{"id":104366,"date":"2026-07-18T16:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/vandergriff-kalitta-and-vang-roll-to-provisional-no-1-spots-get-deecell-after-dark-low-qualifier-bonus-at-denso-nhra-sonoma-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T16:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:44:06","slug":"vandergriff-kalitta-and-vang-roll-to-provisional-no-1-spots-get-deecell-after-dark-low-qualifier-bonus-at-denso-nhra-sonoma-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/vandergriff-kalitta-and-vang-roll-to-provisional-no-1-spots-get-deecell-after-dark-low-qualifier-bonus-at-denso-nhra-sonoma-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Vandergriff, Kalitta, and Vang Roll to Provisional No. 1 Spots, Get Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier Bonus at DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Funny Car\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>Jordan Vandergriff made the quickest Funny Car run of the 2026 season on Friday in front of a huge Sonoma Raceway crowd, taking the provisional No. 1 qualifier spot for John Force Racing at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge.<\/p>\n

Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Chris Vang (Pro Stock) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers in Sonoma at the 11th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. After an oildown during the second Top Fuel session, racing was called for the night due to curfew.<\/p>\n

Selections were also made in the opening round of the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout. Top seed Gaige Herrera selected Steve Johnson, Richard Gadson picked Chase Van Sant, reigning Callout winner Matt Smith chose Jianna Evaristo, setting Angie Smith and John Hall as the final pair.<\/p>\n

Vandergriff went 3.849-seconds at 332.43 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS to also collect the $4,000 Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier bonus.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, Vandergriff kicked off the epic night session as part of the first pair, making an incredible run just as the sun was setting. But the rest of the field couldn\u2019t top the John Force Racing standout, putting Vandergriff in position to pick up his second career No. 1 qualifier.<\/p>\n

Currently fifth in points, Vandergriff has enjoyed a strong first Funny Car season, but Friday\u2019s run with a massive crowd on hand certainly one of the highlights for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be the quickest Funny Car of the year so far is a huge accomplishment, especially with how competitive this class is. And I\u2019m a rookie\u2014I don\u2019t even know what I\u2019m doing yet,\u201d Vandergriff said. \u201cWe fumbled a little in Q1, but I knew we had something figured out. The early numbers looked really good, so I believed we were going to run quick no matter when we went down the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew the team wanted to push a little. We\u2019ve run well this year, we\u2019ve won a race, we\u2019ve qualified No. 1 before, but we hadn\u2019t really leaned on it. Tonight we did. I knew we were going to run well. I just didn\u2019t know we were going to run that good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vandergriff\u2019s teammate, Jack Beckman, went 3.873 at 333.16 to sit second and Daniel Wilkerson is right behind in third after going 3.899 at 327.66.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Doug Kalitta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Top Fuel, Kalitta made the quickest run in the opening qualifying session on speed, edging teammate Shawn Langdon with a run of 3.714 at 337.07 in his 12,000-horsepower Aflac dragster for Kalitta Motorsports.<\/p>\n

The reigning world champion also picked up the $4,000 Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier bonus for the second straight year as he looks to pick up his third No. 1 qualifier of the year.<\/p>\n

Kalitta has always run well at Sonoma, with his six wins \u2013 including a victory last year \u2013 leading the way in the Top Fuel ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat first run was definitely a close one. At the time, you don\u2019t realize it\u2019s going to hold up, but it was enough to get us the No. 1 spot,\u201d Kalitta said. \u201cIt was disappointing not to get the second session in. Alan Johnson definitely didn\u2019t have that car tuned to run a 3.71 \u2014 we were planning to throw down something even quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow\u2019s conditions should be just as good, maybe even better. I think we\u2019ll have a chance to improve on those numbers. It\u2019s Sonoma, one of my favorite tracks. Every time we go up there, we\u2019re trying to do the best job we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Points leader Langdon is second with a 3.714 at 336.49 and Tony Stewart is third after going 3.736 at 333.91.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chris Vang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a stunning turn of events in Pro Stock, Chris Vang performed better than an impressive list of event winners and world champions on Friday in Sonoma, taking the provisional No. 1 spot for the first time in his career with a run of 6.498 at 209.04 in his Prestige Trailers Chevrolet Camaro.<\/p>\n

It hands the young second-year racer the $2,500 Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier bonus, as well as puts him in a prime position to earn the $2,000 GESi Pro Stock No. 1 Qualifier on Saturday. That would mean a great deal to the part-time racer who is making just his fourth start of the 2026.<\/p>\n

But he made the most of his opportunities on Friday in prime conditions at Sonoma, making a pair of great runs, outlasting the stars in the class to possibly pick up a massive career milestone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting. Pretty amazing. I don\u2019t even know how to describe it. We came in here just hoping to qualify, and now we\u2019re sitting No. 1,\u201d Vang said. \u201cWe knew we had something to work with after the first session. We threw a little more at it, hoping to run in the 6.50s or maybe the high .49s, and we ended up right where we wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bonus helps a lot. We\u2019re trying to run about seven more races this season, and every little bit matters for a team like ours. We didn\u2019t get everything out of that run. It was really good, but there\u2019s still more in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rookie Cody Anderson was the only other driver to dip into the 6.40s, going 6.499 at 210.54 and Erica Enders is third after a run of 6.503 at 211.33.<\/p>\n

M. Smith earned the $1,500 Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier bonus in Pro Stock Motorcycle for making the quickest run during Friday\u2019s second time trial.<\/p>\n

Qualifying continues at 12 p.m. PT on Saturday at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge at Sonoma Raceway. The first round of the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout begins at 11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on July 18, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Vandergriff, Kalitta, and Vang Roll to Provisional No. 1 Spots, Get Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier Bonus at DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Funny Car\u2019s\u00a0Jordan Vandergriff made the quickest Funny Car run of the 2026 season on Friday in front of a huge Sonoma Raceway crowd, taking the provisional No. 1 qualifier spot for John Force Racing at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Chris Vang (Pro Stock) are also the […]<\/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-104366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104366","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=104366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}