Jordan Vandergriff and John Force Racing’s Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team earned its sixth final-round appearance of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season at the NHRA Midwest Nationals, but fell just short of notching their fourth win as Vandergriff ran 3.926 seconds at 325.37 mph to Austin Prock’s run of 3.909 seconds at 332.84 mph.
Jack Beckman lost in a tough semifinal matchup, Alexis DeJoria went out in round two, and Josh Hart bowed out in the opening round.
Vandergriff beat Cruz Pedregon in the first round, running 3.896 seconds at 324.51 mph to Pedregon’s 6.921 seconds at 96.41 mph. In round two, the Cornwell Tools team faced DeJoria, who red-lighted (-.036) while the Cornwell Tools Chevy ran 3.952 seconds at 327.59 mph. In the semifinal matchup against Matt Hagan, the Cornwell Tools Chevy took the win with a run of 3.939 seconds at 327.82 mph to Hagan’s tire-smoking 6.158-second run, setting up the final round against Prock.
“Overall, it was a great day for this Cornwell Quality Tools Funny Car,” said Vandergriff. “We performed well in qualifying and were happy with where we were coming into race day. We made four solid runs, three of them in the left lane, which seemed to be tricky for a lot of the competitors, and took out the points leader in Matt Hagan. Going to the final was huge and I think we’re right where we should be in this chase for the championship.”
The Cornwell Tools team has earned wins this season at Valdosta, Sonoma, and Martin and runner-up finishes at Epping, Brainerd and St. Louis.
Beckman set low ET of the meet in his round one win over Dale Creasy Jr., running 3.864 seconds at 332.84 mph to Creasy’s 4.221 seconds at 261.37 mph. The PEAK Chevy took the round two win with a run of 3.870 seconds at 331.28 mph to Daniel Wilkerson’s tire-smoking effort. In the semifinal, Beckman ran a quicker 3.903 seconds, but lost to Prock’s 3.906-second pass on a holeshot.
“Today was a great opportunity to make up ground on Matt Hagan when our teammate, Jordan Vandergriff, took him out in the semi’s, but then we get beat by Austin Prock,” said Beckman. “Both of us ran 3.90 and history’s going to show it as a holeshot loss. I think Austin reacted a little bit better and I think their car probably outran us by a couple of thousands. It’s a gut punch but we’ll take a week off, get everything serviced and head to Dallas. We don’t need any more motivation. We have the best car and the best crew. I just need to be the best driver in Dallas.”
DeJoria earned the first-round victory over Bobby Bode, running 3.874 seconds at 329.91 mph to Bode’s 4.667 seconds at 175.27 mph, giving the Bandero Café team lane choice in the second round matchup against Vandergriff.
“I’ve never felt so confident about a race weekend as I was about this one,” said DeJoria. “We have such a great Bandero Café Chevy and we showed that by earning the most bonus points in qualifying, which always matters during the Countdown. We’ve always been consistent, but now we’re fast, too. We’re getting down to the wire with only three races left so we’ll use it as motivation for the rest of the season.”
As the No. 6 qualifier, Hart had lane choice over No. 11 qualifier Tony Stewart and lined up the Speedmaster Top Fuel dragster in the right lane. Both cars smoked the tires almost immediately and both drivers pedaled their throttle pedals, but the Speedmaster car was never able to find traction. Stewart took the win with a run of 5.3232 seconds at 229.24 mph to Hart’s 7.912 seconds at seconds at 93.86 mph.
“You want to align yourself with people you can trust in the hard times,” said Hart. “That is where you get to see what everyone’s real colors are and how they handle the pressure. Rid yourself of the ones that jump ship or go for the bigger, better deal. This process will only make the good times so much better because the ones still standing with you deserve to be there.”
The 18th of 20 races on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the Oct. 16-18 Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.
This story was originally published on October 5, 2026.
The post Jordan Vandergriff Takes Runner-Up In Funny Car at NHRA Midwest Nationals first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
