Maddi Gordon made history at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, becoming the first Top Fuel driver to break the 340-mph barrier at the facility before raising the track speed record to 340.82 mph on race day. The rookie driver of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster qualified seventh and lined up against four-time world champion Antron Brown in a rematch of their final-round meeting at Dallas two weeks earlier. Despite recording the quickest and fastest pass of her career, Gordon came up just short in a close first-round battle at the penultimate race of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Gordon will head to the season finale in Pomona ranked sixth in the Top Fuel points standings.
Gordon kicked off Friday qualifying in a big way with the first 340 mph run in track history and the fourth-quickest pass of the session, a 3.724-second blast at 340.56 mph. She went up in smoke immediately in the second session, but rebounded with a 3.716 E.T. at 335.65 mph in the third round on Saturday. Tire smoke around the half-track mark followed in the final qualifying session, with Gordon ending up No. 7 on the final qualifying sheet.
The first round of eliminations saw Gordon line up against Antron Brown for the second time in as many races after facing the four-time world champion in her third career final round in Dallas. Gordon set another track speed record and set new career-best numbers for both E.T. and speed, a 3.693 E.T. at 340.82 mph, but came up just short to Brown, who got a slight starting line advantage and finished first with a 3.690 E.T. Gordon also went 300 mph to the eighth-mile mark for the first time, posting a 300.93 mph eighth-mile speed.
“We have a great car, we have a great team, and we sure would’ve loved to get that round win, but that’s one of those rounds where you really can’t hang your head,” said Gordon, who won the 2025 Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip driving her family’s Top Alcohol Funny Car. “It was a good drag race and we just ended up on the wrong side of it. We ran our best E.T. of the entire year, we reset the track record, we ran our best speed, we ran our best speed to the eighth mile, and so that was just amazing. Running 300 mph to the eighth – almost 301 mph – was huge. That’s been something we’ve been searching for all year long. We’re really trying to get that car moving early, and it’s really showing progress. Definitely bummed to go out first round, but there are so many positives we can take from this weekend.”
Gordon will wrap up her Top Fuel rookie season with Ron Capps Motorsports and the Carlyle Tools team at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, Nov. 13-15, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif.
