Ron Capps
Maddi Gordon
Team NAPA
Team Carlyle
RCM Staff
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Sept. 5, 2026) – Ron Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team entered the final race of NHRA’s regular season ready to contend for a third U.S. Nationals trophy and reclaim the Funny Car points lead Capps held through the majority of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. After three qualifying sessions at Indianapolis Raceway Park, the three-time world champion is firmly in the hunt for both.
Capps arrived in Indianapolis just 12 points behind Funny Car leader Matt Hagan after carrying the points lead through nine of the first 13 events thanks to his three wins in four final rounds. With points-and-a-half on the line, Capps and his Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli-led team knew every qualifying point would be critical as they pursued the regular-season championship.
Driving a special-edition Carlyle Tools paint scheme, Capps opened qualifying Friday evening with a 3.938-second effort to earn three bonus points and secure the provisional No. 2 position. He followed with a 4.003 on Saturday afternoon, which stood as the quickest run of the second session and added four more bonus points to his weekend total. After waiting out a rain delay, Capps powered the venom green Carlyle machine to a stout 3.914-second pass at 332.18 mph during Saturday’s third qualifying session, moving to the top of the loaded 23-car field. He earned another four valuable bonus points for his efforts, bringing his total to 11 through the first three sessions and significantly narrowing the gap between him and Hagan.
“Obviously, we didn’t want to see the weather come in and cause that delay for the fans with the rain and lightning, but once we got back on track, it was quick,” said Capps, an 80-time race winner. “You’ve got to hand it to Safety Safari and NHRA, they made both of those lanes here at I.R.P. fantastic; it was the best round of racing we’ve seen all weekend. We saw Alexis (DeJoria) have an issue right in front of us, which gave the track time to cool off even more. Guido was in the box quite a few times, and when I got to about half track and the clutch locked up and it threw me in the trunk, I got on the radio and said ‘Mamma mia!’ When you have a crew chief named Guido, you have to say Mamma mia. It was a great call and a great job by the Carlyle Tools/NAPA Auto Care team. We know tomorrow is going to cool off a bit and the water grains will come down, and I think we’ll see a lot quicker runs. The plan coming in here was to gain those little bonus points in qualifying and so far, we’ve executed that. It’s going to be fun tomorrow.”
With two more qualifying sessions and the Funny Car All-Star Callout on Sunday’s schedule, Capps and the Carlyle/NAPA team have a busy day of racing ahead before making a run for the U.S. Nationals trophy on Monday. Earlier Saturday, Capps selected Alexis DeJoria as his first-round opponent in the specialty race, which he won in 2022 before going on to be crowned the overall event champion.
“The Callout has everyone’s attention and neck hairs standing on end. We got a tough one with Alexis. They’ve been running great all year over at JFR. We always look forward to Sunday at the U.S. Nationals. Sundays at Indy were always the Big Bud Shootout and now we have the Callout. The adrenaline will be flowing tomorrow. There’s a lot of nervous drivers, but that’s what we get up for and we’re looking forward to having a long day tomorrow.”
If he can maintain his spot at the top of the field, Capps, a two-time U.S. Nationals winner, will secure his 40th career No. 1 qualifier and second of the season. Qualifying for the NHRA U.S. Nationals resumes at noon ET.