LAS VEGAS (Nov. 1, 2026) – Jordan Vandergriff had been fighting some sort of physical bug all week but woke up Sunday morning knowing he had a job to do to keep his championship hopes alive at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals and he did just that with a dominating final round victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The day for Jack Beckman and Josh Hart ended in Round 2 while Alexis DeJoria bowed out in the first round.
Vandergriff saved his quickest performance of the day for the final round when the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car beat Ron Capps to the finish line with a run of 3.873 seconds at 331.68 mph to Capps’ 3.921 seconds at 335.15 mph. The win was the fourth of Vandergriff’s Funny Car rookie season in seven final round appearances and pulls the Cornwell Tools team to within 39 markers of point leader Matt Hagan, who exited in the second round, with just the Oct. 13-15 In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at Pomona remaining.
“This is the biggest win [of the year],” Vandergriff said. “Today literally worked out as I envisioned it this morning. It was, how do we need today to go? We need the day to go a certain way. We need somebody else to lose. We need this. We need that, and it literally played itself out the way I imagined.
Vandergriff defeated No. 14 qualifier Julie Nataas in their first round matchup, with Vandergriff running 3.876 seconds at 324.28 mph to Nataas’ 3.985 seconds at 323.50 mph. In Round 2, the Cornwell Tools Chevy ran 3.912 seconds at 324.20 mph to Spencer Hyde’s tire-smoking run of 6.502 seconds at 103.54 mph. In the semifinal round against J.R. Todd, Vandergriff left the starting line by one hundredth of a second and took the win with a run of 3.911 seconds at 327.90 mph to Todd’s tire-spinning 4.525 seconds at 251.77 mph.
“This fourth win I think is obviously huge, just because we’re 39 points back now of Hagan, and coming in today we were a really, really long shot,” said Vandergriff. “It felt like we were far away and we needed him to go out early, and he did. Now we can go to Pomona with a chance. So that’s all I wanted.”
Beckman defeated No. 16 qualifier Jeff Diehl in Round 1, posting a time of 3.851 seconds (low E.T. of the round) at 329.69 mph to Diehl whose run was disqualified for hitting timing blocks. The second round matchup against Capps found both cars leaving the starting line almost identically (.071 for Beckman and .067 for Capps) and the PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car leading most of the way before dropping cylinders and spinning the tires just before the finish line. Capps took the win with a run of 3.874 seconds at 336.82 mph to Beckman’s 3.893 seconds at 317.42 mph.
“We were driving away on that run but NHRA has this silly rule that it doesn’t matter until you get to the finish line,” said Beckman. “We put a cylinder out at 440 feet and we were still well ahead. We put a second cylinder out at 630 feet and, with both out on the same side, the PEAK Chevy was trying desperately to go into Capp’s lane. I had my hands full there and we still ran a 3.89. Our car is just so wicked fast and people don’t understand that, when you’re really good at something, you make it look so easy that people don’t understand when it doesn’t go that way. Capps’ team laid one down against us and I think it’s a tribute to the PEAK SQUAD that the other teams swing harder when we’re in the other lane.”
Hart defeated No. 14 qualifier Shawn Reed in the first round, running 3.719 seconds at 338.77 mph to Reed’s 3.785 seconds at 316.38 mph. In Round 2 against Leah Pruett, the Speedmaster Top Fuel dragster ran 3.681 seconds at 339.45 mph while Pruett ran 3.687 seconds at 333.58 mph but her quicker reaction time at the starting gave her the win.
“The Speedmaster team worked relentlessly together all weekend to get this car going great and it paid off,” said Hart. “That’s a huge confidence booster for us all going into the final round at Pomona.”
DeJoria had lane choice in her Round 1 matchup against Hunter Green and seemed headed toward victory when the Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet SS Funny Car dropped cylinders nearing the finish line which allowed Green to take the win. DeJoria ran 3.931 seconds at 289.88 mph to Green’s 3.923 seconds at 321.73 mph.
“I’m really at a loss for words,” said DeJoria. “My Bandero team is so awesome and we have such a good race car. We were on a great run and the car shut off and nosed over. We have a lot of good luck in the bank right now so I think we’re just preparing for a really good year in 2027. We have everything we need to win and we just need a little luck thrown our way so, Pomona, here we come.”
The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel point standings after 19 of 20 races are: 1. Shawn Langdon, 2,630; 2. Doug Kalitta, 2,523; 3. Antron Brown, 2,394; 4. Leah Pruett, 2,379; 5. Tony Stewart, 2,359; 6. (tie) Maddi Gordon, 2,293; Will Smith, 2,293; 8. Justin Ashley, 2,278; 9. Josh Hart, 2,254; 10. Billy Torrence, 2,250.
The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings after 19 of 20 races are: 1. Matt Hagan, 2,563; 2. Jordan Vandergriff, 2,524; 3. J.R. Todd, 2,459; 4. Austin Prock, 2,422; 5. Jack Beckman, 2,412; 6. Ron Capps, 2,408; 7. Alexis DeJoria, 2,314; 8. Daniel Wilkerson, 2,239; 9. Spencer Hyde, 2,204; 10. Chad Green, 2,187.
The 20th of 20 races on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the Nov. 13-15 In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif.
###
