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Ron Capps Hopes Season Comes Full Circle In Inaugural NHRA Nationals At The Rock

by Hunter Thomas September 23, 2026 0 comments

ROCKINGHAM, NC – The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series will be heading to Rockingham Dragway this weekend for the first time since 1998, and Funny Car driver, Ron Capps, is hoping the weekend will come full circle as he looks to stay in the championship hunt.

In the opening race of the Countdown to the Championship at US 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan, Capps only made it to the quarterfinals, losing to Jack Beckham after an issue on the track. He dropped from second in the standings to fourth; however, on a high note, he clocked a career-best speed in the opening round of Eliminations as he soared to 339.37 mph, ousting Chad Green.

“It’s funny how time flies and if you paid attention to any of the talk with the drivers and the teams whenever we spoke about the NHRA playoffs, we all discussed how quickly things can happen with a three-in-a-row to start the Countdown to the Championship,” Capps said. “We saw everything thrown at us at our first race in Michigan, but low and behold, here we are coming up on the second of three.”

Now, Capps is looking ahead to Rockingham Dragway, a track he has traveled down before, albeit the last time was back in 1998. The Toyota Racing driver is hoping everything will come full circle in Richmond County. He currently sits 63 points back in the standings. While that’s not a huge deficit heading into Race No. 2 of the Countdown to the Championship, it is one that needs cutting into if he wants to be a serious threat for the title.

“We’re headed out to Rockingham, North Carolina, which has a great amount of NHRA history, as well as history for me, personally,” Capps said. “The first time I drove there was during my rookie year with Don Prudhomme. It’s such an iconic race, and it kind of feels like everything’s coming full circle. The weather is going to be great this weekend, and obviously no one’s been on that track in quite some time in a nitro car.”

The NHRA Nationals at The Rock marks the first time the NHRA has ever hosted a full Nitro event at the track. While the stars of the series visited from 1989 – 1998 for the All-Star Invitationals, this will be the first Playoffs race in Richmond County.

Capps will be piloting a NAPA Auto Parts/SKF-branded Toyota. He’ll also be signing autographs throughout the weekend as well. On Thursday, Sept. 24, Capps will be at NHRA NitroFest in Harrington Square (111 E. Washington St.), located in downtown Rockingham signing autographs from 6:30 – 7:15 p.m. There will also be a Ron Capps Motorsports driver autograph session at the Carlyle Tools Outlaw trailer from 12 – 12:30 p.m. on Friday and 10 – 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

“We didn’t start things off quite like we had hoped last weekend, so we’re looking forward to getting back on track to where both teams had been all season long,” Capps said. “We’ve got a lot of things happening around us, which keeps us busy in our Ron Capps Motorsports pit area. We’ve got a couple of brand-new partners joining us for the weekend with NAPA Auto Parts, and some great store owners who will bring customers to spend the weekend with us. It usually bodes well for our teams when we’re able to show off in front of our NAPA and Carlyle partners.”

Catch the NHRA Nationals at The Rock, Sept. 25 – 27, in Rockingham, NC. The inaugural event will feature all stars of the NHRA. On Friday, Nitro qualifying will take place at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, Nitro qualifying will continue at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Nitro Eliminations kickoff at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com