Michigan got its first NHRA national event in 66 years, and it ran on a Monday. Rain pushed the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals eliminations a full day, and when the track finally came around on a cold morning at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, Matt Hagan drove his Purple Haze Super Bee Funny Car to the final before watching a tire smoke end the run and the trophy.
Jordan Vandergriff, who had qualified 16th and earned his third win of the season for John Force Racing, ran a 3.858 to take the NHRA Diamond Wally Parks trophy. Hagan’s car smoked its tires and never got there. Despite the loss, Hagan leaves Michigan with what matters most at this stage of the season: the points lead. His margin over Vandergriff is 23 points heading into this weekend’s NHRA Nationals at the Rock in Rockingham, North Carolina (Sept. 25–27).
Getting to the final wasn’t simple. Hagan beat Joey Haas and Alexis DeJoria before a semifinal matchup that will get replayed in the TSR shop for a while. He and Jack Beckman both ran 3.864 at 333.09 mph, identical elapsed times and identical trap speeds. The race came down to who left the starting line first. Hagan did, and that was the difference. Beckman, who beat Hagan in the U.S. Nationals final at Indy, remains a threat in the Countdown alongside the John Force Racing contingent Hagan referenced in his post-run comments.
Dodge funny car at Great Lakes Nationals podium ceremony” />That 23-point lead has grown from the seven-point advantage Hagan carried into the U.S. Nationals after his win at Brainerd. The irony is that Vandergriff, the driver who keeps trading wins with Hagan, is also the one closing from second. Five races remain in the six-race Countdown.
On the Top Fuel side, it was a short day for Leah Pruett. She qualified 12th in the 16-car field, drew Will Smith in round one, and lost on a track running 58 degrees at race time. Her 3.766 wasn’t enough against Smith’s 3.699. Pruett had entered the Countdown third in Top Fuel points; she currently sits fifth.
The result stings given what Pruett has built since returning to Top Fuel this year after a two-year absence to start a family. She won the New England Nationals in June, finished runner-up at both Phoenix and Brainerd, and reached the Top Fuel final at the Northwest Nationals before losing to Doug Kalitta by 0.012 seconds. A qualifying slip that seeded her against the one dragster that had completed all four qualifying passes made the bracket unfavorable before eliminations began. Only her second first-round exit of 2026, and it came at the worst possible moment, in the opening race of the championship finale stretch.
TSR team owner Tony Stewart provided the weekend’s fastest number. Driving the R+L Carriers/Elite Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, Stewart ran 343.51 mph in a second-round win over four-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown, a speed the NHRA lists as the fifth-best in drag-racing history. Stewart reached the semifinals before his day ended.
Pruett’s quote after the race landed with some bite: she noted Stewart had briefly claimed the “fastest Stewart in the household” label with that 343.51 mph pass, then reminded anyone listening she’s still the quickest. The distinction between speed and elapsed time is real, and Pruett’s best pass of the year, a 3.699 at 340-plus, backs the claim.
The tour moves to Rockingham this weekend. For Hagan, it’s a home-region race with friends and family close. For Pruett, it’s five chances left to climb back through the Countdown bracket. The 23-point cushion Hagan carries looks comfortable; in a six-race championship with tire smokes always a possibility, Vandergriff and Beckman will have a different read on that number.
