Confidence Boosted by Strong Epping Run as RCM Rookie Prepares for Iconic Track Experience

BRISTOL, TN — Maddi Gordon has heard the stories. She’s listened as teammate Ron Capps described the moment the parachutes deploy and the sound of a nitro car echoes through the natural amphitheater of Thunder Valley. This week at Bristol Dragway, she gets to find out for herself.

Gordon will make her Bristol Dragway debut this weekend when she wheels the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster through the SUPERGRIP NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, the ninth event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ 20-race 2026 schedule.

The rookie driver arrives carrying momentum from her best elapsed time of the season. At the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire, Gordon ran a 3.75-second pass in the opening round — second-low elapsed time in the first round — before being eliminated by Leah Pruett in the quarterfinals. She had qualified 10th and defeated Tony Stewart in round one.
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EPPING, NH — Top Fuel rookie Maddi Gordon experienced another first in her young career Sunday at the NHRA New England Nationals presented by bproauto at New England Dragway, pedaling her Carlyle Tools dragster for the first time in competition before falling in the second round to Leah Pruett.

Competing in the eighth of 20 events on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule, Gordon continued to build critical race-day experience while maintaining her No. 6 position in the Top Fuel points standings.

Gordon posted a weekend-best 3.808-second pass at 330.55 mph in Q2 to advance to the No. 10 qualifying spot. In the first round of eliminations, she delivered one of the day’s strongest performances, wheeling the Ron Capps Motorsports entry to a 3.753-second blast at 337.50 mph to defeat 2025 regular season champion Tony Stewart, who smoked the tires.
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EPPING, NH — Maddi Gordon heads to New England Dragway this weekend for her first-ever NHRA New England Nationals appearance, bringing the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster to Epping for Race Eight of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Gordon, a third-generation drag racer making her full-time professional Top Fuel debut in 2026 with Ron Capps Motorsports, has heard plenty about the New England facility and is eager to experience it firsthand.
“This will be my first time racing in Epping, and I’ve heard nothing but great things. I can’t wait to meet some new fans, check out a historic track, and celebrate in true New England style with a lobster team dinner with the local Carlyle Tools folks on Saturday night,” said Gordon. “We’re starting our race weekend with an appearance at Bentley’s Saloon up in Maine tonight, and I’m very much looking forward to that. I know Ron goes up there every year and it always seems like such a blast, so I’m excited I’ll get to be a part of that this year.”
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MECHANICSVILLE, MD – Maddi Gordon continued to gain experience at the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals, where she lost a close opening-round race Sunday morning at Maryland International Raceway. The NHRA Rookie of the Year contender made a string of consistent passes across qualifying and eliminations, giving her confidence in her Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching-tuned Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster as the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series kicked off a stretch of three consecutive races. Gordon held on to her No. 6 position in the Top Fuel points standings.

In the opening qualifying session, Gordon powered to a 3.840-second pass at 330.39 mph to streak to the provisional No. 2 spot, earning two championship bonus points in the process. She improved to a 3.805 E.T. at 332.34 mph in the second session to sit fifth going into Saturday. A consistent 3.808-second pass followed in the third session on Saturday. That performance came with another bonus point, as it was the third-quickest pass of the session. Gordon’s only instance of tire smoke all weekend struck in the final qualifying session, and she ended up No. 6 on the final qualifying order.

Gordon rolled into Sunday eliminations facing No. 11 qualifier Will Smith. The two drivers ran nearly identical passes, with Gordon matching her qualifying performance with a 3.805 E.T. at 330.07 mph, but Smith moved first and won with a 3.802 E.T.
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Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster driver enters Maryland International Raceway on equal footing with veteran competition

MECHANICSVILLE, MD — Maddi Gordon heads into the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals Presented by JEGS at Maryland International Raceway this weekend with extra motivation — not only does she get to introduce a new fanbase to NHRA drag racing, but her entire family will be in attendance as her father competes in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the same event.

Gordon, who pilots the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster for Ron Capps Motorsports, is in her rookie season on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. This weekend marks the second time in 2026 that she will race on equal footing with her more experienced peers, as most drivers and teams will be navigating MIR conditions for the first time.

“I’m so ready to go back racing with my Carlyle Tools team, but this weekend, I’m extra excited because it’s the first time in quite a while that I get to race with my family again,” said Gordon. “My dad will be running in Top Alcohol Funny Car this weekend at MIR, so my whole family will be out there — my mom, my dad, my grandma, my grandpa, my sister, and Jake. It’ll be really nice to have them there.”
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JOLIET, IL – “Maddi Mania” continues to ripple across the country as the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series gets into the thick of its 2026 competition schedule. Top Fuel rookie Maddi Gordon piloted the Carlyle Tools dragster to an impressive qualifying performance, qualifying No. 2 at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK. The energetic young phenom went on to reach a quarterfinal finish (with the first Top Fuel engine that she helped to build) on race day at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

Gordon launched to the top of the timing sheets as qualifying got underway on Friday afternoon. She made the best pass of the session, covering the track in 3.779 seconds at 335.32 mph and securing three valuable bonus points. In the second heat of the day, several Top Fuel competitors knocked Gordon down a few spots and by the time she made her burnout, she was sitting in seventh place. The Carlyle Tools team, led by crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching, answered with a blistering lap of 3.738 at 334.90, the second-fastest pass of the session and another standout performance for the rookie driver.

“Qualifying on Friday was a super good day,” said Gordon. “We were the lowest E.T. of the first session and the second lowest of Q2, which gave us five bonus points, which is great.”
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22-Year-Old Rookie Sensation Looks to Build Momentum at NHRA Route 66 Nationals, May 15-17
BROWNSBURG, Ind. — Maddi Gordon and the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel team head to Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., for the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by PEAK (May 15-17) riding a wave of momentum. The 22-year-old rookie’s debut season has already produced one of the most talked-about milestones in Top Fuel: becoming the second woman ever to break the 340 mph barrier — achieved at the most recent event in Valdosta, Ga.
ROOKIE SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
– Made her professional NHRA Top Fuel debut during the 2026 season with Ron Capps Motorsports
– Became the second woman — and fourth Top Fuel driver overall — to eclipse the 340 mph barrier (Valdosta, Ga., 2026)
– Qualified fourth and advanced to the quarterfinals in Valdosta, defeating Will Smith in Round 1
– Previously became the 100th woman to win an NHRA national event (Top Alcohol Funny Car, 2024)
– Third-generation drag racer
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ADEL, GA – Top Fuel rookie Maddi Gordon’s first trip to South Georgia Motorsports Park for the NHRA Southern Nationals resulted in new career-bests in both elapsed time and speed for the driver of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster. She became only the second woman and fourth Top Fuel driver to eclipse the 340-mph barrier, hitting the mark twice across qualifying and Sunday eliminations. The Ron Capps Motorsports driver closed out the weekend with a quarterfinal exit at the fifth of 20 races on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule and leaves Georgia ranked sixth in the Top Fuel points standings.

Before heading to South Georgia, Gordon joined teammate and team owner Ron Capps for a visit to NAPA headquarters near Atlanta. She also threw out the first pitch at Wednesday night’s Atlanta Braves game versus the Detroit Tigers, adding to the excitement leading up to the NHRA Mission Foods Series’ first visit to South Georgia.

The hype continued when qualifying kicked off on Friday as Gordon powered to the provisional No. 1 spot with her 3.775-second pass at 329.75 mph, earning three championship bonus points for having the quickest run of the first session. Tire smoke followed in the second session, with Gordon settling into the No. 4 position to end the day. Heavy rain on Saturday pushed the remainder of qualifying into the early evening, but it was worth the wait for Gordon, who set new career-best numbers with an impressive blast of 3.748 seconds at 340.05 mph to lock in the No. 4 position for race day.
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ADEL, GA – Maddi Gordon and the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel Dragster team will compete this weekend at the inaugural NHRA Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Event 5 of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.

Gordon, driver of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel Dragster, heads into the May 1-3 event eager to build on her quarterfinal performance from last weekend’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. There, she qualified No. 14 and defeated Clay Millican and Antron Brown before falling in the quarterfinals.

“I’m really happy that after Charlotte we get to get right back at it this weekend,” said Gordon. “I’m going to take the positive energy from Charlotte and bring it into Valdosta. One of the things that I’m most excited about this weekend is the fact that no one has any data there. We go to all the other tracks, and all the other teams already have data; what the rubber is like, whether it’s a slow or fast track, what the shutdown area is like, all of that. This weekend, we’re all going in with the same amount of data, and that’s zero, so the fact that we’re all going to be figuring this track out together evens the playing field a bit.
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Concord, NC – NHRA Rookie of the Year contender Maddi Gordon continued her steady progression in Top Fuel competition Sunday at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, advancing to the semifinal quad in the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster for Ron Capps Motorsports. Though it was Gordon’s four-wide debut in the pro ranks, she brought experience as a past four-wide winner in Top Alcohol Funny Car, using that edge to cut her career-best race day reaction time at the fourth of 20 races on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour.

Before on-track action began on Friday, Gordon, team owner and teammate Ron Capps, and the RCM team helped the NAPA Apprenticeship Program recognize its 2025 graduates in a trackside presentation. The program seeks to address the shortage of technicians around the nation by removing barriers and offering students alternative pathways into the industry. Participants have the opportunity to earn a living while earning up to four ASE Certifications through academic and hands-on instruction at participating NAPA Auto Care Centers.

Gordon, who won the 2025 NHRA Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals in Top Alcohol Funny Car just days after being announced as the driver of the new Ron Capps Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, made incremental improvements in each qualifying session. She opened qualifying with a 3.862-second pass at 325.22 mph in the heat of the day, good for the provisional No. 7 spot. She followed with a 3.828 E.T. at 326.32 mph in Q2 to end Friday in the No. 13 position. Saturday qualifying kicked off with a 3.885 E.T. before crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching tuned Gordon to her best effort in the final session with a 3.825 E.T. at 324.67 mph.
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