Wed, 20 Aug 2025, 21:37 PM Jordan Vandergriff Puts Points On the Board for Sidelined Shawn Reed at Brainerd

Courtesy of Allison McCormick, ABM Communications

Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Event 13 of 20
Brainerd International Raceway
Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 15 - 17, 2025

Team owner/driver Shawn Reed and fill-in driver Jordan Vandergriff

BRAINERD, Minn. --- With young gun Jordan Vandergriff filling in for injured Top Fuel driver Shawn Reed, the Reed Trucking & Excavating Top Fuel team made strides at the penultimate race of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. Competing at Brainerd International Raceway, Vandergriff made the most of his opportunity to fill in for the sidelined Reed, who was injured in an on-track incident two races ago near Seattle. Vandergriff qualified third, set two new career-best speeds, and turned on a win light on race day to earn points towards Reed's Countdown to the Championship eligibility as the regular season winds down.

In Vandergriff's first run in competition since the 2019 season finale, he launched off the starting line, started to haze the tires, and backfired the supercharger to coast to a 4.084 E.T. at 245.76 mph, putting him No. 5 on the qualifying sheet. Vandergriff ended the day with a 3.800-second pass at 328.30 mph in the second session. On Saturday, crew chief Rob Wendland sent Vandergriff on a 3.757-second pass at Vandergriff's career-best speed, 333.58 mph, but the best was yet to come. He just missed a new career-best E.T. with his 3.705 E.T. at 334.32 mph in the final session, but was able to reset his speed record once again. The pass was the second-quickest of the session, earning two bonus points and moving Vandergriff up to third on the final qualifying order.

Vandergriff and the Shawn Reed Racing team started race day lined up against rookie Kyle Satenstein. Vandergriff was ahead by the 330-foot mark, and though the supercharger let go again before the finish line, he had enough to finish first with a 3.778 E.T. at 283.97 mph. Wendland stepped it up for a second-round match against Clay Millican, but Vandergriff and his 3.726 at 332.18 mph run finished just behind Millican and his 3.715 E.T. at 337.66 mph.

"It was an unbelievable weekend," said Vandergriff, an NHRA on FOX broadcast team member and former Bachelorette contestant. "It started off with a little excitement and the excitement kept building because we started making clean runs and started setting my career-best speeds. I've never been that fast before and it felt amazing. It's crazy to me that I was holding a microphone a few weeks ago and setting career best speeds a few weeks later. I'm just super grateful to Shawn for the opportunity. He couldn't have made this any better for me. It really means a lot to me that he picked me and gave me the chance to strap back into one of these Top Fuel cars."

Reed, who went into the weekend ranked No. 10 in the standings, was similarly happy with the high points of the weekend although he wasn't the one in the driver's seat.

"Jordan did a great job and it was good to get him back in the seat. He needs to be back in there," Reed said. "Yeah, it's hard for me to get used to watching my car go down the track, but that's what the future's eventually going to be for me. I have another few years in me and then that's what I want to do. I'd like to be a team owner and a car owner and stay in this business of NHRA Drag Racing and watch the younger people come up and drive these cars. That's what the sport needs.

"But all in all, the guys did good," Reed added. "We had a little carnage this weekend and a lot of it was self-inflicted, but we've got more parts and pieces, we'll find more money, we'll go rebuild some stuff and be ready to go."

The NHRA regular season will conclude at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Aug. 27-Sept. 1, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis. Reed plans to return to driving at the first event of the NHRA Countdown, the 40th NHRA Reading Nationals presented by Nitro Fish, Sept. 11-14, at Maple Grove Raceway. With Vandergriff collecting points for Reed in Brainerd, Reed departs the Minn. facility having maintained his No. 10 ranking.

Qualified: No. 3 (3.705 E.T. at 334.32 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.778 E.T. at 283.97 MPH defeated Kyle Satenstein 3.851 E.T. at 316.01 MPH
E2: 3.726 E.T. at 332.18 MPH defeated by Clay Millican 3.715 E.T. at 337.66 MPH

1  Shawn Langdon    1044
2  Tony Stewart      999
3  Doug Kalitta      993
4  Justin Ashley     911
5  Brittany Force    817
6  Antron Brown      815
7  Clay Millican     704
8  Josh Hart         571
9  Steve Torrence    569
10 Shawn Reed/Jordan Vandergriff  475