Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Sun, 06 Sep 2026, 16:28 PM

Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Rick Green

INDIANAPOLIS - Notes from final, round 5 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. 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:

Left Lane: Lex Joon No Time, Now #21; Best prior run: 4.823/162.53, Was #21

Weather conditions: air temperature 81 degrees, relative humidity 43 percent, barometer 30.00 inches, adjusted altitude 2,860 feet, track temperature 129 degrees.

Joon was up in smoke right at the hit and then it banged the blower with a quick fire. He came to a stop on the track about 400 feet out.

Left Lane: Krista Baldwin Runs 3.894/295.66, Now #19; Best prior run: 3.887/321.65, Was #19

Baldwin with another good clean pass, but will not get in the show.

Left Lane: Jake Sanders Runs 9.967/81.79, Now #17; Best prior run: 3.862/296.05, Was #17

Sanders is up in smoke right at the hit and clicked it off.

Left Lane: Clay Millican Runs 3.906/326.87, Now #16; Best prior run: 3.844/327.11, Was #16
Right Lane: Jacob Opatrny Runs 11.406/74.57, Now #22; No Prior Run

Millican is straight down the groove with a clean pass, but will not get off the bump spot.

Opatrny is up in smoke right at the hit and clicked it off.

Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 3.885/316.97, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.797/330.07, Was #10
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.883/323.19, Now #19; Best prior run: 3.920/312.93, Was #20

Brown drops a cylinder around half track, but stays with it. He will not improve and will start no better than the number 10 spot.

Schumacher with a good pass early, but then drops a cylinder and banged the blower with quick fireball. Schumacher will not get in the show. He had qualified for 456 consecutive races, last DQ was Topeka in 2003 (he didn't race all those years).

Left Lane: Justin Ashley Runs 3.824/326.08, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.781/331.12, Was #8
Right Lane: Dan Mercier Runs 4.464/182.70, Now #18; Best prior run: 3.873/314.75, Was #18

Ashley is straight down the groove with a good clean pass, but will not improve.

Mercier starts to haze the tires before half track and clicked it off, he will not get in the show.

Left Lane: Ida Zetterstrom Runs 4.062/230.06, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.778/330.88, Was #7
Right Lane: Will Smith Runs 3.828/325.45, Now #14; Best prior run: 3.841/322.11, Was #15

Zetterstrom launched hard and then with no warning the engine let go with a big fireball. She did a great job getting the car slowed down and in her lane. Ida Zetterstrom was charged with an oildown, #1 for the season. That will cost 5 points.

Smith launched hard and kept it hooked up to make his quickest pass of the weekend. He moves up the ladder one spot.

Left Lane: Jasmine Salinas Runs 3.949/262.44, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.776/329.91, Was #6
Right Lane: T.J. Zizzo Runs 4.252/205.98, Now #15; Best prior run: 3.836/328.62, Was #15

Salinas with a good looking pass early, but starts to spin the tires and drop cylinders before she clicked it off early.

Zizzo had a hole out early and then clicked it off.

Left Lane: Leah Pruett Runs 3.799/322.42, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.772/326.24, Was #5
Right Lane: Maddi Gordon Runs 3.825/332.18, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.818/324.67, Was #13

The five women at Indy equals the most women ever in Top Fuel at a single race. There were five at Dallas in 1997 (although only 1 qualified).

This is seventh time four women have qualified for a Top Fuel field, this is the third time this year.

Pruett launched hard and kept it hooked up to make the quickest pass of the session.

Gordon is straight down the groove with another good looking pass, but will not improve.

Left Lane: Billy Torrence Runs 3.875/323.97, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.767/329.34, Was #4
Right Lane: Josh Hart Runs 3.882/322.96, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.812/323.50, Was #12

Torrence is straight down the groove with another good pass, but will not improve.

Hart kept it hooked up, but will not improve.

Left Lane: Tony Stewart Runs 4.417/182.70, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.744/328.22, Was #2
Right Lane: Tripp Tatum Runs 3.807/321.81, Now #11; Best prior run: 3.805/308.43, Was #11

Stewart started to haze the tires just past half track and clicked it off early.

Tatum kept it hooked up and was straight down the groove. He makes the second quickest pass of the session. Tripp Tatum's incremental times: 60ft-0.866 sec., 330ft-2.180, 660ft-3.065/287.23 mph.

Left Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 3.848/329.75, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.727/334.98, Was #1
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 5.958/115.43, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.746/335.82, Was #3

Langdon is straight down the groove with a good clean pass. He will not improve. He holds on to the number one spot for the sixth time this season and 28th of his career.

Kalitta had a hole out right at the hit and shut it off.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink