LAS VEGAS (Oct. 30, 2026) – Jack Beckman and the PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car team streaked to the No. 1 spot and the rest of John Force Racing’s teams qualified in the Top 5 after the first day of qualifying for the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After a one hour rain delay before Friday’s first qualifying session, the PEAK SQUAD Chevy ran 3.836 seconds at 335.32 mph in Q2 to earn the $3,500 Trick or Traction Award for low elapsed time of the round. The elapsed time was the second quickest of the season, just shy of Beckman’s 3.832-second run in September at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich. The PEAK Chevy ran a strong 3.875 seconds at 333.00 mph in Q1.
After the Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet SS Funny Car unveiled a black and silver paint scheme at the water box ahead of their Q1 run, Alexis DeJoria put down a lap of 3.874 seconds at 333.33 mph. The run was second only to Beckman’s Q1 run and maintained the No. 2 spot after Q2. The Bandero Chevy lost traction just before half track in the second session.
Josh Hart and the Speedmaster Top Fuel team posted the eighth quickest run in the first session with a time of 3.735 seconds at 334.40 mph. In Q2, they improved by five positions, to third, with a run of 3.688 seconds at 325.61 mph.
The Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car was 14th after the day’s first qualifying session. Business picked up in Q2, however, as Jordan Vandergriff drove his way to the No. 5 position with a run of 3.909 seconds at 332.02 mph.
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying on Saturday, Oct. 31, will feature two rounds, rescheduled for 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. PT. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. PT on Sunday, Nov. 1.
Quote from Jack Beckman, PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“When you get conditions like this, it’s always an educated guess on what you think you can get away with,” Beckman said. “We were still in the window here, but we had a couple of delays. You don’t want this to go too long and the track to get out of that area. Clearly, we had some pretty good data for that. When these things are on a run like that, it’s hard to put words to how cool nitro Funny Car is, and the fact that I had my hands full, it stayed stuck and it put up that number, fantastic and good for our team.
“Barring a miracle, we’re not going to catch [points leader Matt] Hagan. Our goal is to win two races, and if that means we finish second, that’s good. Whoever wins this year clearly is going to earn it. Nobody backed into getting into the Countdown and everybody in the top six are killer cars right now.”
Quote from Alexis DeJoria, Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“We debuted our new Bandero silver and black livery right before Q1 and then set low ET of the session with a strong 3.87-second run. Man, what a great start! Low ET of the session got us three bonus points and kept us in the No. 2 spot at the end of the day. I’m really excited about this race. I’ve won here twice in the spring (2014, 2016) but to get an NHRA 75th anniversary diamond Wally this weekend would be absolutely incredible. I’m proud of this team. We’ve learned a lot this year and running well today sets us up for success the rest of the weekend.”
Quote from Josh Hart, Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster:
“That’s the David Grubnic we all expect. He called his shot. He said he was going to do this in Q1 and this in Q2 and he just did it. We’re gelling together in our first year together as a team. It’s all coming together and Speedmaster has been very supportive. Thank God for all the people that I’ve got here at Burnyzz Speed Shop. Next week will be our first appearance at SEMA which is just awesome. Awesome fans. Awesome crew. That’s what we needed.”
Quote from Jordan Vandergriff, Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“That was a great clean for this Cornwell Quality Tools team. I was halfway down track and thought, ‘man, this thing’s going.’ I had to shave it a little bit to the right but a really clean run other than that. We earned one bonus point for our efforts which puts us one point closer in the championship run. Every point counts so we’ll take it.”
TV Schedule
Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 1, followed by eliminations at 5 p.m. ET.
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After a one hour rain delay before Friday’s first qualifying session, the PEAK SQUAD Chevy ran 3.836 seconds at 335.32 mph in Q2 to earn the $3,500 Trick or Traction Award for low elapsed time of the round. The elapsed time was the second quickest of the season, just shy of Beckman’s 3.832-second run in September at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich. The PEAK Chevy ran a strong 3.875 seconds at 333.00 mph in Q1.
After the Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet SS Funny Car unveiled a black and silver paint scheme at the water box ahead of their Q1 run, Alexis DeJoria put down a lap of 3.874 seconds at 333.33 mph. The run was second only to Beckman’s Q1 run and maintained the No. 2 spot after Q2. The Bandero Chevy lost traction just before half track in the second session.
Josh Hart and the Speedmaster Top Fuel team posted the eighth quickest run in the first session with a time of 3.735 seconds at 334.40 mph. In Q2, they improved by five positions, to third, with a run of 3.688 seconds at 325.61 mph.
The Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car was 14th after the day’s first qualifying session. Business picked up in Q2, however, as Jordan Vandergriff drove his way to the No. 5 position with a run of 3.909 seconds at 332.02 mph.
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying on Saturday, Oct. 31, will feature two rounds, rescheduled for 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. PT. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. PT on Sunday, Nov. 1.
Quote from Jack Beckman, PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“When you get conditions like this, it’s always an educated guess on what you think you can get away with,” Beckman said. “We were still in the window here, but we had a couple of delays. You don’t want this to go too long and the track to get out of that area. Clearly, we had some pretty good data for that. When these things are on a run like that, it’s hard to put words to how cool nitro Funny Car is, and the fact that I had my hands full, it stayed stuck and it put up that number, fantastic and good for our team.
“Barring a miracle, we’re not going to catch [points leader Matt] Hagan. Our goal is to win two races, and if that means we finish second, that’s good. Whoever wins this year clearly is going to earn it. Nobody backed into getting into the Countdown and everybody in the top six are killer cars right now.”
Quote from Alexis DeJoria, Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“We debuted our new Bandero silver and black livery right before Q1 and then set low ET of the session with a strong 3.87-second run. Man, what a great start! Low ET of the session got us three bonus points and kept us in the No. 2 spot at the end of the day. I’m really excited about this race. I’ve won here twice in the spring (2014, 2016) but to get an NHRA 75th anniversary diamond Wally this weekend would be absolutely incredible. I’m proud of this team. We’ve learned a lot this year and running well today sets us up for success the rest of the weekend.”
Quote from Josh Hart, Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster:
“That’s the David Grubnic we all expect. He called his shot. He said he was going to do this in Q1 and this in Q2 and he just did it. We’re gelling together in our first year together as a team. It’s all coming together and Speedmaster has been very supportive. Thank God for all the people that I’ve got here at Burnyzz Speed Shop. Next week will be our first appearance at SEMA which is just awesome. Awesome fans. Awesome crew. That’s what we needed.”
Quote from Jordan Vandergriff, Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car:
“That was a great clean for this Cornwell Quality Tools team. I was halfway down track and thought, ‘man, this thing’s going.’ I had to shave it a little bit to the right but a really clean run other than that. We earned one bonus point for our efforts which puts us one point closer in the championship run. Every point counts so we’ll take it.”
TV Schedule
Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 1, followed by eliminations at 5 p.m. ET.
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