NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

For the first time ever, four-wide racing is a part of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs at this weekend’s NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway. Here's a look at what to expect with our Saturday preview.

Last night, NHRA’s pro racers rocked zMax Dragway during the opening day of the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals where Brittany Force, Matt Hagan, Dallas Glenn, and Gaige Herrera took the early leads in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, respectively.

Force, who has been a powerhouse during qualifying at most events this season, drove her HendrickCars.com dragster to a 3.698 to pace the field in Top Fuel. As impressive as Force’s run was, she’s just two thousandths of a second ahead of Doug Kalitta,  who ran 3.700 while four-time champ Steve Torrence ended the day in third with a 3.720.

The top 12 drivers in the field are in the 3.7s including Shawn Langdon, Justin Ashley, Clay Millican, and Antron Brown, who make up the top half of the ladder heading into Saturday final two sessions.

At this point Hagan is the only Funny Car driver in the 3.8s with a 3.891 run in his Dodge Direct Connection Charger. Hagan lead reigning world champion and current points leader Austin Prock, who ran 3.900 while recent Reading winner Cruz Pedregon is currently third with a 3.910 in his Snap-on Dodge.

Paul Lee’s team will likely have to work overtime as they recover from a devastating fire on Friday evening.

At this point, there are nine Funny Cars in the three-second zone and that number is almost sure to grow on Saturday as Daniel Wilkerson, Jack Beckman, Spencer Hyde and Ron Capps have yet to make representative runs.

KB Titan teammates Dallas Glenn and Greg Anderson once again top the Pro Stock standings with identical runs of 6.535 with Glenn scoring the top spot by virtue of a slightly faster speed, 209.69 to 209.20.

The surprise of the day came from Eric Latino, who is third on the chart at 6.538 while Aaron Stanfield currently has the quickest car in the Elite fleet with a fifth best 6.556.

After two runs, the Pro Stock bump is 6.609 and Chris Vang, Brandon Miller, and Kenny Delco have yet to qualify.

Gaige Herrera, Richard Gadson, and Matt Smith, three of the leading contenders for the Pro Stock Motorcycle title, are the top three riders after day one and they are the only three riders in the 6.7s with Herrera leading the way at 6.758.

The rest of the field includes Angie Smith in fourth at 6.805 and her teammate, Jianna Evaristo, in the No. 5 spot at 6.837.

John Hall, who is fresh off his second win of the season in Reading, is the onlyt rider currently not qualified. Hall broke an engine on the first run of the day and was unable to get his bike prepared for the second run. At this point, he’ll need to run quicker than Geno Scali’s 7.062 in order to make the field.

Saturday’s program also includes the continuation of qualifying and eliminations in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and the Congruity Pro Mod series as well as the Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle class.