NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Event 6 of 24 (Charlotte I)
zMAX Dragway
Concord, N.C.
April 26-28, 2019

(EXCERPT)

DSR Charlotte I Elimination Highlights:

• Leah Pritchett (Top Fuel) and Matt Hagan (Funny Car) raced to the final elimination quad in their respective categories on Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
• Jack Beckman advanced to fourth (tied) in the Countdown to the Championship Funny Car standings
• Hagan maintained his No. 2 ranking in the point standings

Driver Information
Funny Car:

TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Qualified: No. 4 (3.938 E.T. at 320.36 MPH)

The Results:
E1: 3.978 E.T. at 321.35 MPH defeated Jeff Diehl 4.492 E.T. at 236.09 MPH, Terry Haddock 11.602 E.T. at 69.75 MPH
E2: 4.363 E.T. at 213.60 MPH defeated by Robert Hight 3.977 E.T. at 322.58 MPH, Shawn Langdon 4.311 E.T. at 248.93 MPH

Race Recap:
Tommy Johnson Jr. entered the weekend seeking his first zMAX Dragway win and positioned himself well by qualifying the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat No. 4 in the field and earning the advantage of first choice of lanes in round one. He posted a 3.978 E.T., the quickest of the round, to score the victory over his competition.

In round two, Johnson found himself in a quad stacked with three former world champions. His machine was on a good pass before hazing the tires just past halftrack, allowing his lane four opponent to pull ahead and nab the win, ending Johnson’s day.

Quotable:
“Losing in the second round is not what we wanted, but we learned some things and it was still a productive day. We had a good race car but the track was really tricky. The quad we were in, only one car made a full run, the rest of us had issues. We’ll learn from this and take it to Atlanta. It’s only going to get hotter and if we can learn from this for the summertime, that’s great.”

NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship Standings:
Top Fuel
1. Steve Torrence – 460
2. Doug Kalitta – 426
3. Clay Millican – 394
4. Mike Salinas – 384
5. Brittany Force – 382
6. Leah Pritchett – 378
7. Antron Brown – 317
8. Terry McMillen – 309
9. Richie Crampton – 296
10. Billy Torrence – 265

Funny Car
1. Robert Hight – 582
2. Matt Hagan – 440
3. John Force – 417
4t. Jack Beckman – 394
4t. J.R. Todd – 394
6. Tommy Johnson Jr. – 371
7. Tim Wilkerson – 339
8. Shawn Langdon – 338
9. Ron Capps – 318
10. Bob Tasca III – 282