Ron Capps Secures 40th Career No. 1 Qualifier at U.S. Nationals, Reclaims Funny Car Points Lead

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Sept. 6, 2026) – Ron Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team entered the NHRA U.S. Nationals looking to reclaim the Funny Car points lead they held through the majority of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. After five rounds of qualifying at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Capps accomplished that goal, securing the No. 1 qualifying position and moving back atop the standings heading into Monday eliminations.

Capps arrived in Indianapolis 12 points behind Matt Hagan after leading the Funny Car standings through nine of the first 13 events. With points-and-a-half on the line at the regular-season finale, Capps and his Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli-led team took full advantage of the five qualifying sessions, collecting 15 of a possible 20 bonus points throughout the weekend.

Driving a special-edition Carlyle Tools Funny Car, Capps earned bonus points in four of the five qualifying sessions, including three rounds where he clocked the quickest run of the session. His 3.914-second pass at 332.18 mph on Saturday evening held up through two rounds of qualifying on Sunday to secure his 40th career No. 1 qualifier and third of the season.

“Every single one of us that’s in contention of finishing as the regular-season champion came in here with the mentality of trying to scoop up as many of those low qualifier bonus points as possible,” said Capps, a three-time world champion and 80-time race winner. “To come in and get 15 out of those 20 points was just incredible. We finished yesterday with the pole, and we knew if we could maintain that we’d start race day as the points leader, and those are the moments we live for. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before in the regular season, to come from behind like that based on our qualifying performance. Those are things that your heroes did, so I’m just in awe of how huge it is for us to do that, and it makes us feel really good going into tomorrow.”

Capps entered Sunday five points behind Hagan and began the day competing in the first round of the Funny Car All-Star Callout. Facing Alexis DeJoria, Capps lost traction early and was unable to advance in the specialty event. He quickly rebounded in the fifth and final qualifying session, powering the Carlyle Tools machine to an impressive 3.936-second blast at 329.34 mph. The run was the quickest of the session, earning Capps four more bonus points. Coupled with the points awarded for his No. 1 qualifying position, the performance moved Capps back into the Funny Car points lead.

“We’ve finished the regular season in first place a few times, but not since NHRA put the regular-season championship money up last year and actually crowned a winner,” Capps said. “We rolled into Sonoma with more than a 100-point lead coming off that Norwalk win, and we needed to try some things in the clutch department, which we did, and that led to some early losses that cost us our points lead. In our book, we felt like we should win the regular season because we were the points leaders for so long, but we came in here and had to fight to get it back. It really built the excitement, and when we pulled in this morning, it was like, wow, this is really cool.”

Beyond the points implications, Capps was equally encouraged by the consistency of his race car heading into Monday. His final qualifying pass marked his fourth full pull in five attempts and gave Antonelli and the Carlyle/NAPA team lane choice to open eliminations.

“We left Norwalk with our third diamond Wally trophy and we were leading the Mission Foods standings, and I didn’t even feel like we were at the top of our game at that point,” Capps said. “I thought, man, if Guido isn’t comfortable with our setup and we’re still able to win three trophies and have the success we’ve had, just wait until he gets comfortable. And we are certainly feeling comfortable now. To go back up and run that 93 in the right lane for Q5, I think that was definitely a statement Guido wanted to make going into tomorrow. He was showing that we can get down the track no matter who we run or where we’re at. Anything can happen though.”

Capps will face No. 16 qualifier John Smith in the opening round of eliminations on Monday as he begins his pursuit of a third U.S. Nationals victory and the regular-season Funny Car championship. With Capps, Hagan, Jordan Vandergriff and J.R. Todd all separated by one competition round, the stage is set for an exciting Big Go showdown.

“A win and starting the Countdown to the Championship in the points lead would be huge. I don’t think I have to tell anyone that.”

Eliminations get underway at 10 a.m. ET with broadcast coverage starting at noon on FS1.

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