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Ron Capps Motorsports Post-Race Recap: Las Vegas

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NHRA Las Vegas Nationals
Event 19 of 20
Countdown Event 5 of 6
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas
Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, 2026

Ron Capps Drives NAPA Auto Care Funny Car to Runner-Up Finish in Las Vegas

By: Ron Capps Motorsports (Photos Courtesy Ron Capps Motorsports)

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 1, 2026) – Racing in front of a full house of NAPA Auto Parts guests, three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps powered to his fifth final-round appearance of the season Sunday at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. After a challenging start to qualifying, Capps and his Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli-led NAPA Auto Care team rallied to qualify eighth in the first all-three-second Funny Car field in NHRA history. Capps then defeated Cruz Pedregon, No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman, and reigning world champion Austin Prock to reach the final round, where he came up just short against Jordan Vandergriff. The runner-up finish gave Capps and his team valuable momentum and a sixth-place position in the Mission Foods Funny Car championship standings heading into the season-ending NHRA Finals at Pomona.

The weekend began with Capps encountering traction issues in both Friday qualifying sessions placing him on the outside of the 16-car field. The threat of potential rain in Saturday’s forecast added to the pressure, but Mother Nature cooperated and in the historic third qualifying session, Capps and crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli threw down a 3.897-second pass at 333.25 mph to move into the top half of NHRA’s fastest Funny Car field. Capps drove into issues in the final session and ultimately settled into the No. 8 position to start race day.

Funny Car eliminations kicked off with a matchup between two of the most seasoned drivers in the class, with Capps facing off against Cruz Pedregon. In the drivers’ 89th meeting, they launched together before Capps powered to a 3.899 E.T. at 332.18 mph to get the win over Pedregon’s 3.935 E.T. Capps then stepped up with the quickest pass of the second round, a 3.874 E.T. at 336.82 mph, to hold off Jack Beckman and his 3.893 E.T. Capps got a slight starting line advantage over two-time and reigning world champion Austin Prock in the semifinals, and when both drivers lost traction, it was Capps who recovered quick enough to reach the finish line first. The six-time winner at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway went into the finals with a 2 – 0 head-to-head record over Countdown-challenger Jordan Vandergriff. Capps moved first and charged hard to a 3.921-second pass at 335.15 mph, but Vandergriff crossed the finish line stripe first with a 3.873 E.T.

“You get to a final round this late in the season and you’re pretty upset about losing it, but all in all, such a great day,” said Capps, who earned his first of 12 wins as an NHRA team owner at the 2022 Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. “We had some of the top executives from NAPA headquarters in Atlanta today, and we had some great guests that run UAP, which is NAPA Auto Parts in Canada. Such a great group of people on both sides, and a lot of them had never been to a drag race, so that was really cool for them to be here. They stayed here all day and through the final round, so it means a ton to have a day like we had. Katherine (Wooten, Director of Partnership Strategy & Activation, NAPA Auto Parts) and that whole group really took a chance when I decided I wanted to put Maddi (Gordon) in a car and they all trusted my judgment. It was really cool for them to be here today to watch Maddi go 340 and watch our day unfold.”

Capps will finish out the season in two weeks at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, Nov. 13-15, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif.

Qualified: No. 8 (3.897 E.T. at 333.25 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.899 E.T. at 332.18 MPH defeated Cruz Pedregon 3.935 E.T. at 322.58 MPH
E2: 3.874 E.T. at 336.82 MPH defeated Jack Beckman 3.893 E.T. at 317.42 MPH
E3: 4.430 E.T. at 269.24 MPH defeated Austin Prock 4.667 E.T. at 284.62 MPH
E4: 3.921 E.T. at 335.15 MPH defeated by Jordan Vandergriff 3.873 E.T. at 331.36 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):

1Matt Hagan2563
2Jordan Vandergriff2524
3J.R. Todd2459
4Austin Prock2422
5Jack Beckman2412
6Ron Capps2408
7Alexis DeJoria2314
8Dan Wilkerson2239
9Spencer Hyde2204
10Chad Green2187
11Cruz Pedregon2154
12Dave Richards2148
Executives from NAPA headquarters and UAP joined the Ron Capps Motorsports team Sunday at the Nevada Nationals

Maddi Gordon Sets New Career-Best Numbers, Track Speed Record at NHRA Las Vegas Nationals

Maddi Gordon made history at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, becoming the first Top Fuel driver to break the 340-mph barrier at the facility before raising the track speed record to 340.82 mph on race day. The rookie driver of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster qualified seventh and lined up against four-time world champion Antron Brown in a rematch of their final-round meeting at Dallas two weeks earlier. Despite recording the quickest and fastest pass of her career, Gordon came up just short in a close first-round battle at the penultimate race of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Gordon will head to the season finale in Pomona ranked sixth in the Top Fuel points standings.

Gordon kicked off Friday qualifying in a big way with the first 340 mph run in track history and the fourth-quickest pass of the session, a 3.724-second blast at 340.56 mph. She went up in smoke immediately in the second session, but rebounded with a 3.716 E.T. at 335.65 mph in the third round on Saturday. Tire smoke around the half-track mark followed in the final qualifying session, with Gordon ending up No. 7 on the final qualifying sheet.

The first round of eliminations saw Gordon line up against Antron Brown for the second time in as many races after facing the four-time world champion in her third career final round in Dallas. Gordon set another track speed record and set new career-best numbers for both E.T. and speed, a 3.693 E.T. at 340.82 mph, but came up just short to Brown, who got a slight starting line advantage and finished first with a 3.690 E.T. Gordon also went 300 mph to the eighth-mile mark for the first time, posting a 300.93 mph eighth-mile speed.

“We have a great car, we have a great team, and we sure would’ve loved to get that round win, but that’s one of those rounds where you really can’t hang your head,” said Gordon, who won the 2025 Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip driving her family’s Top Alcohol Funny Car. “It was a good drag race and we just ended up on the wrong side of it. We ran our best E.T. of the entire year, we reset the track record, we ran our best speed, we ran our best speed to the eighth mile, and so that was just amazing. Running 300 mph to the eighth – almost 301 mph – was huge. That’s been something we’ve been searching for all year long. We’re really trying to get that car moving early, and it’s really showing progress. Definitely bummed to go out first round, but there are so many positives we can take from this weekend.”

Gordon will wrap up her Top Fuel rookie season with Ron Capps Motorsports and the Carlyle Tools team at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, Nov. 13-15, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif.

Qualified: No. 7 (3.716 E.T. at 335.65 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.693 E.T. at 340.82 MPH defeated by Antron Brown 3.690 E.T. at 336.74 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):

1Shawn Langdon2630
2Doug Kalitta2523
3Antron Brown2394
4Leah Pruett2379
5Tony Stewart2359
6Maddi Gordon2293
6Will Smith2293
8Justin Ashley2278
9Josh Hart2254
10Billy Torrence2250
11Clay Millican2188
12Tony Schumacher2140