Sat, 22 Aug 2026, 13:34 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Reporter

BRAINERD, Minn. - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, 44th annual NHRA Brainerd Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Keith Murt Runs 3.915/314.31, Now #14; Best prior run: 3.935/305.77, Was #14

Weather conditions: air temperature 70 degrees, relative humidity 54 percent, barometer 30.11 inches, adjusted altitude 2,351 feet, track temperature 103 degrees.

Murt is drifting out of the groove, but he stays with it to make his quickest pass of the weekend.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.768/330.07, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.892/258.22, Was #12
Right Lane: Shawn Reed Runs 3.778/326.48, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.849/324.67, Was #11

Schumacher kept it hooked up and hitting on all eight to move into the top half of the show.

Reed is straight down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend. He moves up the ladder one spot.

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Left Lane: Will Smith Runs 3.777/328.30, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.780/326.00, Was #11
Right Lane: Scott Palmer Runs 4.283/201.97, Now #15; Best prior run: 3.994/249.49, Was #15

Smith is straight down the groove to move up the ladder one spot.

Palmer started to haze the tires and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Tony Stewart Runs 3.758/331.45, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.765/332.34, Was #7
Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 4.797/154.63, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.818/326.00, Was #12

Stewart kept it hooked up and hitting on all eight with his quickest pass of the weekend. He moves up the ladder one spot on the ladder.

Millican is up in smoke by 330 feet and clicks it off.

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Left Lane: Justin Ashley Runs 3.772/329.67, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.743/333.99, Was #4
Right Lane: Billy Torrence Runs 4.183/198.96, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.754/330.96, Was #5

Ashley with another good clean pass, straight down the groove. He will not improve, but makes the third quickest pass of the session.

torrence starts to spin the tires and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 3.730/331.20, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.731/334.57, Was #3
Right Lane: Maddi Gordon Runs 3.695/336.99, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.725/336.15, Was #2

Langdon kept it hooked up and makes his quickest pass of the weekend. He will stay in the number three spot. Shawn Langdon's incremental times: 60ft-0.844 sec., 330ft-2.143, 660ft-3.010/296.24 mph.

gordon launched hard and kept it hooked up make her career quickest pass to go to the number one spot. Maddi Gordon's incremental times: 60ft-0.843 sec., 330ft-2.122, 660ft-2.982/298.01 mph.

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Left Lane: Leah Pruett Runs 4.786/151.58, Now #9; Best prior run: 3.769/331.04, Was #9
Right Lane: Josh Hart Runs 3.774/327.35, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.909/261.12, Was #13

Pruett lifts the front end on the launch and clicks it off.

Hart kept it hooked up to make his quickest pass of the weekend to move up the ladder three spots.

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Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 5.910/114.23, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.763/330.55, Was #7
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 3.673/332.26, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.705/340.30, Was #2

Brown drives into tire smoke and click3ed it off.

Kalitta launched hard and kept it hooked up to go to the number one spot. Doug Kalitta's incremental times: 60ft-0.831 sec., 330ft-2.096, 660ft-2.954/296.63 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink