NHRA News: Force, Todd, & Anderson win New England Nationals
Top Fuel’s Brittany Force picked up her first victory of the season, making a pair of 340-mph runs on Sunday at New England Dragway and defeating points leader Tony Stewart in the final round of the 12th annual NHRA New England Nationals.
J.R. Todd (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the seventh of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Brittany Force wins Top Fuel at the 2025 NHRA New England Nationals
Force went 3.694-seconds at 340.39 mph in the finals in her 12,000-horsepower Monster Energy dragster to track down Stewart, who has now advanced to five straight final rounds. He left the starting line first and went 3.720 at 329.91, but Force caught him at the finish line to win for the first time in 2025 and 18th time in her career.
It ties her with Shirley Muldowney for the most wins by a female in Top Fuel history and comes a year after her father, legendary Funny Car driver John Force, won in Epping. It was his last win before an explosive crash two weeks later in Richmond.
To get to the finals, Force knocked off Clay Millican, Shawn Reed and No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta, going a whopping 3.681 at a track-record 341.42 in the semifinals, just off her world-record blast of 341.59 from last month in Charlotte.
“This is just a big one. The last time I stood in the winner’s circle with him was here and I wanted to win for him,” Force said. “This one is dedicated to him and everything he’s done over the last year. It’s been really tough and we’re so proud of him, and I’m just happy to have him out here. I need him out here with me. I knew we would get back to this winner’s circle and I’m so proud of all these guys.
“Coming into race day, something just felt different—our whole team had a good feeling. It was a great story — Tony, five final rounds in a row, and now facing a Force in the final. (Crew chief David) Grubnic told me before the run, ‘You’ve been here before. You’ve won here. Just go have fun.’ That reminder brought me back to why we do this — we love it. You’ve got to drive from the heart, like my dad says.”
Stewart, who built on his points lead with another final round, defeated Rit Pustari, Justin Ashley and reigning world champ Antron Brown. He’s been in every final since late March and now holds a 71-point lead over Shawn Langdon.
J.R. Todd wins Funny Car at the 2025 NHRA New England Nationals
Funny Car’s J.R. Todd returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since the season-opener in 2024, defeating rookie Spencer Hyde in the final round with a standout run of 3.888 at 332.43 in his 12,000-horsepower DHL Toyota GR Supra. It’s the 22nd career victory for the former world champion and this one came at an ideal time, snapping a 25-race winless streak.
This one took some impressive work, too, as Todd and his team suffered an engine explosion during the final qualifying session on Saturday. But they bounced back in stellar fashion, as crew chief Dickie Venables won for the first time since joining Todd’s team in the off-season. To reach the finals, Todd defeated Cruz Pedregon, Phil Burkart and Alexis DeJoria. In the final round, Todd easily chased down Hyde, who got into tire shake, to get the win, moving to sixth in points in the process. He was 10th entering the weekend.
“I’m just glad we got that win out of the way for Dickie’s sake,” Todd said. “I’m not saying there was pressure, but when you hire a guy of that caliber, people expect you to win. Coming in, I knew this was a good place for us. Dickie and (Matt) Hagan had a lot of success here. I was excited, but we’re still learning. Then Q4 happened and we blew it up. The guys worked until midnight rebuilding the car. Today felt like a fresh start, and we ran super consistently, exactly how Dickie’s won here before.
“These guys have been grinding since last season when we had a miserable second half. I think Brainerd was the last time we even made a semifinal. But they never complained, never gave up. Even last night after the fire, they were joking, saying maybe we should catch on fire every weekend if it means we win. They keep it light and the only way to pay them back is with a trophy.”
Hyde continues to impress in his rookie season, advancing to his first career final round after defeating Hagan, Buddy Hull and Jack Beckman, who suffered a wild crash in the semifinals. Defending world champ Austin Prock stayed in the points lead despite a first-round loss.
Greg Anderson wins Pro Stock at the 2025 NHRA New England Nationals
In Pro Stock, fans witnessed the first final-round matchup between longtime rivals between Greg Anderson and Erica Enders in 2025, and it was the reigning world champion Anderson who put together a classic performance, going 6.469 at 212.19 to set the track E.T. record at the perfect time in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro.
It was a rebound weekend for Enders, but there’s still no stopping KB Titan Racing at the moment, as Anderson rolled to his third win of the season and 109th in his terrific career. Anderson and teammate Dallas Glenn have won every event this year and that continued on Sunday, as Anderson defeated Kenny Delco, Dave Connolly and Matt Hartford to reach the final round.
He was in the 6.40s all weekend and has now advanced to the finals at every event in 2025. On Sunday, Anderson made sure to cap it off with a track record blast, winning for the third time at New England Dragway and moving back into the points lead. Anderson is also three rounds away from 1,000 career round wins, something only John Force has accomplished in NHRA history.
“I got lucky a couple times today. It takes a lot of luck to win one of these things. We finally made a great run in the final. To win when you’re off your game makes you feel pretty doggone good,” Anderson said. “This is the best race car I’ve ever had, no question. It’s paid for itself in wins and made me look like a star. I can’t take credit — 15 years ago I traded my car tools for engine tools. I’m an engine guy now. My hat’s off to the team. The cars are so evenly matched these days, if you find even a small advantage in setup, it’s huge.
“(1,000) is a wild number. There’s only one other guy to do that – John Force. I never dreamed I’d be close to that. Every round win now feels like a bonus. I’m living far beyond my wildest dreams.” Enders reached the final round for the first time this season but was denied her 50th national event win. She knocked off Deric Kramer, Cory Reed and Aaron Stanfield to advance to the finals, moving from 14th to ninth in points.