INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Sept. 5, 2026) – For the second consecutive year, Jack Beckman and the PEAK SQUAD earned the low qualifier position in Friday’s extremely hot night session of the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis.
The two-time U.S. Nationals champion (2015, 2020) maneuvered the 12,000-horsepower PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car down the track with a run of 3.937 seconds at 326.79 mph. The PEAK Chevy is sporting the iconic black-and-white flame job paint scheme at the Big Go that team owner John Force’s car carried at the 1996 NHRA season finale to honor his dominant sixth championship season. Beckman is seeking his third No. 1 Qualifier of the season and 36th of his career.
Alexis DeJoria put the Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car, carrying Force’s infamous Night Stalker paint scheme from the early 1970s, into the fourth position with a run of 3.947 seconds at 329.26 mph. Josh Hart put the Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster in the No. 8 spot with a safe but solid run of 3.812 seconds at 323.50 mph. Jordan Vandergriff qualified 11th in the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car with an early shutoff run of 4.082 seconds at 263.67 seconds after unveiling a patriotic chrome stars and stripes paint scheme right before the run in the starting line area.
Saturday’s qualifying sessions are scheduled for 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. ET. The final two qualifying rounds are scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 6 at 12 and 2:45 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Monday, Sept 7.
Quote from Jack Beckman, PEAK 1996 John Force Tribute Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“It’s awesome to be No. 1 qualifier when there are 16 cars, but I don’t want to say it’s essential when there are 23 cars – it just sets you right. It’s a unique race because we get five qualifiers. It’s the only event where we’re only scheduled for one run on Friday, and we only get one night session. This might be an interesting weekend. Sunday, it looks like the forecast is a lot more favorable. Maybe there’s a chance to swing harder than that, and I hope there is.
“It’s so rewarding when you step on the throttle on one of these things, and it just keeps motoring down there. I don’t know if ours mixed a cylinder up – it wasn’t a great mile an hour, but it was efficient.”
Quote from Alexis DeJoria, Bandero Café Night Stalker Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
‘The Friday night qualifying session for the U.S. Nationals is always one you want to run well in. There’s always a lot of Funny Cars attempting to make the show which is always exciting for the category. So, to run a solid number on the very first qualifying run is key. The Bandero Café Chevy, with its awesome Night Stalker paint scheme, ran very well and we earned a championship point in the process. We are very blessed to be running the Night Stalker livery on our car this weekend. It was John’s very first nitro Funny Car so I thought it was the perfect throwback scheme for us.”
Quote from Josh Hart, Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster:
“That was a solid first run for the Speedmaster team at the Big Go. We went right down Broadway, a safe A to B run on a very hot race track. We needed some solid date. The driver has lost 20 pounds which means the car has lost 20 pounds. I know David Grubnic (crew chief) has a plan, especially as it looks like the temperatures should be cooling down tomorrow and even more for Sunday. Then it will be time to turn the wick back up.”
Quote from Jordan Vandergriff, Cornwell Tools America’s 250th Anniversary Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“It was super cool unveiling the Cornwell Quality Tools chrome Stars and Stripes livery before Q1. It looked great under the lights and I can’t wait for the fans to see it tomorrow in the sunlight. I’m honored to be part of the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals and everything we’re doing here with them.
“The run launched clean but then I had to drive it a little bit because it started spinning. I felt something wasn’t right and then it clicked itself off at about 800 feet and coasted across the finish line. We’ve looked at the data and it shows we dropped a cylinder early so we were down on power the entire run. But we live to fight another day and, looking at the weather forecast, we feel confident we’ll have a chance or two to go quicker than that these next two days.”
TV Schedule
Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 3 and 10:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, and eliminations at 12 p.m. on FS1 on Monday, shifting to FOX at 2 p.m.
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