2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

Some shake up with only one Charlotte& Vegas, VMP is gone and SGMP and MIR joining the mix but the question is what will be the race after Maple Grove

2026 NHRA MISSION FOODS DRAG RACING SERIES SEASON SCHEDULE

March 5-8: 57th annual NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville Raceway, Gainesville, Fla.

March 20-22: 41st annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, Firebird Motorsports Park, Phoenix

April 9-12: 66th annual NHRA Winternationals, In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, Pomona, Calif.

April 24-26: 16th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, zMAX Dragway, Charlotte

May 1-May 3: NHRA Southern Nationals, South Georgia Motorsports Park, Adel, Ga.

May 14-17: 26th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance, Route 66 Raceway, Chicago

May 29-May 31: Inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals, Maryland International Raceway, Mechanicsville, Md.

June 5-June 7: 13th annual NHRA New England Nationals, New England Dragway, Epping, N.H.

June 12-14: 25th annual Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol Dragway, Bristol, Tenn.

June 25-28: 20th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, Norwalk, Ohio

July 17-19: 38th annual Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.

July 24-26: 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals, Pacific Raceways, Seattle

Aug. 20-23: 44th annual NHRA Nationals, Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minn.

Sept. 2-7: 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis

NHRA COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Sept. 17-20: 41st annual NHRA Reading Nationals, Maple Grove Raceway, Reading, Pa.

Sept. 25-27: TBD

Oct. 2-4: 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals, World Wide Technology Raceway, St. Louis

Oct. 14-18: 41st annual Texas NHRA FallNationals, Texas Motorplex, Dallas

Oct. 29-Nov. 1: 26th annual NHRA Nevada Nationals, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas

Nov. 12-15: 61st annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip,

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

Wow, MIR switched sanctions ? Been awhile since I raced there ,but the last time I was there they wanted us to pit outside the track on the other side of the highway .
I know they did some additional pit area since then ,but enough for a national event .

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

That was a big surprise to me as I would have thought the new IHRA would have done everything to lock that place up.

It's been a while since I've been there, but it was the only track I ever worked at where the fast cars had to turn around in the shut down area and drive back towards the starting line to get to the return road. Maybe it's changed, but I don't remember the land making it easy to extend the return road and build a cutoff to it.

Still, a very good venue with incredible air. Also the craziest dew I've ever experienced for night sessions.

As for the open date, considering it's right there with St Louis, wonder if the new track in western Missouri is going to slot in there.

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

Here are the current images of MIR from Google Maps. (The date isn't necessarily accurate.) The top end shot shows that you make a clockwise 180 from the left lane, then bear left onto the entrance to the return road.

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

Didn't VMP have a beef with NHRA about the National Event there a few years ago? I wouldn't mind seeing MIR take the Divisional from VMP also. VMP is a really nice track, but the 8-9 hour tow from Long Island feels like a trip to Division 2, lol.

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

With Las Vegas losing the spring national event, the trip west looks less inviting. Will they still have their double divisional race after Pomona? Will Pomona have a divisional before or after their national event? Time will tell.

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

The open date wouldn't work for Flying H as it's only 200 miles from WW Raceway, so you're drawing from the same demographic / area 2 weeks straight, it's what kind of kills E-Town when they added NED, the Candian crowd stopped coming down to Etown and went to NED instead which took away about 20% of the crowd out of the mix. I also heard Flying H still needs to do a lot of work to make it NE ready as the Divisional and Bracket finals were a big mess with logistics and parking. I would think going from Maple Grove to STL your going to see a VMP, Charlotte, No Problem Raceway get that date as it's logistical for the teams traveling

Also have to remember we're in August - the race is in May so MIR has 9 months to get things in order for a National and Royce does a great job and wouldn't put it past him to have plans laid out already on fixing things, they hold one of the largest Import Events in the USA there with World Cup with over 600+ cars so the place has room for the cars but I think you'll see a lower class NE there, like maybe no PSB & Alky, only one of the Top classes and maybe like a quota of like 50-55 for sportsman....just my throughts

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

I believe the Electric Daisy Circus or EDC big event at Las Vegas in the spring killed the spring race. We were there this spring for both the National and Double Division races and the EDC setup was going on. It was a rumor going around the last couple of years that the EDC event paid the track much more than the two NHRA events. It was also a rumor EDC wanted a multi year contract for the event.
EDC rents the entire complex not just the Drag Track.
It is amazing how much setup there is for the EDC event and how big it is.
Just my take on why the spring event at LAs Vegas no longer exists.
Rick Cates
Canyon TX

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

You make a lot of sense. I was thinking of the distance between St Louis and Flying H being a good thing for racers, fuel cost, etc. and hadn't thought of it from each track's perspective.

But as much as I like No Problem - it's one of my top tracks for enjoying working at - I don't see any way they could handle a national without a massive rework.

Re: 2026 NHRA National Event Schedule
 

I was just trying to think of tracks along the way of MG to STL that don't host NHRA Nationals that might want to grab the date and are possibly capable of doing it, it might be a think where they're waiting to see if VMP is painted Neon Green for 2026 or not