Don Schumacher Racing’s Cory McClenathan and Matt Hagan will each sport new looks albeit with familiar sponsorships when the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals in Concord, NC, kicks off Friday with professional qualifying.

McClenathan will race a Top Fuel dragster with Valvoline serving as primary sponsor while Hagan will sport a special FRAM/DieHard paint scheme to help promote FRAM, one of DSR’s primary sponsors. This weekend’s event will mark the first time McClenathan has represented Valvoline in this capacity while Hagan is in his second stint representing Fram.

"Valvoline is proud to be associated with Cory and the entire Don Schumacher Racing organization," said Rob Clendening, Manager, Global Brands, Ashland Consumer Markets. "We consistently win with them even before hitting the track, but we would also be thrilled to see Cory make up for his near-miss at Indy by winning at Concord."

Don Schumacher Racing’s Cory McClenathan and Matt Hagan will each sport new looks albeit with familiar sponsorships when the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals in Concord, NC, kicks off Friday with professional qualifying.

McClenathan will race a Top Fuel dragster with Valvoline serving as primary sponsor while Hagan will sport a special FRAM/DieHard paint scheme to help promote FRAM, one of DSR’s primary sponsors. This weekend’s event will mark the first time McClenathan has represented Valvoline in this capacity while Hagan is in his second stint representing Fram.

"Valvoline is proud to be associated with Cory and the entire Don Schumacher Racing organization," said Rob Clendening, Manager, Global Brands, Ashland Consumer Markets. "We consistently win with them even before hitting the track, but we would also be thrilled to see Cory make up for his near-miss at Indy by winning at Concord."

Fram is equally excited to be joined with Hagan again.

"We are very happy to be working with Matt Hagan again," said Kelley O'Donnell, Director of Global Coolants/Motorsports Products at Honeywell CPG. "We've had a good relationship with him since his rookie season last year. He's one of the young up-and-coming stars of the NHRA, and FRAM is proud to be on the side of his Funny Car this weekend in Concord."  

McClenathan is excited with the special promotion headed into the second stop of the six-race Countdown to 1 phase of the 2010 season.

"The Valvoline people are great to work with and I'm excited about running that car.” McClenathan said. “It's great for FRAM to provide this opportunity to run the Valvoline colors. The longtime relationship Valvoline has had with Don Schumacher is one of the many good things that I get to enjoy as a member of DSR. And I get to race some interesting one-off cars to help promote the DSR sponsors.

"At the same time, it's the same race car but the body is going to have a different look. We still need to go in there and qualify well and go some rounds. We had a good start for the Countdown and we certainly would like to go into Concord, not falter, go some rounds and keep up that momentum. We're going to work hard at that.”

Hagan, the 27-year-old farmer from Christiansburg, Va., lives just a few hours' drive from zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C., is happy to return to the palatial facility.

"I am proud to carry the FRAM colors this weekend, along with DieHard," said Hagan, who is third in the playoffs point standings, just one point out of second place, following his semifinal finish in the first event of the Countdown. "One of my favorite things about this Concord event is that it's going to be a two-wide race. Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of racing four-wide was very dramatic and dynamic and I applaud NHRA and Bruton Smith for making it happen. But, for a driver it was not an easy concept to get used to. So now we can focus on winning this race.

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