BROWNSBURG, Ind. (APRIL 22, 2026) – Jack Beckman has had a relatively slow start to the 2026 season but sees the opportunity to run the HendrickCars.com paint scheme on his John Force Racing Chevrolet SS Funny Car as a catalyst for his team to make a solid move up in the point standings at the April 24-26 NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway.
The 2012 NHRA Funny Car World Champion will also run the HendrickCars.com scheme at the Sept. 25-27 NHRA Nationals at The Rock at Rockingham (N.C.) Dragway.
Beckman exited after the first round of competition at Gainesville and Phoenix, the season’s first two races, but earned the team’s first round win two weeks ago at the Winternationals. He ran 3.890 seconds at 332.75 mph for the Round 1 win but lost lane choice for Round 2 by a mere one-thousandth-of-a-second to No. 1 Qualifier and 2018 NHRA Funny Car World Champion J.R. Todd. Todd left the starting line by five-thousandths-of-a-second and took the win as Beckman had to pedal the throttle at half-track after spinning the rear tires.
The 37-time NHRA Funny Car event winner sees the positive momentum shifting in his team’s direction as they enter the grind of the regular season.
Beckman and the HendrickCars.com team qualified to compete in this weekend’s Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on the strength of their quarterfinals finish in Pomona. The event will take place as part of Saturday’s qualifying runs scheduled for 12:50 p.m. and 3:20 p.m.
The unofficial 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings after three of 20 races are: Ron Capps, 251; Matt Hagan, 251; JR Todd, 224; Chad Green, 223; Jordan Vandergriff, 205; Spencer Hyde, 189; Alexis DeJoria, 184; Daniel Wilkerson, 138; Paul Lee, 133; Jack Beckman, 119.
Quotes
What does it mean to you to showcase the HendrickCars.com partnership with John Force Racing in Mr. Hendrick’s back yard?
“Yeah, I am very proud to consider Rick a friend of mine, to the point where I can call him on the phone and ask him questions. He’s opened up his private car collection to us and made sure we were absolutely taken care of. He’s an unbelievably successful person, and he is so highly regarded that people forget he’s a car nut just like the rest of us. He’s a hot rod guy. He started out drag racing before he got into oval track racing. He loves this stuff. It was so cool to get him out to the track last year and just listen to him and John talk. I introduced him to Don Garlits and it was cool because I was just a fly on the wall enjoying every second of it. So, to carry his name across our car says a lot for our sport, that the most successful team owner in NASCAR history is on the side of our car. Not only does he like our sport, he likes to come out and watch his Funny Car run so, hopefully, we can get him in the winner’s circle.”
What is the experience of racing four wide at zMax Dragway?
“Racing four wide is quite a spectacle. If a normal race is ‘Ready. Set. Go!’, racing four wide is ‘Ready. Okay, check the other track set. Okay, there’s two more cars here than you’re used to. Wait. And then go.’ It takes a little bit of getting used to but I’ve adapted pretty well in that format and gone late rounds a lot. By the time we stage for Q1 on Friday, I’ve gone over it several dozen times in my head so we will be fine.”
Talk about the success you’ve had at zMax Dragway?
“I won the inaugural Charlotte race in 2008 when it was just two-wide, but I think I’ve won two 4-Wide races (2011, 2015) and one of them was a was a slump buster. It was in 2015 and it ended a two-year victory drought. So, that one was well received and long overdue so maybe we’re due for another drought buster.”
What did it mean to you and the team to finally get that 1st round win under your belt at Pomona?
“The good news is we get our first round win even though it took us three races. The bad news is that’s all we got. We had the second-quickest elapsed time of first round. We were only outrun by one thousandth (of a second) by the car we had to run in the second round. We just missed the tune up slightly in the second round. We’re shooting at bullseyes here and right now it seems like we’re still adjusting our scope. We had a great preseason test and then we’ve just had a couple curveballs thrown our way. It’s odd going into the fourth race of the year and only have one round win. But we can add the equivalent of four round wins with a win this weekend, which is really odd because you only run three rounds. As soon as we win our first race, it’ll put us right back up in the thick of the points.”
Stats
| Charlotte | Race Result | Round Wins | Round Loss | Qualified | Event Record |
| 2010 | 2nd round | Def. T. Pedregon & Tasca | Lost to J. Force & R. Capps | 3rd | 1-1 |
| 2011 | Winner | Def. T. Pedregon & Arend Def. M. Neff & J. Force Def. B. Tasca, T. Wilkerson & J. Head | 5th | 4-1 | |
| 2012 | 2nd round | Def. C. Force & T. Lesenko | Lost to C. Pedregon & R. Hight | 5th | 5-2 |
| 2013 | 2nd round | Def. R. Capps & D. Creasy Jr. | Lost to M. Hagan & B. Alexander | 3rd | 6-3 |
| 2014 | 1st round | Lost to M. Hagan & R. Hight | 10th | 6-4 | |
| 2015 | Winner | Def. P. Lee & R. Capps Def. J. Force & R. Hight Def. D. Worsham, C. Head & T. Johnson Jr | 6th | 9-4 | |
| 2016 | 1st round | Lost to J. Force & T. Johnson Jr | 6th | 9-5 | |
| 2017 | Runner-up | Def. T. Johnson Jr. & J. Campbell Def. R. Hight & J. Force | Lost to R. Capps; Def. J. Todd & M. Hagan | 10th | 11-6 |
| 2018 | 2nd round | Def. B. Tasca & S. Langdon | Lost to J. Force & C. Force | 13th | 12-7 |
| 2019 | 2nd round | Def. D. Richards & R. Capps | Lost to J. Force & M. Hagan | 2nd | 13-8 |
| 2020 | Did Not Compete | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2021 | Did Not Compete | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2022 | Did Not Compete | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2023 | Did Not Compete | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2024 | Did Not Compete | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2025 | 1st round | Lost to C. Green & A. DeJoria | 5th | 13-9 |
Starts: 11
Wins: 2 (2011 & 2015)
No. 1 Qualifiers: 0
Event Round Record: 13-9
Track & TV Schedules
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 4:15 and 7 p.m. ET on Friday, April 24 and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, April 25 at 12:30 and 3 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 26.
Television coverage includes qualifying on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, April 24, and 11 a.m. ET on Sunday with eliminations action at 7 p.m. ET to follow.
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