zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC has been holding NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series 4-Wide races since 2010, albeit always in springtime. There was no 4-Wide race in 2020, nor was there one at this track last year. It was first to present this unique format, followed by The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, both owned by Speedway Motorsports.
For the first time in the track’s history, it has a pair of 4-Wide races in the 20-contest 2025 calendar, with the second this week as Race No. 2 in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs. What this means is that, while crew chiefs have plenty of information about competing on North Carolina’s premier dragstrip, no one in the series knows what to expect in the waning days of summer at this track.
That could create even more excitement than what occurred this past weekend in Pennsylvania, where the nitro ranks saw Shawn Reed victorious in Top Fuel, a scant two months after his monster accident at Seattle and Cruz Pedregon earning his 40th Wally trophy after succumbing to a 55-race drought, in the 40th Reading NHRA Nationals.
Those 40th Reading NHRA Nationals also saw an unusual accident, where Doug Kalitta’s front tire and suspension issue caused the 2023 Top Fuel champion, a veteran of more than a quarter-century of top-line drag racing, to cross the centerline after passing the finish lights with a win, and collide with the dragster driven by racing legend Tony Stewart, the points leader at the time of their second-round collision. Stewart’s car went on its side but came down on its wheels, while Kalitta once again crossed the centerline before coming to a halt. Both drivers were okay and, with his final round appearance, losing to Shawn Reed, Kalitta assumed the points lead.
Now it’s on to zMAX and four-across racing, so it’s important to see who’s done well at this track in the springtime, as they might have a few extra notes to bring to the water box, with four rounds of qualifying and four of eliminations over the course of three days.
The spring race at zMAX has been very kind of John Force Racing from 2021 through this season; John Force won the Funny Car spring race in both 2021 and 2022, while Austin Prock has won the 4-Wide in both Top Fuel (2023) and this year’s race in Funny Car. Robert Hight was the 2023 Funny Car winner, allowing JFR to lock out the nitro Winners Circle that season.
Steve Torrence took Top Fuel honors in 2021 while Mike Salinas was the winner in 2022; with his former crew chief Rob Flynn now turning knobs for eight-time dragster champ Tony Schumacher of Rick Ware Racing, he could give that veteran opportunities at this track. Shawn Langdon of Kalitta Motorsports was this year’s Top Fuel spring winner.
But at this time of year, the track will be different than it was in the spring, and with four lanes in operation, that throws another wrench into everyone’s data. The 4-Wide Carolina Nationals create another opportunity for Shawn Reed to go back-to-back in these playoffs after winning last week and the week before in IHRA competition. Whoever takes the No. 1 seed will have at least one bye round as there are 15 dragsters entered.
When you’re hot, you’re hot and yes, Shawn Reed fits that description. He and crew chief Rob Wendland have their hotrod tuned well and the second-year pro moved up from tenth to sixth with his Reading victory.
Kalitta heads the Top Fuel standings, followed by Las Vegas 4-Wide winner Stewart (his maiden NHRA Top Fuel victory), spring 4-Wide race winner Langdon, Justin Ashley, Reed, Brittany Force, Steve Torrence, Antron Brown and Josh Hart. Yet there are still five races to go and this class is tight, points-wise, with 132 points separating first from tenth.
The legacy of Tony Stewart continues to grow and the Indiana native’s comfort level in straight-line racing is accelerating. Daily. Following the announcement before Reading that wife Leah Pruett would be returning to the seat of her Top Fuel dragster, run under the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Direct Connection banner in 2026, and the reveal that Elite Motorsports and TSR had formed an alliance, new information about that alignment of business interests took a new tack.
On Thursday, September 18, Elite Motorsports sent out a new release about its Top Fuel plans and, yes, they’re centered on Stewart. “Once funded, motorsports icon Tony Stewart will take the wheel of the Elite Motorsports Top Fuel dragster for the 2026 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season,” Elite pronounced. Funding, of course, is the operative fuel for all racing, but Elite’s owner Richard Freeman, who outright purchased Josh Hart’s dragster operation shortly after the U.S. Nationals were completed, feels confident he’s got the tools to bring “Smoke” the type of entry he merits.
“Having Tony as our driver, adding another Top Fuel entry, we’re taking care of the sport and opening up possibilities,” Freeman said. “That’s why we’ll have Erica [Enders, six-time Pro Stock champion] and Aaron [Stanfield] licensed in the car as well. First things first though, we need to get the program funded, but letting everyone know our intentions, that will help.”
Fully recognizing Stewart’s recognition through the motorsports arena, Freeman contends, “Tony is a great driver, we all know he can drive anything – he’s great for drag racing, not just as a team owner, but behind the wheel. We’re excited that, throughout marketing alliance with Tony Stewart Racing, we’re creating an opportunity for Tony to keep a Top Fuel seat and a chance to race alongside his wife, Leah.”
Of all drivers, Steve Torrence is the king of 4-Wide racing in NHRA, even though he was vocal about this type of event when the Charlotte track built in two added lanes for competition. “I wasn’t a big fan and I wes vocal about it. After a couple of years, though, it was pretty clear that four-wide racing wasn’t going away, so we either had to get good at it or get out!” Torrence has six 4-Wide victories out of 22 events held and has been in the final quads 12 times, giving him a won-lost record of 35-15. Only Dallas Glenn in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle are close with four wins each.
Langdon, who earned his first Top Fuel victory in Charlotte (2012) and won the spring 4-wide race at this track, had a good perspective on having a four-abreast contest in the Countdown. His spring 2025 win was the 1000th Top Fuel NHRA race: “it’ll be a little bit unique this year with the Four-Wides in the Countdown,” he said, “but I think it’s good. I think trying something different is good for the sport, not just getting status quo every year.”
With Austin Prock a two-time 4-wide winner at this track – in Top Fuel and Funny Car, it would be hard to bet against him, especially since the four prior four-across races have seen his team, John Force Racing, in the Winners Circle five times! There’s only 103 points between Prock, racing his Chevrolet SS and tenth-place Daniel Wilkerson’s Ford Mustang, making this class a bit more tight than the dragsters.
Prock’s teammate Jack Beckman, driving John Force’s Chevy is second, followed by Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra, Paul Lee’s, Matt Hagan’s, and Reading winner Cruz Pedregon’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats, J.R. Todd’s Supra, Spencer Hyde’s Mustang, Alexis DeJoria in the JCM Mustang and Wilkerson’s Mustang.
With his wins at Las Vegas and Charlotte in the two earlier 4-Wide contests this year, Prock has the opportunity to three-peat this weekend. Still, his approach, especially after leaving competition in the second round last week, hasn’t changed. “We go up there and we try and kill it every time we stand on the gas, so I don’t think we adjust our approach,” he said. “We just have to do the best we can and, hopefully, it’s good enough to turn on the win light.” Going for three consecutive victories at zMAX Dragway and three straight at four-wide tracks, “I think that it’s just all the stars have been aligning.”
There are 19 entries in Funny Car, including all top-10 candidates, together with Terry Haddock and Phil Burkart Jr in Mustangs, a second straight race for Joe Morrison and his Dodge, Jim Campbell in an older Chevy flopper, the return of Alex Laughlin as Buddy Hull’s super-sub in Jim Dunn’s Dodge and Blake Alexander in his Chad Green Racing Dodge. Alexander, the runner-up to Pedregon last week, has to be considered a threat every time he attacks a straight-line track.
This is the “home” race for KB Titan Racing and their top two stars are at the head of the class in Pro Stock competition. Dallas Glenn brought home the Wally trophy last week in Reading while teammate and six-time titleholder Greg Anderson went out of the competition on his DQ during burnouts in the semifinal round. That gave Glenn a bit of cushion after a single race, 62 points, but it’s not enough to really matter.
The gap from first to tenth in the door slammer class is 195 points coming out of Reading and into Charlotte, with KB Titan’s Deric Kramer the caboose of that train. After Glenn and Anderson comes Indy runner-up Matt Hartford from KB Titan, Elite Motorsport’s Aaron Stanfield, a tie between KB Titan’s Eric Latino and Cory Reed, Reading runner-up Cody Coughlin, Elite’s Erica Enders, Jeg Coughlin Jr and Kramer.
Nineteen Pro Stock entries mean there’s lots of movement opportunity during this weekend’s race. With both Eric and son Matt Latino racing with KB Titan, together with Cristian Cuadra and Greg Stanfield adding to Elite Motorsports’ firepower, expect to see plenty of reciprocal action between these two groups.
Over the past half-decade of 4-Wide racing in Charlotte, recalling there was no 2024 spring race and that Pro Stock didn’t race here in 2022’s springtime race, Dallas Glenn earned the Wally in 2021, with Deric Kramer and Glenn the only other winners in this class. Well, it is KB’s home race and, while that team puts max effort into each and every competition on the docket, their fervor to take home the spoils at home has to be strong.
Who’s good at Charlotte in Pro Stock Motorcycle 4-Wide competition? Outside this year’s springtime race, won by Buell rider Matt Smith, who has always performed well at his home race, it was also okay to be riding a Suzuki. Going back to 2021 and 2022, the most veteran PSM rider, Steve Johnson claimed the 4-Wide win twice, in 2021 and 2022. Gaige Herrera won here in 2023 yet, earlier this year Smith won the 4-Wide zMAX competition. While he fell to teammate John Hall in Reading Smith’s compelling ability to perform at the highest level can never be ignored.
At last year’s traditional two-wide Carolina NHRA Nationals, Antron Brown, Austin Prock, Dallas Glenn and Matt Smith brought home the trophies in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Who will hoist the 2025 4-Wide Carolina Nationals Wally trophies this week? The weather intends to cooperate, with hot, sunny skies forecast for all three days.
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