In only her second outing in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Top Fuel rookie Maddi Gordon clinched the provisional No. 1 qualifier position today at the FMP NHRA Arizona Nationals presented by NGK Spark Plugs. The relentless Arizona heat created challenges, but the spirited young Ron Capps Motorsports driver rose to the occasion, making the first sub-four-second run of the weekend in the highly competitive Top Fuel field.
Gordon’s Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster, tuned by crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching, powered to the top of Friday’s qualifying sheet with a blistering pass of 3.844 seconds at 329.42 mph. If today’s pass holds through tomorrow, it will be the first No. 1 qualifier of Gordon’s professional career, which began two weeks ago in Gainesville, Florida, when she raced to a semifinal finish in her Top Fuel debut at the historic NHRA Gatornationals.
“I’m always excited when it comes to racing,” remarked Gordon. “I went into the weekend feeling confident in our team, and Rob and Troy. Especially in the hot weather. We started earlier than usual but we’ve got plenty of Monster Energy on hand, so that wasn’t a problem. We’ve made really good, consistent runs in the heat. So I was actually quite excited that it was going to be hot. To go out that first pass and not only make it from A to B but to make the only sub-four-second run of that session was such a big confidence booster for all of us.”
Gordon is quickly becoming a fan favorite thanks to her uncanny ability to describe her runs. In the second heat of the day, she ran into tire smoke, offering her an opportunity to learn more about the nuances of operating a 12,000-horsepower dragster.
“In the second pass, it actually started to spin the tire and it just barely started smoking. It wasn’t aggressive tire smoke so I wasn’t sure if it was me or the race car. But when we went back and looked at the data, Rob and Troy were very happy with how I handled it, so that gave me a lot of confidence as a driver. Overall, today was an amazing day. Tomorrow is going to be just as hot. We’re hoping it holds because getting a No. 1 qualifier would be huge. It will be tough. There are a lot of good cars out here that can run fast. We’re just going to keep truckin’.”
When qualifying continues tomorrow morning, Gordon will pull double duty as she competes in the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season. The NHRA Rookie of the Year contender earned her spot in the race-within-a-race when she reached the semifinals in her debut.
This story was originally published on March 21, 2026. 
