INDIANAPOLIS — The biggest race of the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series, the 72nd Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals delivered a surprise winner when No. 5 qualifier Scott Libersher from Wilmington, Ill., drove his red Chevrolet COPO Camaro to the winner’s circle defeating points leader and No. 1 qualifier Jonathan Allegrucci in a classic Chevrolet versus Ford final round.
Libersher got to the finish line first with a winning elapsed time of 7.770 seconds at 178.05 mph in front of Allegrucci’s 8.403 seconds at 176.44 mph.
“I am having an out-of-body experience,” said Libersher from the top end of Lucas Oil Raceway Park at Indianapolis immediately after his win. “I’m the most surprised guy on the property that I won this. I work hard. The car just hasn’t worked this year, and between runs yesterday, we changed three different things and something worked. We don’t know what. I’m almost speechless and that is very rare for me.”
Libersher raced to his first final round at the U.S. Nationals today after two days of elimination rounds. On Sunday Libersher beat Mike Lloyd in the first round followed by Ricky Hord to get to the quarterfinals, where he defeated Taylor Dietsch. Libersher won the $1,000 Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown bounty when he outran Norwalk winner Dietsch. His winning time of 7.650 seconds got him to the finish line first over Dietsch’s 7.693 seconds.
“I got about two hours of sleep last night,” said Libersher. “We ran until 11 o’clock and I was up until 2:30 a.m. We have battled 100-degree temperatures and we are not quitting. We are doing our best, gathering data, and the race is just a blur. We’ve been here for six days and this is amazing. Sometimes the last horse in the race shows up first. I’m just gonna do my best and keep doing what I do. The support of my family and all my sponsors makes this all possible.”
Today Libersher had a bye run in the semifinals to face Allegrucci in the final round. This was his third national event win and first win of 2026. The veteran driver was racing in his 10th U.S. Nationals with his best previous result a semifinal finish in 2024.
No. 1 qualifier Allegrucci raced to his fifth final in a row and in his second U.S. Nationals appearance, he ended up reaching the final. Allegrucci, from Scott Township, Pa., extended his points lead and leaves Indianapolis with 194 points over No. 2 driver Raymond Nash with three races left in the season.
“To race on Monday was the goal,” said Allegrucci. “To win it would have been the absolute cherry on top for this season. There’s nothing to be ashamed of at this race. I can’t thank my guys enough. I probably shouldn’t have been racing in round three, but we got a little luck on our side round two when Lee Hartman’s car sputtered at top end.”
