NHRA Countdown to the Champion Playoffs add 4-Wide Race at zMAX Dragway
NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship will look different in 2025, as the fall race on Charlotte’s zMAX Dragway becomes a four-wide contest, making for three races next year that have combatants racing four across. As is customary, early in the season Las Vegas will contest its four-wide race, followed by the 4-Wide spring contest at zMAX Dragway.
For the first time, challengers in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle will need to show their proficiency at this very different type of side-by-side racing. The revamped NHRA 4Wide Carolina Nationals are scheduled for September 1921, 2025 at what is considered the Bellagio of Dragstrips, zMAX Dragway.
As the second of six total Countdown contests and the 16th of 20 races during the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing season, the race in Charlotte has been two-wide since the dragstrip began holding a pair of NHRA races each year. Greg Walter, president and general manager at Charlotte Motor Speedway remarked, as he announced this revamping of the fall race at the Performance Racing Industry show, “Creating remarkable events is at the core of what we strive to do every day, and a four-wide Countdown race is the next in a long line of firsts we’re proud to be part of in motorsports.
“We’ve seen the popularity of four-wide racing with fans for years at our spring event,” Walter continued, “but with championship implications on the line, next year’s showcase of speed promises to be our best yet.” zMAX Dragway was the first purpose-built four-lane dragstrip. The four-across track debuted in 2010 at its spring race and has been a fan favorite ever since, packing this very large facility every year during the early-season race.
Bringing four-wide racing to NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship will bring more stress to the drivers and crew chiefs as they strive to succeed in the Countdown, which begins with three races in a row: Reading, Charlotte and St. Louis. Last year’s Carolina Nationals winners were eventual champions Antron Brown in Top Fuel and Austin Prock in Funny Car. They were joined by Dallas Glenn in Pro Stock and Matt Smith in Pro Stock Motorcycle, who placed second in their respective classes.
zMAX Dragway and its four-wide races have provided some exquisite side-by-side-by-side-by-side contests in the spring action and in 2025, the spring race, April 25-27 will feature the 1,000th race in Top Fuel. “I think it’s positive,” said 2023 Top Fuel titleholder Doug Kalitta. “You have to go as many rounds as you can in those six [Countdown] races, no matter what, and I think it’ll be good. “If it helps the attendance, that’ll be a double bonus, and I’m totally down with it. People can be pretty opinionated about the four-wide races,” he acknowledged, “but Bruton Smith stepped up like he did his whole life building the beautiful facilities, trying to grow the sport.
“If somebody’s willing to spend the money to build a four-wide track to try to improve the sport, I’m definitely down with supporting people and efforts like that. I like the four-wide,” the veteran Top Fuel ace said, “and I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. Just like with NASCAR and what they do with the road courses and the (Charlotte) Roval, we’re mixing it up. I’m for doing whatever it takes to promote our sport and get the most fans at the events.”
Some of the biggest names in the sport have great four-wide success, including two Top Fuel four-time champions, Brown and Steve Torrence. Torrence has a quartet of four-wide wins in Charlotte (and six overall), while Brown has earned two four-wide victories and six overall at the Dragway. Funny Car legend John Force won the first four-wide event in 2010 and also the most recent this past spring. Ron Capps and Jack Beckman have also won twice at the biggest spectacle in drag racing.
In Pro Stock reigning, six-time world champion Greg Anderson has three four-wide wins at zMAX Dragway, including this year, while reigning two-time-consecutive Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Gaige Herrera won the spring four-wide race the past two seasons at Charlotte.
Glen Cromwell, NHRA president understands the excitement this new format can provide: “We’re excited to team up with the incredible team at zMAX Dragway and have our first-ever four-wide drag racing in the Countdown to the Championship. We wanted to try something different for our fall race in Charlotte and this marks a thrilling new challenge that will be full of playoff intensity. It’s one we think our fans will be eager to see next fall.”