Mopar Ready to Run Four-Wide at Charlotte

Concord, NC –   While Mopar drivers and teams were ready to run the first two qualifying sessions of this weekend’s fourth annual Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Mother Nature had other plans as rain and inclement weather forced the cancellation of Friday’s activities at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s zMAX Dragway. The event features an unusual format that has entries in each pro class compete against each other using four lanes instead of the usual two. This will be the fifth event on the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series schedule.

Weather permitting, qualifying should resume on Saturday with two sessions to set the field for Sunday’s Four-Wide elimination rounds where Mopar is hoping to continue a win streak that spans 10 events.  It began here in Charlotte in Sept. 2012 and is currently at 12 title wins (Pro Stock and Funny Car) which includes the five victories in the first four races of this season. Contributing to that total are five Pro Stock wins by Allen Johnson, three Funny Car titles by Ron Capps, and individual victories by Jack Beckman (FC), V. Gaines (PS), Vincent Nobile (PS), and Johnny Gray (FC).

Friday’s action did see the first ten Pro Stock entries post times before rain began to fall just prior to runs by the Dodge Avengers of Johnson, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Nobile and Gaines. Shane Gray holds the provisional No. 1 qualifier position following the cancellation of the rest of qualifying for Pro Stock, as well as Funny Car and Top Fuel classes.

Mopar Express Lane driver Johnson (354 points) heads into this weekend’s event as the points leader following two consecutive National title victories at the Gatornationals and Las Vegas, as well as the K&N Horsepower Challenge. His teammate Coughlin Jr. (330 points) is third in class after taking JEGS.com Mopar to the semifinals in three of the last four events while Nobile (276), who also runs Johnson & Johnson supplied HEMI engines, rounds out the top-five with a win in the season opening race.  The fourth full-time HEMI®-powered Dodge driver, Gaines (232 points) is in seventh place.

Don Schumacher Racing’s Matt Hagan comes back to Charlotte still holding the track record he set at 3.995 seconds (322.27 mph) in 2011 at the fall event. He’s hoping to improve on his performances so far this year that have the ‘Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar’ Dodge Charger R/T fourth in the points, splitting his teammates Johnny Gray (second) and Ron Capps (fifth) in the standings. Defending Funny Car Champion Jack Beckman is currently eighth.