The approach worked well at the Las Vegas Nationals, where Pratt drove the Corvette roadster owned by Jesse and Kelli Smith to five round wins in order to earn a bye to the fourth national event final of his career and second of the season. With a string of respectable reaction times and well-played decisions at the finish line, he was set to race for the NHRA 75th Anniversary Diamond Wally against Nick Alejandre, who had won the event in Super Street in 2021. Racing friends coming in clutch<\/strong><\/p>\n Reaching the Las Vegas Nationals final would have been far less likely, if not impossible, if not for car owner Jesse Smith and the fellow racers who stepped up following a potentially race-ending situation in Dallas. Rallying the troops<\/strong><\/p>\n The season is quickly coming to a close, and Pratt is not driving through these final days solo. Fianc\u00e9e Maggie Bentley is on property as crew chief and for support, and Jesse and Kelli Smith are set to arrive in Las Vegas before the division race elimination rounds to cheer on their driver. This story was originally published on November 6, 2026. The post After Reaching Final Round at NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, Super Gas Championship Hunter Jordan Pratt Turns Attention to Last Divisional of the Season<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The dramatic Monday finish to the 26th annual Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals left Super Gas front-runner Jordan Pratt with a sense of confidence marked by steady determination. The second-generation racer made the journey out West to charge hard for the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series world title, and with the first of the final […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Mother Nature had a say in the course of events, however, and when the final round was pushed into the evening on Sunday, incredible winds and cooling temperatures created conditions completely unfit for racing. With safety in mind, the finals were delayed until Monday morning, and the day dawned bright and sunny, warm, and nearly windless. The stunning swing of conditions was a challenge in itself, but both drivers were ready.
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Pratt launched first with a cool .013-second reaction time to his opponent\u2019s .024, and he nearly nailed the number at the stripe but broke out by .006-second. Alejandre got the nod on a 10.066 on the 10.05 adjusted index.
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\u201cI felt good because we typically race in the morning, so it was our normal routine,\u201d Pratt explained. \u201cI went up there thinking I would make a good run, and I did \u2014 really just fell on the wrong side of a close race. The car was going a tick faster than I thought, and in addition to that, I missed my execution a little bit at the finish line. My opponent executed great, he was decent on the tree, had his car close, and then dropped me at the finish line. He made a good run and deserved to win.
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\u201cI made a competitive run, and I still have confidence going forward. The car is working great, and I have a good handle on it going into the divisional.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Pratt-2.jpg\")
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\u201cWe hurt the motor in the roadster on the first qualifying run, and Jesse had a spare motor that had just been repaired but it was all the way back home in Wisconsin,\u201d recalled Pratt. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have time to get it, and we were both disappointed because we knew every race counted. At that point, I assumed we were done for the weekend in Dallas.\u201d
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But at the end of their phone call, Smith asked Pratt if there was anyone there who would consider either letting them borrow an engine or sell them one. Stunned by the generous thought, Pratt spoke to friend and This Is Bracket Racing Elite instructor Justin Lamb, who immediately told him to come by his trailer.
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\u201cHe opened the door, and there was a practically brand-new motor sitting there that was Dylan Hough\u2019s spare Super Comp motor,\u201d said Pratt. \u201cJustin and Dylan were so helpful, they wanted to see me race and worked out a deal with Jesse. I told Jesse, \u2018You\u2019re a crazy man, but you\u2019re a good man.\u2019 He\u2019s sacrificed a lot for me to race this car this year, and we\u2019ve had so many different challenges.
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\u201cWithin an hour\u2019s time, we had the old motor ready to come out. We wheeled it over to Dylan\u2019s trailer, and his whole crew and a couple of guys from Scoggin Dickey\u2019s race shop helped me pull it. I\u2019ve never seen something so well-orchestrated. It was like a NASCAR pit stop. I finished buttoning up the new engine around midnight, and we made the time trial the next day.\u201d
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Although Pratt did not emerge from the first round in Dallas, he had two good runs on the new combination before getting to Las Vegas, and that proved instrumental.
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\u201cWe knew everything worked,\u201d said Pratt. \u201cHad Jesse not done that, had Justin and Dylan not helped out, it isn\u2019t likely that I would have made the final at the Las Vegas national. Even if we would have shipped the new engine here, we would have been scrambling to put it in before the race and would have been making time trials with a new engine. The decision to get this one from Justin and Dylan in Dallas, while it was crazy, was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Bob, Pratt\u2019s father, is also proudly watching his son chase a dream shared by many racers but achieved by only a select few. He\u2019s been by his son\u2019s side from the beginning, through the Jr. drag racing days, the step up to a big car, division titles, and now chasing the world.
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\u201cThis season has just been so unbelievable,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we picked up the car back in March, [Jesse and Kelli] said, \u2018Take this car and go win the world championship.\u2019 Things just fell into place to get us here. We struggled with multiple engine problems, but it didn\u2019t slow anything down, we just kept moving through it. Whatever happens, this year has been a mega success.\u201d
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The younger Pratt extended further words of gratitude to his family, Corey and Maranna Bentley, Chris Bishop, John Gosh, Luke Bogacki, Justin Lamb, and the This Is Bracket Racing ELITE community.
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Follow Jordan Pratt on social media: Facebook.com\/nitro5131<\/p>\n![\"Drag](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DI_flat_red-e1711481551475.png\")
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