PEAK Motorsports Update- August 24, 2026

NHRA: NHRA Brainerd Nationals

Brainerd, MN

Monday, August 24, 2026: 

Jordan Vandergriff finished just a few feet short of a storybook weekend at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals, but the John Force Racing Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car driver still earned his fourth final-round appearance of the season and is second in the 2026 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series point standings heading into the regular season finale Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals in two weeks.
 
Alexis DeJoria lost a close second-round matchup against teammate Vandergriff in Round 2, while competition for Jack Beckman and Josh Hart ended in the day’s opening round.

Vandergriff lined up for the final round against Matt Hagan who had lane choice. Jordan grabbed a slight edge off the starting line (0.061 to 0.064) and was headed toward his third win of the season, when the Cornwell Tools Chevy made a move to the centerline. Wary of costing his team championship points if he crossed the centerline, he backed off the throttle which allowed Hagan to take the win with a run of 3.946 seconds at 320.13 mph over Vandergriff’s 4.038 seconds at 266.27 mph.

DeJoria had lane choice in her second-round matchup against Vandergriff. Both cars made identical 3.956-second runs, but it was only the nearly three-hundredths-of-a-second reaction time difference (0.058 to 0.087) that provided Vandergriff the victory. The Bandero Café Chevy made a solid 3.927-second pass at 328.14 mph in Round 1 to defeat number nine qualifier Dave Richard’s 5.358 seconds to set up the second-round matchup with Vandergriff.

Jack Beckman left first against number 11 qualifier Chad Green (0.068 to 0.086) but smoked the tires a couple hundred feet out. Unbeknownst to Beckman, Green had struck the tires right off the line, so Beckman pedaled the throttle of the PEAK Chevy. In doing so, however, he crossed the centerline for an automatic disqualification. It was his second centerline infraction of the season, costing the team 20 championship points and a drop from second to fifth in the regular season point standings.

In Top Fuel, Josh Hart and the Speedmaster Top Fuel dragster lined up against number seven qualifier Tony Stewart in the opening round. Hart cut a solid 0.078 light and ran 3.789 seconds at 330.47 mph, but Stewart had a 0.047 reaction time and a run of 3.726 seconds at 334.32 mph.


FUNNY CAR POINTS STANDINGS
Less than two rounds separate the top 5 in Funny Car points heading into the last race of the regular season.

1. Matt Hagan 938 points
2.  Jordan Vandergriff -7
3. Ron Capps -12
4. J.R. Todd -22
5. Jack Beckman -74
6. Austin Prock -167
7. Chad Green -183
8. Alexis DeJoria -201
9. Daniel Wilkerson -323
10. Spencer Hyde -328

The 14th of 20 races on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is the September 2-7 Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.