PEAK Motorsports Update- March 9, 2026

NHRA: AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals - Gainesville, FL

Monday, March 9, 2026: 

Josh Hart and Alexis DeJoria are both newcomers to the 24-time NHRA Championship winning John Force Racing organization but both made incredibly strong statements at Sunday’s 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season-opening Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, with Hart earning the Top Fuel title and DeJoria finishing runner-up in Funny Car.

Hart and his Top Fuel Dragster team led by crew chiefs Dave Grubnic and John Collins, defeated two-time and defending Top Fuel Champion Doug Kalitta in the rain delayed final round giving the Florida transplant his second Gatornationals victory, and third overall in six final-round appearances. Hart’s previous victories came at the 2021 Gatornationals in his Top Fuel debut and the 2021 fall race at zMax Dragway when he defeated Brittany Force.
 
Hart, who earned his first career number one qualifying position in Top Fuel on Saturday, marched to the final round by defeating Dan Mercier in the opening round, a red-lighting Tripp Tatum in round two, and pedaled in the semifinals to defeat Antron Brown enroute to the finals.

DeJoria and her Chevrolet SS Funny Car team, led by crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jonni Lindberg, left the starting line strong but lost traction at 300 feet giving defending race winner, Chad Green the win. It was DeJoria’s 17th career Funny Car final-round appearance.

DeJoria earned her way to the final round by defeating two-time NHRA Funny Car Champion Cruz Pedregon in a pedal-fest in round one, running 4.040 at 324.59 to defeat Spencer Hyde in round two, while J.R. Todd was disqualified for a red light start in the semifinals.

Jordan Vandergriff, making both his John Force Racing and Funny Car debut in the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS, qualified eighth and reached the semifinals before bowing out to race winner Green. Jack Beckman in the PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny, qualified ninth and lost to teammate Vandergriff in the opening round.

The unfortunate first-round matchup between Vandergriff and Beckman meant that only one of the John Force Racing entries would advance to the second round. In the closest race of round one, Vandergriff’s 3.970 seconds at 327.35 mph was enough to defeat Beckman’s 3.987 at 326.87 which were the second and third quickest runs of round one, only behind race winner Chad Green. 

Vandergriff then defeated John Smith in the second round before putting out a cylinder early in the semifinals run to come up short against race winner Chad Green.

The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is March 20-22 at Firebird Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona.