NHRA Southern Nationals
Event 5 of 20
South Georgia Motorsports Park
Adel, Ga.
May 1 – 3, 2026​


MADDI GORDON
Driver of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel Dragster

Last Event (Charlotte):
Qualified No. 14; Quarterfinal finish (defeated Clay Millican, Antron Brown in E1; defeated by Doug Kalitta, Leah Pruett in E2)

Noteworthy:

  • Gordon will throw out the first pitch at Wednesday night’s Atlanta Braves game versus the Detroit Tigers
  • Earlier this week, she visited NAPA headquarters near Atlanta with teammate and RCM owner Ron Capps

Fan Events:

  • Friday, 1:00 p.m., RCM driver autograph session, Carlyle Tools midway
  • Saturday, 10:00 a.m., RCM driver autograph session, Carlyle Tools midway

Quotable:
“I’m really happy that after Charlotte we get to get right back at it this weekend. I’m going to take the positive energy from Charlotte and bring it into Valdosta. One of the things that I’m most excited about this weekend is the fact that no one has any data there. We go to all the other tracks, and all the other teams already have data; what the rubber is like, whether it’s a slow or fast track, what the shutdown area is like, all of that, and not that I feel like we’re at a disadvantage not having that being a new team, because (crew chiefs) Rob (Flynn) and Troy (Fasching) have obviously raced at all these other facilities quite a bit, but there is a difference. This weekend, we’re all going in with the same amount of data, and that’s zero, so the fact that we’re all going to be figuring this track out together evens the playing field a bit.

“We’ve been busy this week since leaving zMAX. We’re in Atlanta and have been spending time at NAPA headquarters. It’s been really cool to see where everyone works, do some filming; it’s my first time to NAPA headquarters so that’s been very exciting. And tonight, I get to throw out the first pitch at the Braves game! I know my 10-year-old self would be freaking out right now if she knew that one day I’d have the opportunity to do that. We bought a baseball, and I’ve been practicing. I hope I can make my former varsity softball coach back home proud!”

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