Doug Kalitta left Leah Pruett 12 feet short of a trophy Sunday at Pacific Raceways. In the Top Fuel final of the Muckleshoot Casino NHRA Northwest Nationals, Kalitta ran a 3.677 to Pruett’s 3.689, a margin measured in inches at speeds exceeding 330 mph. For Pruett and Tony Stewart Racing, it was the second runner-up finish of 2026, the first coming at the Arizona Nationals earlier this season.
Getting to the final required beating three legitimate contenders. Pruett dispatched Will Smith, then defending U.S. Nationals winner Justin Ashley, then 2026 Gatornationals champion Josh Hart in successive rounds, running 3.69 and 3.71 in the process and holding lane choice for the final. Kalitta, the reigning Top Fuel world champion who beat Pruett for the 2023 title, proved the difference when it counted. His 12,000-hp nitro machine had just enough to deny her a second national win of the year.
Pruett sits third in NHRA Mission Top Fuel points. The series moves to Brainerd, Minnesota, for rounds Aug. 21–23.
Matt Hagan’s afternoon at the same track was, if possible, more painful. The four-time world champion and defending Northwest Nationals Funny Car champion lost his semifinal to former champion J.R. Todd by 0.0022 seconds, a deficit that shows up on the timing slip as 3.929 to 3.913. Hagan had the starting line advantage and led most of the run. Todd’s closing charge arrived just in time.
Earlier in eliminations, Hagan had been methodical: a 3.936 against Blake Alexander, a 3.930 against Paul Lee, consistency that pointed to a car working well heading into the Countdown. Todd went on to win the event outright, his first victory of 2026. Hagan, driving the Johnson Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat, drops to fifth in Funny Car points but said the gap from fifth to second is five to ten points.
Team owner Tony Stewart had his own early exit. Running his R+L Carriers/Elite Motorsports Top Fueler, Stewart smoked the tires in the quarterfinals against Hart, ending any possibility of a husband-and-wife semifinal against Pruett. The two remain the only married couple competing in the nitro divisions, and they have yet to face each other in eliminations this year. Brainerd offers the next opportunity.
Hagan’s post-race comments pointed toward Indy and the points reset for the Countdown rather than Sunday’s near-miss. The team has scheduled a test day the Monday after Brainerd to continue development work. Pruett’s framing was similar: the runner-up result caps the Western Swing with momentum, even if it isn’t the result anyone at TSR wanted.
Kalitta won. Todd won. TSR went home with two semifinal appearances and a final-round loss measured in hundredths of a second. Brainerd is in two weeks.
Source: Dodge. Images courtesy of Dodge.
