{"id":104615,"date":"2026-08-23T05:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T05:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/kalitta-todd-and-g-anderson-get-mission-2fast2tasty-challenge-wins-at-nhra-brainerd-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T05:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T05:44:09","slug":"kalitta-todd-and-g-anderson-get-mission-2fast2tasty-challenge-wins-at-nhra-brainerd-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/kalitta-todd-and-g-anderson-get-mission-2fast2tasty-challenge-wins-at-nhra-brainerd-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalitta, Todd, and G. Anderson Get Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Wins at NHRA Brainerd Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalitta, Jordan Vandergriff and Dallas Glenn power to No. 1 qualifying spots at Brainerd International Raceway<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a perfect weekend at Brainerd International Raceway through two days for Top Fuel\u2019s Doug Kalitta, as the reigning world champion won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in front of a huge crowd on Saturday and also clinched the No. 1 qualifier for the 70th time in his career at this weekend\u2019s NHRA Brainerd Nationals.<\/p>\n

J.R. Todd (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, while Jordan Vandergriff (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) qualified No. 1 in Brainerd at the 13th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.<\/p>\n

Kalitta made the quickest run in all four qualifying sessions, including a blistering pass of 3.673-seconds at 332.26 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster to open Saturday and qualify No. 1 for the fourth time in 2026. He finished the day with his fifth victory of 2026 in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, defeating Josh Hart in the final round of the bonus race with an impressive run of 3.726 at 329.50.<\/p>\n

Following back-to-back wins in Sonoma and Seattle, Kalitta, the defending event winner in Brainerd, has stayed red-hot at a key point, earning all the bonus qualifying points in Brainerd and slipping past teammate Shawn Langdon to move into the Top Fuel points lead. He\u2019ll start eliminations against Cam Ferre, looking to keep up this incredible pace at the perfect point in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys got me running well and I couldn\u2019t be prouder,\u201d Kalitta said. \u201cWe\u2019re digging hard. This place is really special. My family has done really well here over the years and I\u2019d definitely like to keep it going.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the win here last year, the expectations are high to try to do it again. With the momentum we\u2019ve got going, hopefully we can just keep it rolling. Brainerd\u2019s been good to us so far. Alan (Johnson, crew chief) has got my car running well, and all my guys are working their tails off. We\u2019re hungry to do as well as we can, and I\u2019m definitely looking forward to tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rookie Maddi Gordon qualified second with a 3.695 at 336.99, and Langdon took third with a 3.730 at 331.20.<\/p>\n

\"\"
J.R. Todd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Funny Car, J.R. Todd ensured a Kalitta Motorsports double-up in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday in Brainerd, defeating back-to-back world champion Austin Prock on a holeshot and a run of 3.938 at 321.88 in his 12,000-horsepower DHL Toyota GR Supra.<\/p>\n

That comes just weeks after Todd and Kalitta both won in Seattle, as both continued to roll in Brainerd. Prock, the defending event winner, went 3.933 at 323.81, but Todd used a strong .051 reaction time to his advantage, winning the specialty race for the second time this season. With the regular season championship still in play for the past world champion, Todd is thrilled with how his team is performing at a key juncture of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say my mindset is different on Saturday than Sunday, but clearly I need to take that mindset into race day,\u201d Todd said. \u201cI just went up there and tried to hit the Tree as hard as I could. \u201cI don\u2019t want to let my guys down. I say it all the time: They bust their butts and work really hard, and the only way you can pay them back is by turning on win lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully I can do that again tomorrow when it really counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Vandergriff made a huge move to close out qualifying, powering all the way to the No. 1 spot with a stout 3.879 at 323.50 in his 12,000-horsepower Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS. Vandergriff continues to flourish in his first year in Funny and his debut season with John Force Racing, with Saturday\u2019s run giving the rising star his third No. 1 qualifier of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stepped on the gas and thought, \u2018This thing is going pretty good.\u2019 When I got to the finish line, I knew it felt quicker than anything I\u2019d run all weekend. Turns out it was quicker than everybody,\u201d Vandergriff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a credit to my guys \u2014 Chris Cunningham, Jason Bunker and this Cornwell Quality Tools team. They worked hard last night. I don\u2019t know what changes they made because I just drive it, but whatever they did worked, and now we\u2019ve got this yellow hat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prock qualified second with a 3.881 at 327.19 and Matt Hagan took the third position after going 3.899 at 326.40.<\/p>\n

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

Pro Stock\u2019s Greg Anderson squeaked past Dallas Glenn in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge thanks to a 6.555 at 209.04 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. That gives the six-time world champion three wins in the bonus race this year and one more thing to celebrate at the facility where he grew up racing. Next up is trying to defend last year\u2019s Brainerd victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely felt like the underdog going up there. He\u2019d been just a tick faster all weekend and I figured he was going to outrun me,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cI thought I was going to have to make the best run I\u2019d made all weekend and I probably made the worst run I\u2019d made all weekend. I did not expect that win light to come on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you get around Dallas Glenn, that just makes you better. I know what he is. I know what that guy is capable of every time he goes to the starting line. We\u2019re very proud of the day we had today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glenn finished in the No. 1 spot in qualifying for the second time in 2026, going 6.535 at 208.10 in his RAD Torque Systems Camaro to open Saturday. Anderson took second and Greg Stanfield qualified third with a 6.550 at 208.55. Glenn will open eliminations against Jeg Coughlin Jr. and the reigning world champion is after his third Brainerd win in the past four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Q3 run was a really, really nice run. It felt fantastic all the way through,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cI definitely wanted Q4 to feel like that, too, but I think they were trying some stuff and probably need to go back the other direction. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll look at everything and we\u2019ll make a good run tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eliminations for the NHRA Brainerd Nationals begin at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on August 22, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Kalitta, Todd, and G. Anderson Get Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Wins at NHRA Brainerd Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kalitta, Jordan Vandergriff and Dallas Glenn power to No. 1 qualifying spots at Brainerd International Raceway. It\u2019s been a perfect weekend at Brainerd International Raceway through two days for Top Fuel\u2019s Doug Kalitta, as the reigning world champion won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in front of a huge crowd on Saturday and also clinched 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-104615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104615","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=104615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}