by Bobby Bennett, Jerry Bonkowski; Photos by Josh Moss, CJ Jenkins, NHRA, Chris Haverly
Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals outside of Concord, North Carolina.
1 – ASHLEY’S TRIPLE-LINDY SETS THE STAGE – Justin Ashley delivered another strong showing on the starting line Sunday, using his quick reaction times to win the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals.
The final-round run of 3.784 seconds at 329.83 mph in his Scag Power Equipment dragster was his fourth of the season, and his second in the last three races. It also moved him back into the thick of the Top Fuel championship hunt with just four events left.
The final round was one of the most competitive of the season. Ashley and Doug Kalitta posted identical elapsed times, but Ashley’s advantage came on the starting line with a .043-second reaction time. That slight edge – easily the quickest move of the quad – allowed him to outrun Kalitta, Shawn Langdon, and Clay Millican to the stripe, and capped a day that showcased both his driving ability and his team’s preparation.
Ashley’s march to the winner’s circle also carried a piece of NHRA history. In the semifinals, he pulled off the first triple-holeshot win ever in Top Fuel competition, advancing over Langdon, Brittany Force, and Tony Stewart despite turning in the slowest pass of the quad. His .036 reaction time made the difference and kept him alive for the event title.
The win was Ashley’s 19th career triumph and his second at zMAX Dragway, where four-wide racing often amplifies the margin for error. He now trails Kalitta by just 38 points, a manageable deficit as the series heads to the St. Louis area for the NHRA Midwest Nationals next weekend (Sept. 26-28).
“To win it right here for the first four-wide race in the fall that NHRA has ever had, especially where it’s positioned in the Countdown, this was a critical day for us,” Ashley said. “These races are hard to win, so I’m a firm believer you have to enjoy them when they come before shifting your focus over to the next one.”
Ashley credited his own growth and the experience of his crew as reasons for his ability to thrive under pressure. He said the lessons from the past three years of championship contention are proving priceless.
“You can’t buy experience, and now we’ve really been in contention for a championship the last three years,” Ashley said. “At the end of the day, it really comes down to one lap, one race at a time, and just let the points take care of themselves.”
While Ashley has built a reputation for lightning-quick reaction times, he stressed that results only come when the car and driver are in sync. “If the car’s not fast, all of it’s irrelevant,” he said. “Everyone sees the stat sheet, but you have to collectively look at the combination together. Hopefully it leads to results, and obviously we did it today.”
Ashley also admitted this particular win felt different. Known for his calm demeanor, he showed more emotion than usual while celebrating with his crew.
“These races are hard to win. I probably need to do a better job of enjoying them, so, yeah, I enjoyed that one,” he said.
Looking ahead, Ashley said his focus is on maintaining consistency as the playoffs tighten.
“Our approach is one lap, one race at a time, try and collect bonus points and qualifying and then see where we end up,” he said. “This Countdown is about consistency. You have to win races, you have to stack round wins, and put yourself in a good position for Pomona.”
2 – PROCK AIN’T ONE OF THEM THINGS THIS WEEKEND – Austin Prock made history Sunday at zMAX Dragway, winning the first four-wide playoff race in NHRA history. He defeated Matt Hagan, Chad Green, and Dan Wilkerson in the final of the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals with a run of 3.912 seconds at 332.43 mph in his Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet SS.
The victory was Prock’s eighth of the year, his 16th since moving to Funny Car last season, and the 20th of his career. It also capped a sweep of all three four-wide races in 2025, making him the first Funny Car driver to accomplish the feat.
Prock’s weekend showed a sharp rebound from Reading, Pennsylvania, last weekend, where he lost in the second round and crossed the centerline. At Charlotte, he advanced through the first two quads, chased down Wilkerson in the championship round, and then edged Hagan at the stripe to keep control of the points standings.
“That was a big win, especially after everything that went on in the semifinals,” Prock said. “A few of the frontrunners went out and we capitalized on it. To get the win for the points was awesome. Extended our lead a little bit going into St. Louis next weekend.”
For Prock, the four-wide format seems to fit both his car and his approach. He credited the consistency of his team and the quality of the SMI-owned racetracks in Charlotte and Las Vegas for the success.
“Our package just seems suited for [the late] Bruton Smith’s racetracks,” Prock said. “I wasn’t my typical self on the starting line this weekend. I was good but not where I wanted to be, but the car ran good enough and our total package was good enough to win.”
The Charlotte result also marked Prock’s third straight win at zMAX Dragway, a facility he said has been central to his career. “Even in Top Fuel, I had success here,” Prock said. “So to come here and do a good job for some circle-track [NASCAR] fans is always pretty special.”
Prock also admitted he was not at full strength physically, saying he entered the weekend under the weather. He stressed, however, that circumstances can never be an excuse in a sport where precision determines success.
“No matter what’s going on in your life, what’s going on in your day to day or with the race car, you still are paid to come out here and perform and execute,” Prock said. “I was good but I wasn’t great, and I want to push myself to be great all the time in all scenarios because I think that’s what creates a champion.”
That drive, he added, comes in part from watching his father and crew chief, Jimmy Prock, excel at his craft. Their mutual determination has helped establish John Force Racing as a perennial contender. “We both, I feel like, respect our abilities at what we do, and when we’re both on we’re really tough to beat as a family and as a team,” Prock said.
With the victory, Prock extended his lead in the Countdown to the Championship to 79 points over Hagan. While others focus on milestones, Prock said he tries to keep his perspective on execution. “It was just brought to my attention I have 20 wins now, and that’s a pretty good feat,” he said. “I just try and go up there and be the best of my ability. I have a few things I need to worry about and those things are very important to execute perfectly every time.”
3 – THE SURGE OF GLENN – Pro Stock points leader Dallas Glenn continued his postseason surge Sunday at zMAX Dragway, scoring his second straight Countdown to the Championship victory and sixth win of the year. Glenn posted a 6.554-second run at 209.95 mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to defeat a quad that included teammate Greg Anderson, Erica Enders, and Aaron Stanfield.
The win marked Glenn’s 19th career triumph and his third straight at Charlotte, where he has now swept both four-wide events held at zMAX. The victory also gave him a 79-point lead over Anderson in the championship standings.
Glenn credited his team’s consistency while reflecting on an earlier mistake in Indianapolis.
“I knew I had a fantastic car coming in, so I really just wanted to try to keep the momentum,” Glenn said. “I really felt like I let everybody down in Indy when I let my foot up a little against Erica [Enders]. I made that mistake. So, I just wanted to come into this race and step it up just a little bit more and be a little more aggressive.”
He said nothing came easy despite its appearance.
“You look at the ladder and you’re like, ‘This is going to be a tough day,’ so you just got to try to bring your A-game,” Glenn said. “I made a small pedal [adjustment] and went up there, and just tried to do everything I could to kind of throw a Hail Mary and hope it stuck.”
Glenn said his mindset is to keep pressure on the competition through the final races.
“I think I have 79 points right now, so I still count that as basically three rounds, because that’s what it’s going to be in Pomona,” he said. “I want to keep my foot on their throats and keep pressure on until they hand me a trophy.”
Anderson finished runner-up with a 6.562, reaching his eighth final round of the season. Stanfield placed fourth in the quad and moved to third in points, though he trails Glenn by 172.
Glenn admitted some good fortune has helped along the way.
“If I’m leaking oil in E1 instead of Q4, this whole Countdown looks completely different for me,” he said. “Luck’s when preparation meets opportunity. So you definitely kind of create your own luck as well.”
4 – ALL BUSINESS GADSON DELIVERS – Richard Gadson came into Sunday’s NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals final round knowing he would face three Matt Smith Racing entries in Pro Stock Motorcycle. By the end of the round, he was the new points leader.
Gadson powered his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to a 6.803-second pass at 199.55 mph, defeating Matt Smith, Angie Smith, and Jianna Evaristo. The victory was his first in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, his third win of the season, and his third in as many months.
“Call me Tricky Richard,” Gadson said.
In reality, there was nothing tricky about it — he left ahead of two of his three opponents and outran them to the finish line by .02 seconds or more.
The win marked another breakthrough for the veteran rider, who admitted the moment felt surreal. “To be in the points lead of Pro Stock Motorcycle, sometimes I read my name twice because I just can’t believe it’s real,” Gadson said. “I owe all of those thanks to the boys, to Vance & Hines, and to our sponsors for putting me in this position to live this dream.”
Teammate Gaige Herrera’s shocking first-round loss created an opening, and Gadson took advantage by winning his first two quads before delivering a decisive performance in the final. The result gave him an eight-point lead over Smith in the standings – slim, but one that underscores his rise as a title contender. Racing against three bikes from the same team heightened the challenge.
“You just don’t want to beat yourself and you’re the Lone Ranger up there racing for your team,” Gadson said. “You carry it with pride, but you also don’t want to be antsy. These bikes are really easy to do something stupid on.”
Gadson also noticed Angie Smith pre-staging early, but didn’t let it rattle him. “I think Angie did that as a ploy to hopefully mess me up,” he said. “It’s all fair. It’s racing. She didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m a little sharper than I look.”
For Gadson, the focus now is on consistency. “Stay humble, stay prayed up and keep trying to do whatever is getting me these wins,” he said. “I know it’s going to be a dogfight, but I don’t want to be a weak link.”
5 – PSM SHOCKER: HERRERA GONE EARLY – So much action happened in the opening round of Pro Stock Motorcycle that you would think this is a full-race recap for the two-wheel class.
First, the shock of the day was the first-round loss by PSM points leader Gaige Herrera. The Vance & Hines rider, who is seeking a threepeat PSM season championship, had shifting issues and was ousted, leaving NHRA.TV announcers to respond with one word answers after witnessing the shocking outcome: Jason Galvin (“Unbelievable”) and Ida Zetterstrom (“Wow”).
Herrera had one of his worst reaction times of the season, .084. Then came the shifting problem, ending his ride at 7.370 seconds, 141.31 mph.
“It’s disappointment, it’s a heartbreak,” Herrera said. “I don’t know what happened. It was shifting from second to fourth and then went into false neutral. After that, I pushed the (shifter) button and there was nothing there.”
Even worse, the loss caused Herrera to drop from the top spot in the PSM standings to fourth place, 71 markers behind new leader and event winner Richard Gadson. But Herrera is confident going forward that he can rally, something that should scare his rivals because when the usually soft-spoken Herrera gets mad, he rides even better than he usually does.
“We’ll bounce back,” he said. “We’ve got four more races after this. We’re not giving up. We’re going to put up a fight. It’s ‘game on’ now. We’ll be back.”
Marc Ingwersen won the quad that included Herrera at 6.863, 195.36). But that wasn’t the end of first-round upsets. In his first race of the season, North Carolina native Marcus Hylton (7.055, 187.83) finished second in his quad to advance to the semifinals, the first time in his career that he’s advanced out of the first round in PSM.
When asked if he ever thought he would have reached the second round, Hylton – choking up and on the verge of happy tears – said, “Never. I was like, ‘Just make it to Sunday.’ That was our biggest thing, to just make it to Sunday. To actually have my first-ever … round win on Sunday – oh, my God, this is such a blessing.”
Unfortunately, Hylton and Ingwersen were ousted in the semis.
Lastly, veteran Ron “The Rat” Tornow lost in the first round, effectively ending his PSM career. Tornow had already announced he would be retiring from racing after the event.
6 – THAT WON’T BUFF OUT – Three-time Funny Car champ Ron Capps suffered an engine explosion in the second round of the 4-Wide Nationals that sheared off the back half of his car body.
Capps was approaching the 330-foot mark when the engine detonated, and in a flash, his NAPA Toyota was converted into a convertible.
It was fortuitous that when the body blew off, it also activated the parachutes on Capps’ car, allowing him to maintain control. He slowly coasted to a stop – unlike the ending of a similar incident early in the season when the car slammed into the wall at Phoenix.
“My God, that was probably as big a concussion because it knocked the wind out of me this time,” a shaken Capps said at the top end of the track. “Even though the body left, I couldn’t breathe for a little bit – but other than that, I’m fine.
“I tried to get out and wave to my mom; tried to find out which camera was closest, to show her I was alright. But, man, I’ve gotta stop doing that.”
Capps leaves Charlotte third in the standings, 94 points behind Sunday’s race winner and defending Funny Car champ Austin Prock; Lastly, “Fast Jack” Beckman didn’t come close to living up to his nickname, with an uncharacteristically slow .138 reaction time that effectively ended his run before it even got started. Ironically, Beckman still wound up with the quickest run of his quad, even in a losing cause, at 3.939 seconds. Beckman is now fourth, 98 points behind Prock.
7 – CRUZ AND THE RAIDERS – Cruz Pedregon has been drag racing for over 40 years, so he’s seen the highest of highs and lowest of lows – and how quickly fortunes can shift from one race to the next.
The two-time NHRA Funny Car champion gave himself an early 62nd birthday present with a convincing win in the opening round of this year’s Countdown to the Championship last week at Maple Grove Raceway.
But such was not the case in the second Countdown race. Pedregon lost in the opening round of the 4-Wide Nationals, but he’s still excited about his chances in the four remaining events and his opportunity to win a third NHRA Funny Car crown.
“That’s the obvious,” Pedregon said when asked if he’s having a good playoff. “The car ran real good this weekend. For us to come back and qualify fourth after qualifying seventh and winning the race in Pennsylvania, and to come back here and really go down the track every run, we’re happy.
“Obviously, we got beat the first round, but we dropped a cylinder. So that’s the equivalent of fighting with one hand tied behind your back, and we were still giving those guys a run. Yeah, we’re back.”
Pedregon leaves Charlotte sixth in the Funny Car standings, 152 points behind Prock, heading to the third race of the six-race Countdown, next weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis.
8 – STEWART: WE’RE STILL IN THE THIS – It’s been a busy week – and in some instances, a tough one – for Tony Stewart. First, he announced that wife Leah Pruett will be returning to drive her Top Fuel dragster for Tony Stewart Racing starting next season. Tony has said numerous times that he was merely “keeping the seat warm for Leah” when he took over driving duties on the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel dragster when his wife went on hiatus after the 2023 season so she and Stewart could start a family.
With Leah now having announced her plans to return, many fans and fellow competitors assumed that the 54-year-old Stewart might decide to end his brief drag racing career.
Then, only a few days later, and saying he wouldn’t want to race Leah if she was a TSR teammate, Stewart shocked the sport when he announced that he would continue racing in Top Fuel next season – not for his own team, but for the Richard Freeman-owned Elite Motorsports. TSR and Elite had recently announced a joint marketing effort, but having Tony drive for Elite wasn’t originally mentioned.
When TSR came to Charlotte for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals this weekend, things started and ended rough for the NASCAR Hall of Famer. On Friday, the team had to abort its first qualifying attempt due to a mechanical malfunction. He eventually qualified No. 4 (3.760 E.T., 329.67 mph) in Friday’s Q2 session and carried that time/speed through Saturday.
Things looked promising Sunday until he lost in the semifinal quad to eventual event winner Justin Ashley. For a driver who came into the event just 18 points behind Top Fuel standings leader Doug Kalitta, Stewart – the regular-season champion – has dropped to fourth place in the standings, 68 points behind Kalitta with four races left in the Countdown.
But Stewart isn’t giving up. He’s ready to throw down the gauntlet.
“We have four more races to go dig and try to gain ground back,” Stewart said. “We’re not out of this thing by any means. We have the bit in our teeth, so we’ll go bust our butts next week and see what we can do to keep gaining some of these points back.”
9 – HYDE STILL SEEKING – Funny Car driver Spencer Hyde continues to make his case for NHRA Rookie of the Year honors with another strong performance in this weekend’s 4-Wide Nationals.
The driver of the Head Inc. Ford Mustang got off to a good start in the opening round, turning in an effort of 3.944 seconds at 325.06 mph, which sent him into the second round along with Chad Green. The other two drivers in that opening round, Cruz Pedregon and Alexis DeJoria, fell short in their respective efforts to advance.
“We had a little pow-wow in the lounge this morning,” Hyde told NHRA.TV. “We said, ‘We’ve just got to go down the racetrack, make good A to B runs.’
“We came up here with a plan of going 3.93 [or] 3.94, and that’s exactly what we did. And I’m pretty confident these boys will make it happen two more times today, and hopefully we can put this baby in the winner’s circle.”
Unfortunately, the Stratford, Ontario, Canada native, who came into Sunday’s action eighth in the Funny car standings, wasn’t able to get past the semifinal round.
Still, Hyde, who also holds dual NHRA licensing with a Top Fuel endorsement, has been enjoying a very good debut year in Funny Car.
Since making his debut in the class at the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, it didn’t take long for Hyde to win his first specialty event, capturing the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge in April in Las Vegas. Continuing on, the 34-year-old Hyde reached his first final round at Epping, New Hampshire, and then did so again at Sonoma, California.
More recently, he earned his first No. 1 qualifier in the Countdown to the Championship playoff opener last week at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Hyde leaves Charlotte still eighth in the Funny Car standings, 166 points behind Prock.
It’s clear that Hyde continues to improve. To date, he has reset his career-best speed three times this season: Chicago (331.61 mph), Epping (333.08 mph), and Sonoma (333.58), the latter which remains his fastest performance. Meanwhile, his quickest E.T. to date this season has been 3.863 seconds.
10 – CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE – NHRA and zMAX Dragway received a number of congratulatory plaudits for track preparation of the four-lane track.
That had to make officials feel good, especially since this weekend marked the first time a four-wide event has been part of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
It was both a different yet also exciting change to the usual two-lane Countdown playoff format.
The lanes were so evenly prepared all weekend that there was a marked reduction in drivers smoking the tires coming off the starting line compared to usual two-lane events.
“A lot of people talked about that being down there,” Top Fuel racer Ida Zetterstrom, who was in the broadcast booth Sunday, said on NHRA.TV. “Sometimes it may look like it might spin the tires in one lane, but it was actually to be pushing more to try and find the limit.
“And the reason they could do that was because the lanes were so even, and they wanted to try and find that baseline.”
