| KENT, Wash. (July 26, 2026) – John Force Racing didn’t take home the NHRA 75th Anniversary diamond Wally winner’s trophies from the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals but they left Pacific Raceways with momentum in a number of areas that put them in a strong position for the final two races of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series regular season. Jack Beckman’s PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car team and Josh Hart’s Speedmaster Top Fuel team made it to the semifinals, Jordan Vandergriff and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car lost a close battle in Round 2 and Alexis DeJoria’s Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car smoked the tires in a first round loss. Hart faced Leah Pruett in their semifinal matchup. The Speedmaster dragster left the starting line by a thousandth of a second (.076 to .077) and ran a solid 3.777 seconds at 331.61 mph but it wasn’t enough for the win against Pruett’s 3.717 seconds at 332.51 mph run. “The Speedmaster team definitely turned a corner this week in Seattle,” said Hart. “David Grubnic and John Collins (crew chiefs) have been working really hard to try to get this thing straightened out and they did a great job. This was a brand new car last week in Sonoma and, in less than eight passes, we became a force to be reckoned with again, no pun intended. Sometimes the darkness shows you the light, so we were able to grab some points this weekend and we’ll continue that momentum into Brainerd and then Indy where it’s a points-and-a-half event. I’m super blessed to be in the Speedmaster seat for John Force Racing. I won’t take it for granted and, hopefully, we can climb into the Top 5 before the points reset so we can make all the JFR fans proud.” Hart made the most of his Round 1 bye with a run of 3.670 seconds, eclipsing his 3.685-second No. 1 qualifying pass, at 336.15 mph to earn lane choice against Tony Stewart in Round 2. In Round 2, the Speedmaster Top Fuel Draster left the starting line first by just three-thousandths of a second, dropped a cylinder almost immediately but still ran 3.834 seconds at 324.12 mph while Stewart lost traction and slowed to a run of 4.617 at 178.52. Beckman had lane choice against Austin Prock in their semifinal pairing. The PEAK Chevy ran quicker at 3.918 seconds at 325.92 mph to Prock’s 3.937 seconds at 327.66 mph but a three-hundredths of a second holeshot (.046 to .076) made up the difference to give Prock the victory. “It was a good points day for the PEAK SQUAD but a frustrating day, especially from a driver’s standpoint,” said Beckman. “We had the quickest car in the first round. We had the quickest car second round. We had the quickest car in the semifinals but Austin outran us with a better light. He won that one with his right foot and those really sting as a driver. You can say the consolation is we made up some points, but we had an opportunity to make up double what we did. That one’s tough. This is where you have to be an adult, take a deep breath and say, ‘I did the best I could. I was 78 in the first round, 78 in the second round, and 76 in the semis on my reaction times. I can roll the car in three inches and make myself look like a hero (cutting a quicker light) but it makes the car run a slower elapsed time. That being said, Austin’s right foot did a better job than mine in that one. We’ll load up, go through all the data we collected this week and then unload in three weeks at Brainerd with what I think is the best Funny Car in the field right now.” Beckman defeated Tim Gibbons in Round 1 with the quickest Funny Car run of the weekend, posting an elapsed time of 3.858 seconds at 333.49 mph to Gibbons’ 4.019 at 307.02. It was all PEAK SQUAD in Round 2 against Cruz Pedregon, with Beckman quicker off the line (.078 to .107) and running 3.899 seconds at 33.72 mph to Pedregon’s losing 4.134 at 255.15. Vandergriff gave up lane choice in Round 1 to Spencer Hyde but won the reaction time battle (.055 to .082) and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car got to the finish line first, running 3.913 seconds at 32.19 mph to Hyde’s 4.397 at 220.30. In Round 2 against J.R. Todd, Vandergriff again gave up lane choice but got the holeshot (.042 to .054). The Cornwell Tools Chevy dropped a cylinder early in the run which allowed Todd to get around and take the win, running 3.939 seconds at 334.40 to Vandergriff’s 3.981 at 319.29 mph. “We had a hole go out early and we were still pacing with them,” said Vandergriff. “It was a solid run and if I think if the hole doesn’t go out, we have a pretty good shot at the win. Overall, it was a bit of a tough weekend for this Cornwell Quality Tools Chevy team. We struggled in qualifying until Q4 and then got a big win today in Round 1. Being able to salvage a round win out of this weekend is good for the team and the point standings at the top are shuffling. We will see where we stand after today and be ready to go when we get to Brainerd.” DeJoria beat Dave Richards off the starting line (.091 to .116) but the Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car smoked the tires just a couple hundred feet later. Richards’ car did the same but further down the track and took the win, running 4.540 seconds at 269.89 mph to DeJoria’s 7.125 seconds at 90.01 mph. “We have a very strong Bandero Café Chevy right now. We have what it takes and it’s just as few little tweaks to be made that will get us on top at the end of a race weekend,” said DeJoria. “It’s a little frustrating because my John Force Racing teammates have all won races so far and we’re still trying to play a little bit of ‘catch up’. Mike Neff and Jonnie Lindeberg (crew chiefs) are so smart. We’re going to test at Brainerd and Indy leading into those upcoming races and be ready to go rounds when we get there.” The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel point standings after 12 of 20 races are: 1. Shawn Langdon, 1,107; 2. Doug Kalitta, 1,102; 3. Leah Pruett, 898; 4. Antron Brown, 755; 5. Tony Stewart, 700; 6. Maddi Gordon, 681; 7. Josh Hart, 673; 8. Billy Torrence, 618; 9. Justin Ashley, 535; 10. Clay Millican, 489. The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings after 12 of 20 races are: 1. Ron Capps, 884; 2. Jack Beckman, 847; 3. J.R. Todd, 842; 4. Jordan Vandergriff, 830; 5. Matt Hagan, 820; 6. Chad Green, 703; 7. Austin Prock, 687; 8. Alexis DeJoria, 685; 9. Spencer Hyde, 578; 10. Daniel Wilkerson, 577. NEXT RACEThe 13th of 20 races of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is the Aug. 20-23 NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway. |
