, we\u2019ll just have the kind of mindset that we had today. Just try to make some good runs, but also win the Mission #2fast2Tasty Challenge, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Langdon\u2019s Kalitta Motorsports teammate, reigning world champion Doug Kalitta, is second going a 3.774 at 333.91 as part of the thrilling side-by-side run with Langdon. Tony Stewart is third thanks to his 3.790 at 333.33.<\/p>\n
In Funny Car, Cruz Pedregon hopes Friday marks the turnaround of his season, as the two-time world champion vaulted to the top in his 12,000-horsepower Snap-on America 250 Dodge Hellcat with a strong pass of 3.951 at 323.19.<\/p>\n
The veteran has endured his share of struggles early this season, not qualifying in Pomona and failing to make it out of the first round at the first six races. But he\u2019s qualified well the last two races and Friday marked another solid step forward as Pedregon looks to qualify No. 1 for the first time this season and 66th time in his stellar career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat probably won\u2019t stay No. 1. I think there\u2019s a .92 or (.93) out there, and we\u2019re going to give it a shot tomorrow,\u201d Pedregon said. \u201cIt\u2019d be nice to stay No. 1. It doesn\u2019t win the race, but it gives you some confidence. We\u2019re in the numbers game, so you know, being in that top three or four is important.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing about this place, it\u2019s near the ocean. Anytime you get near the ocean at sea level, you\u2019re going to get good atmospheric conditions. The challenge for our cars is we have more power than we really need, so the challenge for us is to pull it back and not get too fancy and cute. We had a good balance, and it ripped, man. It was a good run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spencer Hyde, the reigning NHRA Rookie of the Year, is second with a 3.953 at 323.58 and Valdosta winner Jordan Vandergriff is currently third thanks to a 3.970 at 321.88.<\/p>\n
Pro Stock\u2019s Greg Anderson wasted no time in sending a message at Maryland International Raceway, dipping into the 6.40s and taking the provisional top spot with a run of 6.494 at 211.79 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro.<\/p>\n
Anderson entered the weekend second in points following a runner-up showing in Chicago, but he\u2019s hoping for a better result at this new track on the NHRA schedule than the first one of the year. The six-time champ qualified No. 1 in Valdosta but was upset on a massive holeshot in the opening round, something he\u2019s eager not to replicate this weekend at Maryland International Raceway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember so many times coming here back 25 years ago when I worked with Warren Johnson as a crew chief, and we\u2019d come up here and we would race the Wednesday night before Englishtown and the grandstands would be packed, so it\u2019s just a great atmosphere,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love going to sea-level type tracks, because we don\u2019t have a blower, we don\u2019t have any type of power. We\u2019re dependent on Mother Nature. So, we hope and pray we get races somewhere through the season that have conditions like this. These are fantastic conditions; they\u2019re basically Disneyland conditions and you\u2019ll see the cars all run faster tomorrow. You should see a lot of 6.40 runs tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Points leader Dallas Glenn pulled close to Anderson, going 6.497 at 211.26 and Matt Latino is third after a pass of 6.504 at 212.56.<\/p>\n
On an emotional day for Pro Stock Motorcycle\u2019s Angie Smith, the talented veteran made the quickest run of the day as she continues to impress in qualifying, going a career-best 6.690 at 202.97 on her Denso Auto Parts Buell.<\/p>\n
Her husband, six-time world champion Matt Smith, was hospitalized Friday morning and will be unable to race this weekend. Chip Ellis will be riding his bike, but with M. Smith urging on the team \u2013 and still making tuning calls \u2013 his wife put together a standout pass as she looks for her third No. 1 qualifier of the season.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also coming off a heartbreaking final round in Chicago against her husband when her bike broke on the starting line. It\u2019s made for a rollercoaster of emotions in recent days, but Smith was proud of how the team handled everything on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy run was awesome. I cried. I don\u2019t usually cry at the racetrack because I\u2019m usually pretty tough, but I was just scared, you know? I have made probably 5,000 runs down a racetrack, and zero have been without Matt Smith,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI knew he was watching, I\u2019m pretty sure he was proud. Matt tuning from the hospital is pretty remarkable to me, because he\u2019s not here to look at the weather conditions, look at the track and do a lot of the things that he takes into account when he makes a tune-up call. So all I can say is, \u2018Honey, you did a remarkable job.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m relieved, to say the least. It\u2019s just been a lot the last 24 hours and this whole day has been a blur. I\u2019m just glad that we ran well. I\u2019m glad that all the bikes went down and everybody was safe. That was my main goal. I\u2019ve never had this much responsibility, and the whole team rose to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Points leader Richard Gadson is in the second spot after a run of 6.729 at 201.31 and filling in for M. Smith, Ellis is third on his bike with a 6.743 at 201.16.<\/p>\n
Qualifying continues at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at the NHRA Potomac Nationals presented by JEGS at Maryland International Raceway.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on May 29, 2026. <\/p>\n
The post Langdon, Pedregon, G. Anderson, and A. Smith Open Inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals Presented by JEGS in Top Spots<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coming off back-to-back Top Fuel wins, points leader Shawn Langdon made the quickest run on Friday in NHRA\u2019s debut at Maryland International Raceway, powering to the provisional No. 1 position at the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals presented by JEGS. Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Angie Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also […]<\/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-103743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103743","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=103743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}