PEAK Motorsports Update- June 1, 2026

NHRA: NHRA Potomac Nationals

Presented by JEGS- Mechanicsville, MD

Monday, June 1, 2026: 

Jack Beckman and the PEAK Squad qualified number one in Funny Car for the second consecutive event but came up short in the final round of the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals at Maryland International Raceway.
 
Jordan Vandergriff and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team rebounded from their first-round exit two weeks ago at Chicago with a semifinal finish against Beckman. Josh Hart and Alexis DeJoria, who both qualified seventh in Top Fuel and Funny Car respectively, were eliminated in the first round.

Beckman earned his 35th number one qualifier Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd and set low elapsed time of the event in Sunday’s semifinals (3.923 seconds). But out of nowhere in the finals, Austin Prock ran his best run of the weekend at 3.958 seconds at 324.20 mph, which was enough for the win over Beckman’s 3.971 seconds at 323.50 mph.

The runner-up finish was Beckman’s 78th career Funny Car final round appearance (10th for John Force Racing) and second final round appearance this season after finishing runner-up at the 4-Wide Nationals at Charlotte. It was John Force Racing’s sixth final round appearance of the season. In addition to Beckman’s pair, Hart won at the season-opener in Gainesville, Vandergriff earned his career first Funny Car event win at South Georgia, and Alexis DeJoria finished runner-up at both Gainesville and Chicago.

In route to the finals, Beckman dispatched number 16 qualifier Joe Morrison in the opening round, then series point leader J.R. Todd in Round 2, setting up the semifinal showdown with teammate Jordan Vandergriff. In the semifinals, Vandergriff had lane choice, but Beckman grabbed the holeshot (0.076 to 0.081) and never looked back, running 3.923 seconds at 328.22 mph to Vandergriff’s 4.122 seconds at 250.83 mph.

Alexis DeJoria was the number seven qualifier in Funny Car, giving her lane choice in Round 1 against Ron Capps. She ran the sixth-quickest run of the round, 4.009 seconds at 326.56 mph, but wasn’t enough to get around the fifth-quickest run of the round, Capps’ 4.001 seconds at 321.12 mph.

In Top Fuel, Josh Hart lined up against Clay Millican in the opening round. They left just four-thousandths-of-a-second apart (Hart’s .065 to Millican’s .061) and Hart was just ahead past halftrack before his dragster lost traction and spun the tires. Hart slowed to a run of 4.026 seconds at 268.92 mph to Millican’s 3.823 seconds at 330.39 mph.

The eighth of 20 races of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is the June 5-7 New England Nationals presented by bproauto at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.