The first of six races in the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship is in the rearview, and Greg Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, is still shaking his head but already shifting gears. The 40th annual NHRA Reading Nationals presented by Nitro Fish brought Anderson to the semifinals, and as the KB Titan Racing team heads to zMAX Dragway for the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals, the reigning and six-time world champ is eager to see more win lights flash in his lane.
“It really was chaos out there this past weekend, and I was, unfortunately, part of it,” said Anderson, the most winning driver in the history of the sport with 111 Pro Stock wins on his scorecard. “It was disappointing to start the playoffs that way. Once we got past day one, my HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was ready to go all the way; I just made a mistake, and it cost me.”
Qualifying began on a not-so-great note for Anderson, as a whirlwind of weirdness — a precursor to a litany of madnesses on Sunday across the pro classes — began to swirl. The car that had earned six low qualifier awards and clocked low elapsed time nine times during the regular season wasn’t showing its true capabilities on Friday at Maple Grove Raceway.
With thoughtful adjustments by the deeply experienced KB Racing braintrust — including the crew chief team of Rob Downing, Dave Connolly, and Nate VanWassenhove, along with lead engineer Bryan Fleck — the wrinkles were ironed out come Saturday. Anderson’s HendrickCars.com entry was the quickest Pro Stocker on the property with a 6.515-second pass followed by a 6.525. The 6.502 laid down by KB Titan teammate Dallas Glenn on Friday evening held for top qualifying honors, but the HendrickCars.com Chevy was back in form.
The first round of eliminations at the Koretsky family’s House of Chaos, Maple Grove Raceway, brought a long-familiar pairing as Anderson and fellow Pro Stock veteran Greg Stanfield were selected as the Marquee Matchup. The two have an extended history of racing one another in the top tier category of naturally aspirated factory hot rods, and Anderson held a 28-17 advantage over his competitor entering their Reading Nationals meeting.
Stanfield got a slight jump at the hit, cutting a .039 light to Anderson’s .043, but No. 4 qualifier Anderson knocked out the No. 13 man with a 6.529, 209.49 that was low elapsed time of race day. Stanfield improved on his qualifying time by a hundredth of a second to go a 6.541, 210.54 that was .008-second behind Anderson at the finish-line stripe.
In the second round, it was KB Titan Racing’s J&A Service-backed Cory Reed, a first-time winner in Norwalk, watching Anderson cross the stripe ahead of him. There, a 6.550, 209.39 defeated a 6.581, 209.07, and Anderson advanced to the semifinals for a meeting with Glenn, the incoming points leader and the driver he defeated in the final round at the final race of the 2024 season for the championship. The two have been neck-and-neck all season long, trading the points lead back and forth throughout the regular season as the Countdown to the Championship inched closer and closer. The friendly and authentically respectful rivalry runs deep between the two exceptionally competitive drivers.
Anderson and Glenn each rolled through the waterbox and laid into a burnout. Anderson, though, felt the tires beneath his car stumble as he leaned in to warm them. Backing up, he went through the motions and laid down another burnout, not realizing that his team was trying to flag him down and prevent him from doing so.
Shockingly, Anderson was immediately disqualified as his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro crossed the starting line beams. Both of his burnouts had crossed the starting line – a rules infraction that mandates disqualification. While two burnout attempts can be made, the starting line beams must only be crossed once during the collective process. Glenn, who was admittedly “discombobulated” by the strange circumstances, was given a solo run and went on to win the event over KB Titan Racing teammate Cody Coughlin, a Rookie of the Year contender competing in his first final round.
“I was surprised [by the disqualification], to say the least,” said Anderson. “I thought the rule was just for Sportsman racers. I just honest to God didn’t know or remember. It was a mistake, and one I certainly wish I didn’t make – but there’s no going back and changing it. The good news is that the potential is there with my HendrickCars.com car, we just need to make clean runs and race error-free. We have to race like we’ve raced all year.
“You can’t put too much pressure on yourself; you just have to go out there and execute, and everything should work out right. I can’t wait to get to zMAX Dragway this weekend, our home track right there in Rick Hendrick country, and get back on the horse.”
Mooresville, N.C.-based Anderson and his KB Titan Racing team will be tested and ready for the next event on the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord (Charlotte), Sept. 18-21.
This story was originally published on September 15, 2025. 
