CONCORD, NC – Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster team enter this weekend’s betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway sitting eighth in the NHRA points standings, just 131 points back from the lead with five races left in the Countdown to the Championship.

Prock and the Montana Brand team came up with the only Top Fuel win for JFR so far this season at zMAX Dragway in April, doubling up with teammate Robert Hight in Funny Car. After qualifying seventh, the Chris Cunningham and Joe Barlam led Montana Brand team outran Leah Pruett, Josh Hart and Steve Torrence in the final quad. Last year at the Carolina Nationals, Prock qualified 10th but lost in the first round. The result didn’t stop the young team’s momentum, jumping from 12th in the points to finish the season third.

“We’re ready to start our rebound this weekend at zMAX Dragway. I believe this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team has all the tools we need to succeed, we just need to put them to work,” Prock said. “I’m hoping we put on just as good of a show as we did in the spring. Can’t wait to get started.”

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CONCORD, NC – Entering as the points leaders by three, Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS team will look to carry over the momentum and consistency they’ve built into this weekend’s betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

Hight’s chances of building his points lead are favorable at zMAX Dragway. Hight has won at the facility a career-high seven times, four in the Carolina Nationals (2009, 2013, 2017, 2019), and three in the spring Four-Wide event. Despite his success at the Carolina Nationals, it is the only event in the series where he has not started race day from No. 1. He has started from No. 1 in the spring event three times, but his best starting position in the fall has been No. 2. After winning the Four-Wide in April this year, Hight will attempt to win both North Carolina races in the same season for the first time.

Hight earned his three-point lead in the standings with a victory at last weekend’s event at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania where he knocked off heavy hitters Matt Hagan and Ron Capps. In addition to a victory at the opening event of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship and the Four-Wide at zMAX in the spring, Hight also has a win at the Arizona Nationals and a runner-up finish at Brainerd International Raceway.

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CONCORD, NC – John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS team are only 129 points out of the Funny Car points lead. With five races still left in the Countdown to the Championship, the gap could easily be closed with a solid weekend at the betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway just outside of Charlotte.

Force will be competing on a track where he has had recent success, qualifying No. 1 in four of his last five starts including two straight No. 1s in the Carolina Nationals. In addition to his recent dominance in qualifying, he is the track record holder at 3.850 seconds (April 29, 2022) as well as the event record holder (3.854 on Sept. 23, 2022). Force won the Carolina Nationals in 2016 but he has won the companion event, the Four-Wide Nationals in the spring, three times (2010, 2021 and 2022). In 2022 at the Carolina Nationals, after qualifying No. 1, Force went on to a semifinal finish, losing to eventual race winner and reigning world champ Ron Capps.

“I love coming to Charlotte, zMAX Dragway, the Bellagio of drag strips. It’s Bruton Smith’s legacy. Now his son, Marcus, is carrying it over. It’s something else getting to race there,” Force said. “We’re in the Countdown now. One race down. This weekend will be important. We all know it and we’re ready. It will be exciting. Exciting for the racers, teams, and sponsors but exciting for the fans who get to see it all happen, too.”

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READING, PA – After rain delayed the completion of the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway to Monday morning, Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS team made the day count with their third win of the season, second consecutive at the facility and a jump into the points lead.

Hight and the Cornwell Tools Chevy had already gotten through Jim Campbell and Matt Hagan in the first two rounds of racing on Sunday. They came into the semifinals to face reigning world champion Ron Capps. The Cornwell Tools Camaro had a smooth ride down Maple Grove Raceway recording a 3.861-second pass at 330.31 mph while Capps smoked the tires almost immediately to cross the finish line at 11.331 and only 59.00.

In Hight’s 100th career final round, he’d handle the Cornwell Tools Chevy to a 3.854-second pass at 330.39 mph to defeat Chad Green’s 3.928 at 327.27.

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READING, PA – After inclement weather-plagued race day Sunday at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, racing was delayed to Monday morning. Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools Chevy Camaro SS team will continue their event defense when they face off with reigning world champion Ron Capps in the semifinals.

John Force in the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro SS and Brittany Force in the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac Chevy dragster had a quarterfinal finish and Austin Prock in the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team had a first-round exit.

Coming in as the No. 2 qualifier, Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools Chevy continued to keep up their performance with the quickest pass of the round at 3.875 seconds and 331.20 mph to defeat Jim Campbell and his 6.603 at 98.93 after driving into tire smoke. In the second round, Hight had a monster matchup against Matt Hagan with huge points implications. Hight and the Cornwell Tools Chevy laid down a 3.852 pass at 327.66 to defeat Hagan’s 3.859 at 335.48 and move around him in the points standings. His win lines the Cornwell Tools team to take on Ron Capps in the semifinals.

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READING, PA – Brittany Force in the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet dragster team locked into the No. 2 qualifying spot in front of a sold-out crowd Saturday at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS secured the No. 3 spot while John Force in the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro SS went No. 7 and Austin Prock in the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster went No. 8.

Brittany Force and the Monster Energy team didn’t miss a beat coming out in the first session of the day to run a clean 3.790-second pass at 330.39 mph. In the final session, Force laid down a 3.712 at 333.33. She locked in the No. 2 qualifying spot with her 3.689 pass from Friday evening. She’ll start her chase for a first win at Maple Grove Raceway with a matchup against first-time opponent Jacob Opatrny in the first round.

“Good two days of qualifying for the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team. We qualified in the number two spot and face Jacob Opatrny first round during Sunday’s eliminations,” Force said. “We really made use of every four of those qualifying runs. We got down the racetrack with solid passes and we were low in two of the four sessions. This car is running well. This team is ready for race day and ready for the rest of the Countdown.”

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READING, PA – Brittany Force and her Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet dragster team aren’t letting their No. 5 points position put a damper on their shot at a second consecutive Top Fuel world championship as they kick off the NHRA Countdown to the Championship at this weekend’s Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.

Force won her first championship starting the Countdown from the No. 6 position in 2017. In that same year, she picked up the victory at Maple Grove Raceway. The Monster Energy team will be looking for their third consecutive No. 1 qualifying position at the facility. Force was also No. 1 in 2015 and 2019, when she set the current NHRA Top Fuel elapsed time national record at 3.623 seconds.

“After a day of testing in Indy following the U.S. Nationals, our Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team is ready to head to the first race of Countdown at Maple Grove Raceway. We figured out some of our issues and it was a very successful test session. Our goals haven’t changed heading into Reading and the Countdown; we want to make four solid runs to qualify in the top 5 and go some rounds on race day. We’re ready to start chasing down that No. 1 points spot. Going in No. 5 wasn’t our plan but we’re up for the challenge.”

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READING, PA – Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster team will be looking for some of that same magic they found last year as they enter this weekend’s Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway and the start of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship.

Prock is the defending champion at Maple Grove Raceway, an event he won last year from the No. 4 starting position and in which he beat Steve Torrence, Antron Brown and Justin Ashley, the top three starters in this year’s playoffs, in the final three rounds. Prock starts the Countdown from the No. 7 position, that’s five better than he started a year ago when he finished third, equaling the most positions gained in the history of the playoffs, matching Robert Hight’s jump from 10th to first in 2009.

“There’s no better feeling than coming into a race as the defending champ, especially when it’s the first race of the Countdown. I’m looking forward to Friday and getting odd on a good foot at Maple Grove Raceway,” Prock said. “We had another successful pre-Countdown test session in Indy and I believe it will show this weekend. We’re focused and ready to make another championship run with this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team.”

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READING, PA – Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS team are well positioned sitting No. 3 in the points standings as they head into the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, the first event in the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship.

Hight and the Cornwell Tools Chevy return to Maple Grove Raceway as the defending Funny Car event champions. Hight had a commanding performance in 2022 with wire-to-wire success winning from the No.1 position. Hight also at Maple Grove in 2011 and qualified No. 1 in 2015 and 2017. The Cornwell Tools Camaro No. 3 points positioning comes off the strength of two wins at the Arizona Nationals and Charlotte Four-Wide events. He also has four No.1. qualifiers from the Route 66 Nationals, Thunder Valley Nationals, Heartland Nationals, and the most recent event, the U.S. Nationals where he also picked up a win in the All-Star Callout and had a semifinal finish.

“I’m ready to get this Countdown going. This Cornwell Tools team is coming around at the right moment. We’ve found some consistency, the combination that Jimmy Prock is using, it’s responding to what he and Thomas Prock and Nathan Hildahl are doing,” Hight said. “It’s slight adjustments and it’s running well, the progress is showing and it’s perfect timing. Everything has reset and we’re sitting in a good spot to really take a swing at this fourth championship. I’m excited to get started.”

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READING, PA – John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS team enter the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, the first race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship, sitting No. 9 in the points standings after the points reset and Force’s five championship bonus points were added.

Sitting only 99 points back from the lead, Force’s No. 9 position is the lowest he’s ever begun the six-race playoffs, matching his start from 2018 when he eventually went on to finish fourth. Force is among only five Funny Car drivers who have qualified for every Countdown, teammate Robert Hight is among the group. Force enters the Countdown looking for his first win of the season after the regular season delivered a runner-up finish at the rain-delayed New England Nationals in New Hampshire and a No. 1 qualifying spot at the Northwest Nationals near Seattle.

“It’s Countdown time, it’s exciting, everything resets. It’s like a fresh start. I know we’ve got some work to do, but it’s coming around. These last six races, we could make it. Daniel Hood, Tim Fabrisi, all these PEAK guys, I’ve got faith in them,” Force said. “Maple Grove Raceway has history, and its new owners have really put their heart into the facility. I’m excited to get back there, excited to get this Countdown started. I’m going for 17, that’s why I’m out here.”

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