BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 14, 2026) – Rain wasn’t the only black cloud hanging over John Force Racing on Sunday at Bristol Dragway as all four of its teams were eliminated after the second round of competition in the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
The PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car team of Jack Beckman and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team of Jordan Vandergriff were eliminated in Round 2 while the Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car team of Alexis DeJoria and the Speedmaster Top Fuel dragster team of Josh Hart bowed out in Round 1. Rain showers between the first two rounds halted the proceedings for a couple of hour before resuming.
Beckman was looking for his third trophy of the weekend in Thunder Valley. He won the final round of the rain-delayed NHRA New England Nationals against Vandergriff in the second round of qualifying Friday, doubled up on his John Force Racing teammate in the final round of Saturday’s Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and qualified third for the Thunder Valley Nationals.
The 38-time NHRA Funny Car event winner dispatched of Jeff Arend in Round 1, running 4.032 seconds at 320.20 mph to Arend’s 4.246 seconds at 254.28 mph. The first-round victory gave Beckman lane choice in Round 2 against Daniel Wilkerson, who grabbed the holeshot (.061 to .079) and held on to win with a run of 4.041 seconds at 319.52 mph to Beckman’s 4.065-second run at 319.07 mph.
“I would say good results over the weekend but not close to the performance that we were expecting out of the PEAK Chevy,” said Beckman. “We were able to close the deal on the Epping win Friday and won the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday. But we only made it down the racetrack one out of our 4 qualifying runs. It was just a really tough racetrack. I know a lot of the guys are smiling and winking and saying ‘fresh asphalt and concrete’ but it’s going deeper that. There’s some issue going on this year with the glue on the track that is really throwing the crew chiefs a curveball. Theoretically, it’s the same for all of us so we’ll just have to keep plugging away and collecting data. In the first round today, we threw what we thought would be a safe run and it was enough to give us lane choice. But we easily should have been able to run 4 flat or a high 3.90 on the second run. We haven’t looked enough into the data to find out why the car slowed down that much. It’s a tough one because, on paper we should have been able to win that race. We’re marching up in the points but that halted our momentum. But we’re still going to leave with two trophies this weekend and I think it’s just going to make everybody a little bit more excited to roll into Norwalk.”
Vandergriff beat DeJoria in Round 1 with the second-quickest run of the event at the time, 3.999 seconds, but lost lane choice for Round 2 to Ron Capps who ran 3.989 seconds. Vandergriff had a fantastic reaction time (.043 to Capps’ .065) but Capps ran low elapsed time of the meet with his run of 3.980 seconds at 327.43 mph to Vandergriff’s 4.040 seconds at 285.29 mph.
“It was an interesting weekend for this Cornwell Quality Tools Funny Car team,” said Vandergriff. “The track was tricky all weekend. The heat was tricky all weekend. I struggled driving so to salvage a round win out of this weekend was huge for us. Unfortunately, that win was over our teammate Alexis in the Bandero Chevy. We had a good running race car on Sunday but it was definitely not the way we wanted to end it with one of the pan pressure switches shutting off the engine early as it started scuffing a piston. We’ve diagnosed the problem and we’re going to work on it this week. So, all in all, good weekend and the end of my first three in a row.”
DeJoria and Vandergriff lined up against each other in Round 1, with Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car having lane choice over the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car as a result of DeJoria’s No. 2 qualifying position. Vandergriff’s reaction time was seven-thousandths-of-a-second quicker (.058 to .065) and the Cornwell Tools Chevy ripped off the quickest Funny Car run of the event to that point of 3.999 seconds at 322.88 mph to DeJoria’s third quickest run of the session at 4.028 second run at 326.24 mph.
“It was a great drag race and it’s just the luck of the draw,” said DeJoria. “Unfortunately, we had to go up against our teammate. The Bandero Chevy ran great. I didn’t see them all the way down. I thought for sure I was gonna see my win light come on. I asked what he ran and they said a 3.99. That’s a good run against our 4.02 so it was a great race. There’s nothing we else we could have done. We weren’t trying to rotate the earth, just trying to lay down a solid number, and that’s what exactly we did. We’ll get a week off and then go to Norwalk. I’m looking forward to the rest of this year. This is my first year with John Force Racing and we’ve had some really great success. I know that at any one of these races, we’re gonna be leaving with a Wally. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen here.”
In the first pair of cars down the track, the Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster had lane choice and Hart grabbed the holeshot by 14 thousandths of a second (.056 to .070) over Doug Kalitta. Unfortunately, an engine cylinder stopped firing shortly after the hit, slowing the run to 3.845 seconds at 321.12 mph to Kalitta’s 3.799 seconds at 330.31 mph.
“I didn’t get into racing for the fame and I surely didn’t do it for fortune, said Hart. “My motivation has and will always be exceeding my own expectations and conquering the career goals I have for myself. The Speedmaster team wants to win and not just one. We want them all. Thank you for all the love from the John Force Racing and NHRA fans and we’ll be right back at it in Norwalk in two weeks.”
The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel point standings after nine of 20 races are: 1. Shawn Langdon, 920; 2. Doug Kalitta, 806; 3. Leah Pruett, 693; 4. Tony Stewart, 533; 5. Antron Brown, 517; 6. Josh Hart, 500; 7. Maddi Gordon, 499; 8. Billy Torrence, 466; 9. Justin Ashley, 419; 10. Clay Millican, 365.
The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings after nine of 20 races are: 1. Ron Capps, 691; 2. Matt Hagan, 667; 3. J.R. Todd, 634; 4. Jordan Vandergriff, 619; 5. Jack Beckman, 589; 6. Chad Green, 561; 7. Alexis DeJoria, 524; 8. Spencer Hyde, 459; 9. Austin Prock, 437; 10. Daniel Wilkerson, 391.
NEXT RACE
The 10th of 20 races of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is the June 26-28 Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
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