Examining the 2026 NHRA Lucas Oil Series world championship battles: Part 3

With the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals in the rearview mirror, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championship pictures are beginning to gain some clarity. This time: Top Dragster and Top Sportsman

With three NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championships and a host of major E.T. bracket racing wins, Luke Bogacki’s racing speaks for itself. Bogacki is also a drag racing school instructor and founder of the popular ThisIsBracketRacing.com website, where he shares many of his successful secrets. Luke also hosts the Daily Driver Podcast, a short-form podcast designed to help racers take one small step toward becoming a more thoughtful, better driver each episode.

It’s September. With the Big Go in the rearview mirror, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Professional classes are officially in their Countdown to the Championship. Likewise, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championship pictures are beginning to gain some clarity.

While it’s impossible to predict a champion at this point in the season, we can at least narrow down most fields to a handful of championship contenders. While it feels like there is a lot left to be determined, this year’s schedule actually has Sportsman competitors a bit farther down the path of their season than we traditionally see at this date on the calendar. With just five Sportsman national events and only 10 LODRS events remaining on the 2026 schedule, Lucas Oil Series competitors are more than 75% through the season. Two divisions (Division 1 and 6) have already completed their entire LODRS schedule. In short, time is running out.

While this picture will change — repeatedly — between now and the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, let’s take a moment to zoom in on the top contenders for the 2026 Lucas Oil Series titles.

Right Trailers Top Dragster

THE LEADER

Top Dragster is traditionally one of the more wide-open categories when it comes to determining a champion: great parity and smaller fields tend to push the TD title chase all the way to Pomona. That said, J.R. Baxter leads the chase and is probably in the best position as we move into the home stretch of the season. The Texas-based TD veteran already boasts two wins on his 2026 résumé, and he has three races left to try to improve his 524-point score. That’s good news for Baxter, as there is almost certainly work left to do. For reference, 600 points is historically everything but a lock to win the Top Dragster title. The last two year’s champions, Casey Plazier (595) and Cody Webber (585), fell just shy of that milestone.

ONE TOP CONTENDER

The Top 10 in TD are bunched pretty tightly, to the point where it’s difficult to identify any one driver who stands a better chance than the rest — it’s just going to come down to who can finish the season the strongest. I’ll cheat a bit here and name two drivers currently in the Top 10 who might be primed to make a run. The first is JB Strassweg. Strassweg is 100 points behind Baxter currently but has a full claim at his next national event. In fact, he could still earn points at six events — more than any other driver in the Top 15. Cooper Chun is another driver who could make a push. The Division 6 standout doesn’t have as many opportunities remaining, but he’s improving early losses at every event. He’s one of the most talented drivers in the country. And he has the benefit of competing on the West Coast, where there’s typically one more round of competition in Top Dragster. That means more points are on the table potentially for Chun than any other driver in the mix.

THE LONGSHOT

In order to run down a dream, Kevin Robb would have to get on his horse. To make a realistic run at the title, trips from his Pennsylvania home to Rockingham, St. Louis, and Dallas would likely be necessary, with a potential follow-up journey all the way to Las Vegas or Pomona looming. On paper, Robb has the best average in the category. He has accumulated three victories in just eight events. He trails Baxter by 114 points and would cut that gap in half by simply staging for round one at two national events.

Right Trailers Top Sportsman

THE LEADER

At this point in the season, Top Sportsman may be even more wide open than its open-wheel counterpart category. Rick McDonough leads with 492 points, and he has three races left to improve that score. The opportunity to put up a massive score certainly exists: McDonough will be improving a second-round loss at every event that he attends. To win the title, he’ll need to improve, as there are currently 13 drivers within 100 points of the lead!

ON TOP CONTENDER

Jeff Gillette started his season with back-to-back wins in Pomona. Since then, he’s only attended four more events (highlighted by a semifinal finish in Sonoma that bolstered his score). There are a lot of holes on Gillette’s scorecard, but the tour comes to the California runner. There are still five events on the schedule within the Division 7 footprint (and a trip to Dallas would fill his points ledger). While Gillette currently sits just outside the Top 10 — 95 points behind leader McDonough — that gap is trimmed to just 35 points when he stages for round one of his next two events.

THE LONGSHOT

Michael Daniele’s path to the Top Sportsman title isn’t unlike his Division 1 counterpart Kevin Robb’s in Top Dragster. Daniele has already tallied three wins in four final rounds in Division 1. To make a run at the title, he’ll have to go west to attend most, if not all, of the remaining national events on the schedule.

Previously
Comp, Super Stock, and Stock
Super Comp and Super Gas