Mission accomplished.

Alexia DeJoria wanted to get a win in the last three races, and she did just that at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., Sunday.

DeJoria clocked a 3.921-second elapsed time at 327.66 mph to edge J.R. Todd’s 3.939-second run at 326.32 mph in the finals.

After a very long tree, DeJoria had an .002 reaction time compared to Todd’s .073 reaction time.  

“It is hard when the tree is long like that,” DeJoria said. “To us it seems like an eternity. It takes everything in your being not to start counting and to stay focused. Luckily, I was hungry. I know that feeling. I know that head space. I’m just happy to be here. I’m going to have fun, whatever happens, happens. I’m going to do a damn good job and I believe I’m going to win.

“I saw that tree; it wasn’t a guess. The night before we were doing reaction times, someone had a tree in one of their rooms and we were practicing and practicing, and I did really good, and I was just ready. I wasn’t nervous.”

It was DeJoria’s first win since 2017 and sixth of her career. DeJoria beat Paul Lee in round one, had a bye in found two and then ousted Robert Hight and Todd.

“Round one is always the worst round for me,” DeJoria said. “It is not nerves I just want to get past first round. After that, it gets better. We got the win in first round, had the bye in second round, which was a gift. To make it to the semis and finals was a huge deal and I was happy to make it to the final and have it be a Toyota final. Even though I’m not a teammate to J.R. anymore, they are always going to feel like teammates to me. We are Toyota cars, and we are friends, and I was there for a long time. I just love racing him.”

Sunday capped a great weekend for DeJoria. She started from the No. 1 qualifying position for the first time since 2016 with a 3.907-second elapsed time at 326.79 mph – and then won the race.

“I would say this is one of the biggest wins of my career because this is as a part team owner,” DeJoria said. “Coming back after taking two years off and getting to work with my mentor, my old teammate, my friend and I look up to Del (Worsham) and I have learned everything I know from Del and Jeff Arend. To be able to do this with him again, we wanted to finish this out when we where at Kalittas and didn’t get to and he ended up driving the other car and winning a championship, so it was that bad. 

“We always wanted to do this again. We made it happen. It was the right time to do this with Del and Nicky Boninfante, and all those guys. Some of them have been with me since Day 1 when I first started nitro Funny Car, so this is huge. This has been a roller-coaster. We will do really good and then I will have a bad light. Or I will have a killer light and the car will smoke the tires for some odd reason. We caught our break today and thank God because I have been really depressed the last couple of races. Racing is very humbling.”

DeJoria became the first woman to win a nitro Funny Car title in Bristol since Melanie Troxel in 2008. 

 “This is a huge weight off our shoulders,” DeJoria said. “The No. 1 qualifier was the first step. We got the No. 1 and to get the Wally and that same race is just insane. Whatever happens after this, I hope for the best, but I’m good man. We got a Wally. This is a huge confidence builder for me and the whole team. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks, if not my favorite, and this win means the world to me. We will be back for at least five more years and after that Del and I and Nicky are going to see if we can any more than that.”