After two events in the six-race NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship playoffs, only two players in four classes look even partially safe. Drag racing is a sport where anything can happen and usually does. One day you’re up; the next you’re down. A racer might think they’ve got the No. 1, the round wins, the championship in the bag, but in this type of racing, that’s not ever the case. You can earn that No. 1 in four rounds of qualifying and fall in the first round. You can come from the back half of a ladder and win. It’s what makes straight-line racing so unique.
In the third 4-Wide event of this 20-race season and the first 4-Wide to be contested during the playoffs, the standings changed after three rounds of eliminations on Sunday at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC. The two drivers who made it look easy (even though it wasn’t) were John Force Racing (JFR) Funny Car points leader Austin Prock and KB Titan Racing’s Dallas Glenn in Pro Stock; both were the No. 1 seeds and they arrived at the finals finish line before their opponents. They were joined on the Winners Circle stand by Top Fuel’s SCAG Racing star Justin Ashley and Richard Gadson, racing in Pro Stock Motorcycle with his Vance and Hines Motorsports Suzuki Hayabusa.
Prock and Glenn came into this second race leading the points and left with widening gaps and different drivers in hot pursuit. Top Fuel’s Shawn Reed arrived in Charlotte with two race wins under his belt: one at an IHRA event he was using to test his readiness for NHRA Countdown competition and the second in Reading during the first Countdown event. Reed’s Cinderella story couldn’t hold up with NHRA’s fierce competitors nipping at his heels; starting from P8 in the 15-car field, Reed faced No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force and No. 9 Tony Stewart on Sunday. Both of them were quicker and Reed’s rail went back to the trailer.
Justin Ashley earned his fourth race win in the 16th contest of the 20-race season, starting his attack from the No. 1 position, and had to race Kalitta Motorsports’ Shawn Langdon, the most successful dragster driver in NHRA history, Rick Ware Racing’s Tony Schumacher and journeyman Doug Foley. Ashley was runner-up in his first quad with Langdon the winner but in his second race of this Sunday the New Yorker bounced past Brittany Force and Tony Stewart, along with Langdon, who won the zMAX 4-Wide this past April. In the final round, Ashley’s .043-sec reaction time was what he needed to vanquish Doug Kalitta, Langdon (both from Kalitta Motorsports) and Rick Ware Racing’s Clay Millican.
Ashley, this year’s Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals victor recognizes that, “Winning any four-wide race, or any race for that matter, is great. But to win here for the first four-wide race in the fall that NHRA’s ever had, especially where it’s positioned in the Countdown, this was a critical day for us. There are still four races left, but these races are hard to win. So I’m a firm believer in the fact that you have to enjoy them when they come before shifting your focus over to the next one.”
Austin Prock is becoming the king of the 4-Wides; he’s managed to bring home a Wally from all three such events held in this 2025 campaign. And here he is, atop the Funny Car standings in his JFR Chevrolet SS, tuned by dad Jimmy and brother Thomas, who celebrated his birthday before helping tune his brother to Prock’s eighth win in 16 races held to date. That’s half of ‘em, for those doing tabulations. That the reigning Flopper champ wasn’t feeling his physical best made no difference.
In the first quad, Prock’s .066 RT helped him make it first to the finish, ahead of the Ford Mustang of Bob Tasca III, Alex Laughlin in Jim Dunn Racing’s Dodge Charger and the similar car of Hunter Green. His second round saw Tasca leave too quickly and Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra lose its engine and the central portion of its bodywork, while Prock and Daniel Wilkerson (Mustang) raced to the 1,000-foot finish. Wilk ended up in smoke, while Prock’s second 3.9-sec pass (328.78) sent him to the finals.
Facing some familiar protagonists in the final quad, Prock wound up in the third lane a second straight time and went on to win, while Chad Green redlit and fouled. Prock would be shadowed to the finish by Tony Stewart Racing’s Matt Hagan and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, but Prock’s 3.912/332.43 would give him a .0585-second advantage over his foe (3.952/324.12). Wilkerson fell behind at the 660-foot mark and would end up third after Green’s DQ.
“A few of the front-runners went out and we capitalized on it, so to get the win and the points was awesome,” Prock said. “It extended our lead a little bit gong into St. Louis next weekend.” Both of Prock’s teammates, Jack Beckman and Brittany Force (Top Fuel) bowed out in the second round. “Our package just seemed suited for Bruton Smith’s racetracks,” the Funny Car winner mused. “I wasn’t my typical self on the starting line this weekend – I was good but nowhere near what I wanted to be. But the car good enough and our total package was good enough to win. I’m really proud of that.”
It’s never a sure bet, but Dallas Glenn has been polishing a space for his first NHRA Pro Stock championship trophy for more than a couple of years. He’s always raced well in this class, but is giving tutorials during the first two Countdown races, winning at Maple Grove and now at zMAX Dragway on Sunday, as well as gaining the No. 1 seed at both contests. These two wins give Glenn a total of six victories thus far in 2025 and 19 overall. He’s won three consecutive races at zMAX Dragway, dating back to last year and has swept both 4-Wide races at this facility to give himself a 79-point gap on KB Titan Racing teammate Greg Anderson, a six-time Pro Stock champion.
Still, Glenn is not taking it all for granted. Despite the fact that, “I knew I had a fantastic car coming in, so I really just wanted to try to keep the momentum. I really felt like I let everybody down in Indy when I let my foot up a little against Erica (Enders, one of his three competitors in Sunday’s final round). I made that mistake,” he admitted, “so I just wanted to come into this race, step it up just a little bit more and be a little more aggressive. You look at the ladder and you know it’s going to be a tough day, so you just got to try to bring your A game.” Glenn did make a pedal adjustment before the final quad, “And I went up there and just tried to do everything I could do, kind of throw a Hail Mary and hope it stuck.”
In the final round, Glenn faced Anderson and two Elite Motorsports elites: Enders and Aaron Stanfield. He recognizes that he’s leading by three rounds with his 79-point gap to Anderson, who made his eighth final round appearance of 2025. Regarding that three-round advantage, “I want to keep my foot on their throats and keep pressure on until they hand me a trophy!”
It was a Vance and Hines victory in Pro Stock Motorcycle, with Richard Gadson bringing home the win for the Brownsburg-based Suzuki Hayabusa squad. Gadson, with three wins for the 2025 season (and in his NHRA career) earned his first Countdown Wally in a finals quad that was definitely not tilted to his favor. Gadson had to race against the Buells of Matt Smith, Angie Smith and Jianna Evaristo, all prepped and run by Matt Smith Racing. His teammate Gaige Herrera, the reigning two-time titleholder, was gone after the first quad, due to a mechanical issue that slowed him after the 660-foot mark.
That result gave Gadson the points lead once he’d scored wins in all three quads on Sunday. He moved on to the second round after defeating John Hall’s Matt Smith Racing Buell, Ryan Oehler’s Buell and Chris Bostick’s Suzuki Hayabusa. In the second round, Gadson beat Matt Smith and they both defeated Kelly Clontz’s Suzuki and John Hall’s MSR Buell. In the final quad, Gadson’s .015 reaction time allowed him to leave the Matt Smith Racing trio in his dust, giving the second-year NHRA racer his first points lead in NHRA professional competition.
Always self-effacing, Gadson smiled as he remarked, “When you say points leader, I just can’t believe you’re talking about me. Sometimes, when I’m at home and I look at the points and even see my name in second place, I have to read it twice because I just can’t believe it’s really me in this position. You know,” he mused, “When you’re racing against three bikes from a rival team, you don’t want to go up there and do anything stupid. If they’re going to outrun you, then that’s going to be what it is; you just don’t want to beat yourself and when you’re the lone ranger up there racing for your team, you carry it with a little bit more pride. These bikes are really easy to do something stupid on!”
The third consecutive Countdown to the Championship playoff race, the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals, takes place across the river from St. Louis MO this weekend, at World Wide Technology Raceway. Will the points chase have another rewind or are our current leaders stable enough to take their leads through to Texas, Las Vegas and Pomona in November?
By Anne Proffit
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