2026 Mint 400: Sourapas leads, Johnson and Hardin roll in Unlimited qualifying

Jimmie Johnson certainly would’ve preferred for his first desert action in 31 years to not end with him on his lid.

During Friday’s qualifying for the Mint 400 Unlimited Race, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion entered the final corner too deep, which threw the rear of his truck out. He rolled one-and-a-half times before landing on his roof. Co-driver Jason Duncan quickly got out and ran to Johnson’s side to extract him.

Both were unharmed in the accident, while the truck was subsequently rolled back onto its wheels. Since the finish was on the way to the pits, Johnson gingerly drove it across the line. While this officially kept the #84 from being classified as a qualifying retirement, he and driver of record Troy Herbst will obviously be among the last trucks to start the race on Saturday.

At least Johnson won’t be the only NASCAR alumnus at the back of the order. Robby Gordon didn’t set a qualifying time due to an engine issue, and therefore shifted his focus to the concurrent Limited Race alongside his son Max.

Johnson also wasn’t the only crash on Friday as Eric Hardin went over about ten minutes later. Hardin was cutting through the course looking for the fastest time, only to run over a dirt bush that launched his truck into the air and multiple rolls. He also escaped injury.

Brett Sourapas’ #88 Coors Light truck, back in action for the first time since 2022, topped the qualifying session ahead of Tracy Graf. Twice defending winner Adam Householder was third.

Kyle Jergensen beat Conner McMullen in Group 2 qualifying for Unlimited Truck SPEC entries. While they qualified separately from the main trucks, the starting order on Saturday will mix both groups together.

Meanwhile, Dalton Shirey was the fastest of the eight Open Pro riders to qualify for the Motorcycle Race on Saturday. 2025 winner Preston Campbell ranked third.

Unlimited Race qualifying results

Group 1 (Unlimited Truck, Class 1)

PositionNumberDriver of RecordClassTime
188Brett SourapasUnlimited Truck 4WD6:06.643
258Tracy GrafUnlimited Truck 4WD6:08.881
324Adam HouseholderUnlimited Truck 2WD6:14.520
418Nic WhetstoneUnlimited Truck 2WD6:15.488
5100Dale DondelUnlimited Truck 2WD6:23.651
632Ryan ArcieroUnlimited Truck 2WD6:23.705
73Michael ScafutoUnlimited Truck 4WD6:28.836
8U125Vaughn Gittin Jr.Class 1 Unlimited6:30.016
978Tracy PooleUnlimited Truck 2WD6:31.899
1027TSteve OlligesUnlimited Truck 2WD6:36.039
118Todd WyllieUnlimited Truck 2WD6:37.450
1250Joseph HerlingUnlimited Truck 2WD6:44.020
1319Tim HerbstUnlimited Truck 2WD6:44.760
14164Kyle McMullenClass 16:46.323
1544Bill ApgoodUnlimited Truck 2WD6:46.414
1666Chris HertschUnlimited Truck 2WD6:51.558
1785Mikey LawrenceUnlimited Truck 2WD6:52.499
1860Jerry HerlingUnlimited Truck 2WD6:55.995
19L15Dave ZieglerUnlimited Truck Legends7:00.159
2043Eric ConnerUnlimited Truck 2WD7:01.156
2174Shane LewisUnlimited Truck 2WD7:03.420
22L92Kelly McNeilUnlimited Truck Legends7:04.061
234Brent VeenstraUnlimited Truck 2WD7:05.159
2488TAndre LaurinUnlimited Truck 2WD7:08.683
2591Alexander WackerUnlimited Truck 2WD7:10.422
2613Michael FryeUnlimited Truck 2WD7:23.310
27100UMichael Mamelli Jr.Class 1 Unlimited7:24.104
2867Paul KrausUnlimited Truck 2WD7:42.708
2972Aaron CeliceoUnlimited Truck 2WD7:45.902
30L23Luis SaenzUnlimited Truck Legends7:59.564
3184Troy HerbstUnlimited Truck 2WD11:14.928
DNF79Eric HardinUnlimited Truck 2WDDNF
DNS5Robby GordonUnlimited Truck 4WDDNS
DNS42Ryan ProsserUnlimited Truck 2WDDNS
DNS96Vince KlosUnlimited Truck 2WDDNS

Group 2 (Unlimited Truck SPEC)

PositionNumberDriver of RecordTime
1222Kyle Jergensen6:28.225
2240Conner McMullen6:32.860
3272Dustin Grabowski6:36.822
4279Cole Hardin6:40.571
5251Dane Miller6:42.668
6282Brent Fox6:46.904
7241Stephen Beal6:47.354
8238Kolton Hustead6:48.435
9250Nick Isenhouer6:49.094
10276C.J. Hutchins6:49.209
11280R.J. Stidham6:51.622
12219Pierce Herbst6:54.749
13205Neal Drickey6:58.922
14273Troy Grabowski7:00.812
15277Travis Williams7:03.933
16255Kirk Harkey7:06.434
17207Nick May7:07.016
18263E.J. Herbst7:07.336
19254Josh Brain7:08.258
20224Terry Householder7:15.892
21260Cory Finley7:17.982
22247Kit Stokes7:18.051
23214Donald Cerrone7:18.905
24230Chad Hall7:23.045
25249Sam Berri7:24.627
26229Stony Kujala7:28.332
27288Austin Kimbrell7:32.171
28299Andrew Herdman7:39.461
29242Justin Sims8:04.001
30223Chad Ingram8:06.214
31221Sergio Rangel9:40.618
DNS235Colby AndersonDNS
DNS237Kevin BettencourtDNS
DNS262Lincoln DayDNS

Open Pro Motorcycle qualifying results

PositionNumberRider of RecordTime
1N46Dalton Shirey5:53.764
2N1Shane Logan5:56.920
3N3Preston Campbell5:58.700
4N2Ciaran Naran6:05.530
5N7Danny Cooper6:11.237
6N15Nic Colangeli6:23.736
7N72Frank Pickrell III6:27.355
8N13Caiden Fenstermaker6:37.659
DNSN18Matthew GrantDNS

Featured image credit: UNLTD

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