MADISON, Ill. (Oct. 2, 2026) – Alexis DeJoria made her quickest run of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season in Friday’s first qualifying session to earn the provisional No. 1 spot in Funny Car for the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car set low ET of the day with a run of 3.882 seconds at 334.64 mph. Matt Hagan ran the same elapsed time in the second session but DeJoria’s run was faster so she earned the top spot.
Jack Beckman put the PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car in the No. 3 position with his second session run of 3.888 seconds at 332.10 mph. Both Josh Hart and Jordan Vandergriff earned the sixth position in their respective classes: the Speedmaster Top Fuel dragster ran 3.717 seconds at 333.41 mph in the opening session and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car ran 3.906 seconds at 328.94 mph in the second session.
The final two rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Sat., Oct. 3, at 12 and 2:30 p.m. CT. Final eliminations are scheduled for 10 a.m. CT on Sunday, Oct. 4.
Quote from Alexis DeJoria, Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“The conditions here are really good, and I wasn’t sure if a 3.88 would stick. Every time a good run went down the track, I kept asking the guys if we were still No. 1. Our Bandero Café Chevy is set up exactly the way it should be, and this is the right time in the season. We have the consistency but we needed to step it up and run those quicker numbers. We’re off to a good start. Right now, every point matters.”
Quote from Jack Beckman, PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“A solid run in Q1, a better run in Q2 and bonus points in both sessions which truly is the name of the game. On the second qualifying run, the track was probably about as good as we’ve seen all year long. We set low ET of the year two weeks ago in Martin (Mich.) and this one wasn’t far off. Sometimes the racetrack gets too good for the changes you make to the tune up. You have to be far more aggressive than you think and I think it just swallowed up our tune up in Q2. We wore a lot of clutch out of the PEAK Chevy or it would have run significantly better. The crew chiefs are very frustrated and we were still only six thousandths of a second off low ET. It’s a wonderful feeling when you ‘miss it’ and you’re a top two car. It was a wonderful Friday and, if Saturday affords us a good enough racetrack, we will push hard to get the No. 1 spot.”
Quote from Josh Hart, Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster:
“We had a fantastic run in Q1 for data. So, in Q2, we had the luxury of setting up the Speedmaster Top Fuel dragster to ‘kill’ mode. Unfortunately, it didn’t stick but we will try again tomorrow knowing we have a solid run already under our belt.”
Quote from Jordan Vandergriff, Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“Today was really the best Friday this Cornwell Quality Tools team has had in recent memory. We struggled in qualifying over the last three or four races and it was something we wanted to work on in St. Louis. So, it was a good rebound from Q1. Our early numbers in Q1 looked good, so I knew coming into the night session that we were going to be okay. I think we were even pushing for a little bit more tonight but we’ll take the 3.90.”
TV Schedule
Television coverage includes a qualifying show scheduled to air Sun., Oct. 4, from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. on FS1. Elimination rounds will air Sun., Oct. 4, on FOX from 2 – 4 p.m. ET and 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. ET.
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