NORWALK, Ohio (June 27, 2026) – All four John Force Racing teams posted solid runs on Friday and Saturday at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park but saved their best runs for Day 2 of qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.
Josh Hart and the Speedmaster Top Fuel team got better with each session. They ran 3.966 seconds in Q1, 3.803 seconds in Q2, and 3.762 seconds in Q3, Saturday’s first session, before securing the No. 2 qualifying spot with a Q4 run of 3.722 seconds at 332.51 mph. Hart will face No. 15 qualifier Scott Farley (4.669 seconds, 162.51 mph) in Rd. 1 on Sunday.
Alexis DeJoria, John Force Racing’s top performer in Friday’s two qualifying sessions, ran her quickest run of the event Saturday in Q3 when the Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car posted a 3.886-second elapsed time at 330.31 mph. She ran 3.947 and 3.918 seconds in Q1 and Q2 Friday, respectively, and 3.900 seconds in Q4. She’ll face No. 15 qualifier Blake Alexander (3.983 seconds, 324.62 mph) in tomorrow’s first round of eliminations.
The PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car smoked the tires in Q1 (4.612 seconds) but Jack Beckman and the PEAK SQUAD then clicked off a 3.945 in Q2, 3.916 in Q3 and then 3.911 seconds at 332.02 mph in Q4 to secure the No. 4 qualifying spot. Beckman will face No. 13 qualifier Spencer Hyde (3.965 seconds, 322.19 mph) in Round 1.
Qualifying was a mixed bag for Jordan Vandergriff and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team. There was tire smoke in Q1 (4.438 seconds), then a solid 3.936-second run in Q2. In Saturday’s first session (Q3), the Cornwell Tools Chevy dropped a cylinder and slowed to a run of 4.611 seconds but the team bounced back in Q4 with a run of 3.935 seconds at 322.81 mph to earn the No. 11 qualifying spot. Vandergriff will face No. 6 qualifier J.R. Todd (3.916 seconds, 335.90 mph) in Round 1 on Sunday.
The first round of eliminations is scheduled for Sun., June 28, beginning at 11 a.m. ET.
Quote from Josh Hart, Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster:
“I think for myself and the entire Speedmaster team this weekend, it’s just a been confidence builder every time we got down the track A to B, and it just got progressively faster and faster. Everybody on this team wants that No. 1 spot and we’re going to get there. I have all the confidence in the world in our program and how cool is it that right before they fired up the car, I get to see John Force, one of the greatest of all time, standing right there to give me a fist bump. I have zero complaints going into race day.”
Quote from Alexis DeJoria, Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“The Bandero Café team has made a great showing in qualifying here in Norwalk. We made four solid runs, finished No. 2 in qualifying and gained seven of a possible nine bonus points which is absolutely incredible. Zippy and Jonnie (crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jonnie Lindberg) really have a handle on this race car and I can’t wait to go rounds tomorrow.”
Quote from Jack Beckman, PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“I got out of the PEAK Chevy after that last run and I could have sworn that felt like a 3.80 run. Because we went 286 mph to 660 feet, which is huge, we picked up five miles an hour over our last run. As a driver, that’s what you feel, your body and your butt are your G meter and this thing pushed me back in the seat. When they said 3.91, I was thinking that’s just not possible. We just lost elapsed time in the first 100 feet. The great news is we know exactly how to pick that back up. The guys did some changes to the clutch pack to ensure that we have the longevity to make it through the Countdown and it’s a case of maybe one step back to run for the Countdown. So we’re getting used to what this pack’s characteristics are and what it wants and we’ve kind of missed a little bit on both sides. We were quick early but a little bit lazy on the top end. That last run, we pushed the hardest in the middle that we have all weekend. We just need to go back to being quicker early.”
Quote from Jordan Vandergriff, Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“Yeah, it was definitely on fire in the lights and it definitely reached my lower area. I was like ‘my feet are warmer than normal.’ It felt like it was on a great run and it still ran 3.935 pushing a head guest get out late. It’s still a really good run and might have been a 3.92. It’s been a complicated weekend so far for this Cornwell Quality Tools Funny Car team. I just don’t know if we’ve really hit what we’ve wanted so far, but that’s the beauty of race day. You just go out there, you bring what you got, and you go for it.”
TV Schedule
Television coverage includes qualifying action on Sunday, June 28, from 12 – 2 p.m. ET on FS1, leading into eliminations from 5:30 – 9 p.m. ET on FOX.
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