Every team in the John Force Racing camp heads to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with something to chase this weekend. For Jordan Vandergriff, it’s a Funny Car championship. For Jack Beckman, it’s a milestone 40th career win at the track where his pro career took off 20 years ago. Alexis DeJoria wants to cap her first season with the team in the winner’s circle, and Josh Hart is looking to climb the Top Fuel standings over the final two races.
The NHRA Las Vegas Nationals run Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, the next-to-last stop of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, ahead of the points-and-a-half finale.
Jordan Vandergriff: Win and Let the Cards Fall
Vandergriff and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team know exactly where they stand. The Southern California native is second in the Funny Car points, 98 behind leader Matt Hagan, with two races left. With eight elimination rounds still available and points-and-a-half awarded at the season finale, the plan is to win all eight rounds and let everything else sort itself out.
“The simple plan is to win. If we win, the points will take care of itself. We find ourselves in second place. If we do our job and win, we will hopefully be holding that big trophy at the end of the year and make it three in a row for Cornwell Quality Tools.”
Just a few weeks ago, the Funny Car standings were bunched tightly behind the leader. Now, Vandergriff says the title fight has narrowed to a two-man battle in his mind.
“If you asked me that question before Dallas, I would have said at least a little bit because we were all a little crunched up. Now that we have two races left, I find myself still in second place with one man to chase, Matt Hagan. I really couldn’t care less who’s in third, fourth, and fifth. It’s really just us versus Hagan. That’s the way I’m approaching it. So, yeah, I’m not paying attention to anybody behind us, just the one man in front of us.”
Jack Beckman: 20 Years Since His First Funny Car Win in Las Vegas
Thursday, Oct. 29, marks 20 years since Jack Beckman beat Tommy Johnson Jr. at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to earn his first NHRA Funny Car victory in his very first final round appearance. Two decades later, that win total sits at 39, and Beckman and his John Force Racing PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car team now have a shot at reaching 40 at the very place it all started.
Beckman still remembers the details of that 2006 win, and how much of the approach he used that day still holds up.
“Las Vegas used to give us two shots a year, and I won a lot of Sportsman races there over the years. But when I won my pro race there, I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve got something going with this track.’ It has been mighty greedy over the last 19 years. What I remember most about that 2006 win is that I raced with the same philosophy that I do now. In the semifinal, I rolled as shallow as I could, got the win, and then I watched Tommy Johnson beat Eric Medlen in the other semifinal. We had lane choice in the final round, and it made a difference in the outcome. So, it’s validating to know that 20 years later, I’m still using the same philosophy. It was nighttime when we ran the final round, and we had an all-carbon-fiber body with sponsor decals but no paint on it. It just looked menacing, and it ran that way. I was so fortunate when I came into the Funny Car class. I’ve always driven for top-flight crews, crew chiefs, and car owners, and man, did that feel good.”
Beckman is realistic about the championship picture, but says the PEAK SQUAD’s intensity won’t change over the final two races, especially with a second-place finish in the standings still possible.
“Barring a miracle, we’re not going to win the championship. But the wonderful thing about drag racing is our season’s not over. We still have 10% of it left. We have two races and just as much incentive to win those races, as if we were contending for the championship. We can certainly still finish second in the championship. Our goal is the same. We’re still going to treat qualifying like all the bonus points matter because even if it doesn’t get us first place, maybe it’s a bonus point that gets us to second place. We’ll treat everything the exact same way. People may say the pressure is off, but it’s not because it’s the same level of pressure to win every single race.”
Alexis DeJoria: Chasing a Win in Her First Season With John Force Racing
Las Vegas has been good to Alexis DeJoria. Two of her six career NHRA Funny Car event wins came at The Strip, in the spring races of 2014 and 2016. She and her Bandero Chevrolet SS Funny Car team arrive with one goal left for their first season at John Force Racing: an event win.
The pieces are there. DeJoria has qualified in the top half of the ladder for the past 12 races and in 14 of 18 events overall this season. While her championship hopes are done, a strong finish could still deliver one of the best points results of her career.
“In the first year with a new team, the goal is to finish well. We still have two chances left to get wins despite our championship hopes being done for this season. That said, we can still do well enough in the points to be one of my best championship points finishes, possibly my best ever. I’ve had a good first year with John Force Racing. I’ve learned and grown a lot individually, as has the Bandero team overall. I’m very proud of this entire group and grateful for the rare opportunity to join the John Force family of drivers.”
“Our goals these last two races will be to get a win, maybe even two. We’ve put in the work and had great qualifying results, so we just need a couple breaks to go our way on Sunday.”
Josh Hart: Consistency the Key to a Top Fuel Points Climb
Josh Hart and the SPEEDMASTER Top Fuel team will be the first to say 2026 hasn’t gone the way they wanted. But the Top Fuel standings are packed tightly enough that a strong finish could produce a big jump. Hart is currently 10th, just one point out of ninth, 30 out of eighth, 63 out of seventh, 64 out of sixth, and 84 out of fifth.
The focus for the final two races is running quick, fast, and consistent every time down the track instead of trying to knock it out of the park. That consistency is what the team believes will get it back to the winner’s circle, where Hart started his season at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.
“We’re working really, really hard to develop some consistency and reliability in our program. We tried a lot of things at the last race. Some worked, and some didn’t. But we all realize that when the chips are down, we need to be consistent and not swing for the fences every time. I believe we’re all aligned on that, and I hope we’ll see that in the results at Las Vegas. We all realize that talk is cheap, so now we need to prove it.”
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