Following a rainy start to the FTI 350 presented by JEGS at Cedar Falls Motorsports Park, the first of three winners was crowned. After ten grueling rounds of racing featuring some of the biggest names in Bracket Racing, Hunter Patton came out victorious, taking the $50,000 grand prize in Friday’s main-event sponsored by FuelTech. 

The path to victory was far from easy for Patton, with fierce competitors still in the hunt for the $50,000 check by the quarterfinals. 

Quarterfinals:

With five cars left in round eight, Matt Dadas sat on the bye, while two dragsters and two door-cars were left to duke it out to decide the final three. 

Nick Hastings took on Dustin Long on the door-car side of things with Long dodging a bullet after Hastings left the starting line too soon to be -.005 red. Long crept by with a less than stellar .046 reaction-time and 5.182 lap on his 5.19 dial-in. 

Dennis Lund and eventual winner, Hunter Patton battled to be the last dragster standing in an excellent race decided by only .0014 seconds. Lund was .007 on the tree and ran 4.353 on his 4.34 dial-in to be narrowly outran by Patton’s .003 light and 4.496 lap on a 4.48 dial-in. 

Semifinals:

In the semifinals, Patton flexed his muscles on a bye-run to the final with a near perfect run, leaving .000 off the starting line and running 4.479 on a 4.48 dial.  

Long and Dadas went to battle on the other side of the ladder in another excellent race. Dadas left that starting line with a .016 light and ran just .001 above his 6.36 dial-in. Long was .004 seconds behind after his .015 light and 5.186 run on a 5.18 dial. 

Finals:

In the finals, a rerun of the 2019 Fall Fling main-event was set with Patton and Dadas going head to head. Patton was .006 on the tree and ran 4.479 again on his 4.47 dial, to take the win by just .002 seconds. 

Dadas put up a valiant runner-up effort with a .007 reaction time and a run just .018 above his 6.35 dial-in.