NHRA Rookie of the Year contender Maddi Gordon delivered an impressive qualifying performance at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals, posting a new personal-best mile-per-hour while temporarily resetting the World Wide Technology Raceway speed record when she broke the 340 mph barrier for the second time in her burgeoning career. Although she made an uncharacteristically early exit in eliminations on Sunday morning, the talented young Top Fuel pilot is maintaining her signature positivity and enthusiasm.
For the first and only time this season, Gordon’s Top Fuel dragster carried a special livery, matching that of her team owner Ron Capps’ NAPA Auto Care Funny Car, to commemorate NAPA’s title sponsorship of the event.
Gordon started qualifying on Friday with a powerful pass behind the wheel of her NAPA Auto Care dragster, crossing the stripe in 3.757 seconds at 332.67 mph. She lit up the sky on Friday evening as she piloted her 12,000-horsepower machine to an even better pass of 3.708 at 335.90.
Before qualifying resumed on Saturday morning, multi-time NASCAR winner and former FOX NASCAR reporter Kenny Wallace climbed into Gordon’s Top Fuel dragster to go through a nitro warm-up for the first time. Wallace referred to the experience as one of the coolest things he’s ever done.
On Saturday, in front of a sellout crowd at World Wide Technology Raceway, Gordon’s crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching tuned the NAPA Auto Care dragster to another stunning run of 3.738 at 340.65, exceeding the track speed record previously held by Brittany Force as well as Gordon’s previous personal best of 340.22 mph. The final qualifying session went up in smoke for Gordon, but her Friday evening pass solidly placed her on the top half of the ladder to start race day from the No. 3 position.
In eliminations on Sunday, Gordon faced No. 14 qualifier Will Smith in the first round. 91.51% of Drag Racing Bracket Bonanza players picked Gordon to win over Smith in the first round. The pair left within five-thousandths of a second of each other, but Gordon ran into tire smoke and Smith got the early round win.
“We are definitely pretty bummed, leaving St. Louis at the end of three races in a row,” said Gordon. “This is such an important race because it’s our sponsor’s race and the only time that we will have a NAPA scheme on the race car. Every time we get to the line, I believe we have a shot to win, no matter who we’re racing. I felt like we definitely had a shot there. The way we were set up, we felt comfortable, but we just didn’t make it. Our car showed some great potential on the back half. We have great speed. We’ve just got to figure out how to make power earlier in the run. We have an amazing team. I know Rob and Troy are going to spend the next two weeks digesting every run and making sure we are as ready as we can be for Dallas.
“We had a lot of great folks out here with guests from NAPA, Carlyle Tools, TERREPOWER, and Monster Energy. We’ve had big lines at all of our autograph signings. The car looked great; I got to coach Kenny Wallace through a Top Fuel warm-up, and we qualified really well. So there are some positives we can take from this race. As a driver, I will look at the positives and negatives so I can learn from this. And I know our team will do the exact same. We will be ready as we ever have been for Dallas.”
Gordon will continue her Rookie of the Year campaign when the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action at the Texas NHRA FallNationals, Oct. 16-18, at Texas Motorplex, just outside of Dallas. The event marks the fourth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship.
This story was originally published on October 6, 2026. 
