When Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports built the first 4-wide dragstrip at zMAX Dragway just outside Charlotte, NC, it was immediately nicknamed “The Bellagio of Dragstrips.” A second four-wide strip – also owned by Speedway Motorsports – soon became viable on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway abutting Nellis Air Force Base north of Sin City.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, 4-Wide races have been around now for more than 15 years. In 2026, NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series and Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series will have a single attempt at this very different and difficult style of straight-line racing. This weekend marks the sole 4-wide contest on the 20-race Mission Foods schedule, as the sprint Las Vegas race was cancelled and its fall race is two-wide. In 2025, there were three four-wide contests when zMAX Dragway held the first – and maybe only – four-wide race during NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Does that change mean NHRA is abandoning this style of competition or is the 75th anniversary season simply an anomaly? This race at zMAX is definitely bringing racers out of their garages and workshops to compete this coming weekend. As it stands now, there are 19 dragsters, 17 Funny Cars, a total of 21 Pro Stock entries and 16 Pro Stock Motorcycles have signed up to race. Of all the classes, the motorcycles have to be anxious to get back on-track, as they haven’t run since the season starter in Gainesville the first weekend of March. That’s seven weeks between races, while the other three Mission Foods classes are readying for their fourth race of this season.
What to expect? Weather could impact this event, as showers are likely to show up on Saturday and possibly Sunday. It’ll be warm in the Charlotte area, as temps are forecast to climb beyond the 80-degree mark all three days. Beyond that, the need for speed has driven many racers, some of whom are contesting both the NHRA’s competition as well as racing in IHRA events. For that reason, the actual number of racers competing in each class is larger than what we’re used to.
While the top competitors in Top Fuel are all on the docket for this fourth race of the season, there are some part-timers heading for North Carolina to help celebrate NHRA’s 75th anniversary season. And the sponsorship logos are changing for some teams, to boot, making it tougher to tell who’s who? There are four women in the Top Fuel ranks this weekend, led by Leah Pruett and Maddi Gordon. This weekend marks Ida Zetterstrom’s first race of her season, competing alongside Shawn Reed, while Jasmine Salinas is back with NHRA this week after racing an IHRA event held the same weekend as the NHRA’s Winternationals.
At John Force Racing, Josh Hart – and Jack Beckman in Funny Car – are wearing the colors of Hendrick Cars. This HendrickCars.com scheme was used by Brittany Force several times last year; of course, Pro Stock’s six-time champ, Greg Anderson, from KB Titan Racing has full-season backing from Mr. Hendrick. Hart is currently third in the standings; he won in Gainesville and had second-round results at both Phoenix and Pomona. Beckman will forego his PEAK colors to fly the red, white and blue of HendrickCars.com.
Semi-regular players destined to travel for this race include Canadian Dan Mercier, Keith Murt in Paton Racing’s rail, Spencer Massey – running the Massey Motorsports banner – returns to action, as does Connecticut’s Scott Farley. Justin Ashley’s new teammate, Will Smith is looking to make an impact and, after two races where she went to the semifinals (and into the Mission #2fast2Tasty challenge), Maddi Gordon intends to let everyone know she’s here and ready to keep at it and bring her Ron Capps Motorsports rail back into contention.
Last year Shawn Langdon took the win for Kalitta Motorsports and the Californian has been running exceptionally well all through the early season, earning victory at Phoenix. He, along with teammates Doug Kalitta (currently Kalitta and Langdon lead the dragster points standings) and J.R. Todd in Funny Car are flying the colors of SoundGear, a company that manufactures hearing protection, something most racers can use. Their products are produced by Starkey, one of the global leaders in hearing technology.
Seventeen Funny Cars are on the entry list this week, led by last year’s winner of this race and the class’ reigning titleholder, Austin Prock. Of course, Prock worked last year and the year before at John Force Racing (JFR); at the season’s close and once his second straight title was secured, Prock, his father and crew chief Jimmy, his brother and co-crew chief Thomas, along with their crew, beat feet for Tasca Racing, allowing team owner Bob Tasca the opportunity to watch, rather than drive his car. So far, there hasn’t been much to see. Prock DNQ’d at Gainesville and was out in the first round at both Phoenix and Pomona. That’s left Prock in 14th place, but no doubt his team will find its footing soon.
Prock’s learning curve has allowed two of the sport’s regular protagonists to hold firm to the lead in Funny Car standings. Phoenix winner Ron Capps, driving his Toyota GR Supra and Pomona victor – in the 1000th Funny Car race – Matt Hagan in his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, are atop the standings. With the unpredictable nature of four-wide competition and the depth of the field contracted to perform in Charlotte, expect changes in the standings by the time the sun sets on Sunday. Keep an eye on Chad Green’s Mustang, Jordan Vandergriff in the car Prock drove last year, the JFR Chevrolet SS, Spencer Hyde in Jim Head’s Mustang and Daniel Wilkerson, if he can keep his Mustang together (he had a massive Friday blowup in Pomona qualifying).
There will be some new faces in different places in this class: Phil Burkart Jr. rejoins the series in a Dodge, Jeff Arend takes over Jim Dunn’s Charger for the second race in a row, John Smith is in the Paul Smith Racing Dodge, while Jeff Diehl takes a break from IHRA racing to return to NHRA competition. Hunter Green will be driving the Chad Green Racing Charger this weekend. While most of the racers in the Flopper class have driven in four-wide competition before this week, Vandergriff has never had that opportunity. Currently fifth in the standings, racing in a class he’d never entered before this year, Vandergriff has already pulled out two semifinal results and a second-round showing.
Dallas Glenn used victory in this race last season as impetus for his first Pro Stock championship with KB Titan Racing. Forced to watch as teammate Greg Anderson notched win after win and title after title (he’s got six to Glenn’s one), Glenn in 2026 has more confidence to go with his 31-point advantage over Anderson. As it did in 2025, KB Titan appears to have the better of their regular combatants, Elite Motorsports, but in this class, the tide can turn fairly quickly. Elite has one racer in their stable who’s got a memorable weekend ahead: five-time Pro Stock champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. will start his 500th race in this class on Sunday and is hoping to be standing tall at the close of the three rounds of competition.
Jeg is one of three Coughlin entries: Troy Coughlin is attached to Elite, while Cody runs with KB – and wasn’t able to race in Pomona, allowing Dave Connolly to stretch his competitive legs and score a semifinal result that will remain with Cody Coughlin in the points order. Every racer in the top ten is on the entry list, together with Brandon Miller and Alan Prusiensky, both driving Dodge cars while the balance of the field relies on Chevy power. Shane Tucker is back in a Volando Tequila-sponsored Chevy, while veteran Rodger Brogdon returns to competition. Keep an eye on Cody Anderson, Greg’s son, who is in his first year of competition and is looking to lock in the Rookie of the Year award.
Pro Stock Motorcycle did not have a full field at the Gatornationals in March but returns with all riders intact and 16 on the grounds with either Buell or Suzuki power. Victory in the season starter was all Richard Gadson needed to start his championship year and he used his Vance & Hines Motorsports Suzuki Hayabusa3 to perfection in Florida, beating Matt Smith Racing’s John Hall in the final round and leaving the Buell rider 30 points behind him. Matt Smith, on his Buell, won this early-season four-wide race last year yet was out of the Gatornationals in the second round – against Clayton Howey’s Suzuki. Both riders will be in Charlotte this week.
Since it’s been a while, the top 10 in Pro Stock Motorcycle are Gadson, Hall, Howey, Steve Johnson, who is commemorating his 40th year in the class (!), six-time champ Matt Smith, Angie Smith, two-time champ Gaige Herrera, Chase Van Sant, Ryan Oehler and Jianna Evaristo. One of last season’s brightest stars, Brayden Davis left Vance & Hines at the close of the season after finishing fifth on a part-time basis and joined Ryan Oehler’s Buell team; we’ll find out if that was a smart move as the season progresses. In addition to our top 10 riders, look for 2003 champ Geno Scali’s Suzuki, Marc Ingwersen’s Buell, Wesley Wells on a Suzuki, Michael Ray Jr. putting his Matt Smith Racing tools on the bench in order to ride a Buell again, and Kelly Clontz on her Suzuki.
Beyond the four Mission Foods classes, fans will have the ultimate pleasure of watching Pro Mod, Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car, Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, and Factory Stock Showdown. The printed schedule allows for four qualifying sessions, with the second Friday evening session starting at 7:45PM for the nitro cars. On Saturday, the dual sessions include NHRA’s great Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for all four Mission classes; this will be the first Challenge event for Pro Stock Motorcycle; for each class it’s a re-run of the prior race’s semifinal rounds. Sunday’s eliminations are set to start at the crack of noon.
In addition to regular racing, NHRA’s celebration of its 75th, diamond anniversary will include appearances by Matt Hagan, Darryl Gwynn and Frank Manzo. Manzo won 105 national events and 17 Top Alcohol Funny Car championships (that’s one more than John Force’s 16 national titles in nitro Funny Car), along with 21 divisional titles. NHRA is introducing a new Nitro Mall and, on Sunday, the first 5,000 fans through the gates receive a free, limited-edition NHRA schedule magnet.
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