ROUTE 66 NHRA NATIONALS PREVIEW

JOLIET, Ill. (May 13, 2026) – With a quarter of the 2026 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series season already behind them, Elite Motorsports enters this weekend’s Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway with confidence.

Tony Stewart Looks to Defend Event Title

For the first time in his Top Fuel career, motorsports icon Tony Stewart will enter an NHRA National event as the defending event winner.

Stewart’s 2025 Route 66 Nationals victory was the second of his career. The motorsports icon rallied to the win piloting the Tony Stewart Racing Top Fuel dragster for wife Leah Pruett while she took a two-year hiatus to start their family. Stewart, who now drives the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster for Elite Motorsports, brought his career Top Fuel wins to three with a win at the NHRA Winternationals at the beginning of April, just the third event for the newly formed Elite Motorsports Top Fuel program.

“Since we didn’t race in Vegas this spring, this is the first time I’ve gotten to come into a a race as the defending event winner. I’ve got to tell you, it feels pretty good,” Stewart said. “I think a lot of that also has to do with how this team is doing this year, though. Brand new team at Elite, Richard Freeman, Mike Green, Joe Barlam, they’ve really put together an outstanding group. Through the first five races we already have a win and we’re going rounds on Sundays. Last week in Georgia, I’ll call it a fluke. That is not and will not be the norm for this team. With how hard these R+L guys work, the time they put in and all the experience from Mike and Joe, we know we’re onto something good and it’s exciting. Knowing that I’ve won the event before, knowing what it feels like and wanting to have that feeling again, that’s just a little added bonus, maybe a little confidence boost for myself as a driver.”

Stewart’s 2025 win came at the expense of Terry Totten, Shawn Reed and Steve Torrence before he beat Justin Ashley in the finals. He started race day from the No. 2 position. Stewarts’s success in the Windy City isn’t reserved for just NHRA. In NASCAR, Stewart won at Chicagoland Speedway in 2004, 2007 and 2011.

“I love racing in Chicago, always have. There’s been a revitalization of motorsports in the city over the last handful of years and it’s exciting to see,” Stewart said. “I’m looking forward to being back and strapping into my R+L Carriers Too Fuel dragster and hopefully getting the job done for a second time. We took a day after the Georgia race to test, and I think the whole team is coming into the Route 66 Nationals feeling really good about the weekend.”

Pro Stock Returns to the Windy City

After a year away, Pro Stock returns to Route 66 Raceway. In 2025, the Pro Stock schedule didn’t include the Route 66 Nationals but the naturally aspirated door slammers are back in action in the Windy City this weekend allowing a chance for the track’s winningest driver to tally another victory.

Jeg Coughlin Jr., sporting the black and yellow of JEGS, has more victories at Route 66 Raceway than any professional driver past or present. The five-time Pro Stock world champion has a total of six wins at the facility coming in 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2018.

“It is great to be racing back in the Chicago area. The Midwest tracks have always been home tracks for me. We’ve had great success at the Route 66 Raceway Nationals in the years past and I like the momentum our team has been building in the last couple races,” Jeg Jr. said. “I feel like we should have a quicker and more consistent car from the time we unload Friday through Sunday’s eliminations and would love nothing more than to be the last one standing holding that coveted Wally.”

Jeg Jr., who lives in Delaware, Ohio, is currently ninth in the Pro Stock points standings. Through the first five races the JEGS team has had a semifinal and a quarterfinal finish qualifying as high as fifth putting them just 66 points out of the top five.

Mason Wright to defend Pro Mod title

In the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by Elite Motorsports, Mason Wright and the ProFlow Pumping Solutions team will look to defend their win from the 2025 Route 66 Nationals. Wright had a dominate weekend entering race day as the No. 1 qualifier before defeating heavy hitters Chip King, Mike Stavrinos and Ken Quartuccio en route to the finals where he took down the now reigning world champion J.R. Gray. It was Wright’s second career win in the Pro Mod ranks.

#TeamElite in Full Force

In addition to the five Pro Stock entries of Erica Enders, Aaron Stanfield, Greg Stanfield, Jeg Jr., Troy Coughlin Jr., the Top Fuel operation driven by Stewart and Wright’s Pro Mod machine, Elite Motorsports will also field Mike Lomas and Royce Lee Freeman in Competition Eliminator. This will be Lomas and Freeman’s second national event of the season. Lomas, who features The Financial Guys on the side of his hot rod, made his debut for Elte at zMAX Dragway just outside of Charlotte. Lomas qualified No. 8 but had an early exit in the first round. Royce Lee, brother to Elite Motorsports owner Richard Freeman, qualified No. 3 and had a second-round exit.

Competition at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals begins with four rounds of qualifying Friday at 1:30 and 4 p.m. and Saturday at noon and 2:30 p.m. Eliminations are slated for Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event will be on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with qualifying shows Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET and Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET. Eliminations will air Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET.