Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Sat, 31 Oct 2026, 15:48 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, 26th annual MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge 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:

Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 3.915/316.90, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.966/320.97, Was #11

11:53 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 63 degrees, relative humidity 74 percent, barometer 29.93 inches, adjusted altitude 3,167 feet.

Pedregon lost a cylinder really late in the run but still makes his quickest pass of the weekend and moves up to the seventh spot for now.

Cruz Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.885 sec., 330ft-2.248, 660ft-3.165/280.49 mph.

Left Lane: Spencer Hyde Runs 3.887/328.62, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.901/328.46, Was #4
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 3.871/330.88, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.945/327.03, Was #10

A good side-by-side, both down the groove with their quickest passes of the weekend. Hyde improves but stays in the fourth spot because hagan went around him and moved all the way up to the second spot.

Spencer Hyde's incremental times: 60ft-0.881 sec., 330ft-2.251, 660ft-3.149/284.81 mph.

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.874 sec., 330ft-2.233, 660ft-3.140/286.38 mph.

Left Lane: Jeff Diehl Runs 3.968/317.94, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.173/245.00, Was #16
Right Lane: Julie Nataas Runs 3.938/322.50, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.475/193.27, Was #18

Diehl goes down the groove with his quickest pass this year and moves up to the 13th spot. Nataas runs a career best, her first sub four second run, and she moves up to the 11th spot for now.

Jeff Diehl's incremental times: 60ft-0.895 sec., 330ft-2.288, 660ft-3.212/279.27 mph.

Julie Nataas' incremental times: 60ft-0.901 sec., 330ft-2.284, 660ft-3.196/283.79 mph.

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 3.897/333.25, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.623/211.39, Was #19
Right Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 3.885/333.66, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.874/333.33, Was #3

Capps goes down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend and he gets in the show in the sixth spot. DeJoria makes another good run but doesn't improve.

Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.881 sec., 330ft-2.251, 660ft-3.165/284.03 mph.

Alexis DeJoria's incremental times: 60ft-0.879 sec., 330ft-2.248, 660ft-3.154/285.59 mph.

Left Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 4.109/303.50, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.212/299.40, Was #19
Right Lane: Chad Green Runs 3.905/319.52, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.948/319.45, Was #13

Haddock had a cylinder out at the hit, the car moves to the left early in the run, but he was able to stay on the throttle and improve but not enough to get in the show. Green goes down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend and he moves up to the seventh spot.

Terry Haddock's incremental times: 60ft-0.934 sec., 330ft-2.352, 660ft-3.309/265.90 mph.

Chad Green's incremental times: 60ft-0.874 sec., 330ft-2.247, 660ft-3.153/282.72 mph.

Left Lane: Dave Richards Runs 4.429/202.97, Now #15; Best prior run: 3.979/278.00, Was #15
Right Lane: Jason Rupert Runs 3.998/320.28, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.094/312.93, Was #17

Rupert goes down the groove and gets in the 3's making this the first ever all three second Funny Car field. He gets in the show but is on the bump. Richards has problems and is off of the throttle early.

Jason Rupert's incremental times: 60ft-0.897 sec., 330ft-2.302, 660ft-3.242/275.56 mph.

Left Lane: Austin Prock Runs 3.878/312.71, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.158/240.85, Was #19
Right Lane: Hunter Green Runs 13.643/81.39, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.921/324.75, Was #12

Prock makes a little move to the right near the end of the run and may have been off of the throttle just a tick early but he still runs quick enough to get in the field in the fourth spot. Rupert gets the field into the three's for the first time and then gets bumped out by the very next pair.

Green has problems right off of the line.

Austin Prock's incremental times: 60ft-0.869 sec., 330ft-2.230, 660ft-3.135/286.32 mph.

Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 6.264/107.30, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.070/303.09, Was #18
Right Lane: Paul Lee Runs 3.955/325.37, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.921/327.74, Was #12

Arend had a cylinder out early and backed off of the throttle. Lee went down the groove with another good pass but he doesn't improve.

Paul Lee's incremental times: 60ft-0.880 sec., 330ft-2.274, 660ft-3.207/278.86 mph.

Left Lane: Daniel Wilkerson Runs 4.916/146.45, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.914/328.14, Was #10
Right Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 4.060/251.39, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.889/336.82, Was #6

Wilkerson went on a wild ride on this one. He breaks the tires loose about 500 feet out and the engine explodes in a huge ball of flame. The body doesn't fly off but instead breaks into hundreds of pieces. The ball of flame is visible for at least 400 feet, then the car goes to the left and scrapes the wall, knocking off what was left of the body. Wilkerson did a good job of steering the car away from the wall and finally came to a stop in the shutdown area.

Wilkerson is out of the car quickly and appears to be physically okay,

Todd has traction problems and is off of the throttle early.

Left Lane: Jordan Vandergriff Runs 3.868/327.74, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.909/332.02, Was #9
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 3.846/330.15, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.836/335.32, Was #1

A good side-by-side, both down the groove with the two quickest runs of the session. Vandergriff improves and moves all the way up to the second spot. Beckman doesn't improve but now has the two quickest passes of the weekend.

Beckman will gain three bonus points, Vandergriff two.

Jordan Vandergriff's incremental times: 60ft-0.871 sec., 330ft-2.240, 660ft-3.137/286.68 mph.

Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.869 sec., 330ft-2.225, 660ft-3.115/289.07 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink