Download Print Hagan Quickest Mopar in Provisional Qualifying at Maple Grove Raceway Mopar vying for Pro Stock and Funny Car title wins this weekend at the 30th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway Matt Hagan paces the Don Schumacher Racing HEMI-powered Mopars with a provisional No.2 spot in qualifying Jeg Coughlin Jr. is the best of the Mopar factory hot rods with the fourth quickest pass after two provisional Pro Stock qualifying runs October 3, 2014 , Reading, Pa - It was a quick start to the 30th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Nationals for a number of Mopar entries in qualifying on Friday at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania, the fourth stop in the six-event playoff series known as the “Countdown to the Championship”. The first qualifying session saw all four Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars in the top-five times with Matt Hagan leading the charge as provisional No.1, while Jeg Coughlin Jr. drove his JEGS.com Dodge Dart to the provisional No.3 spot in Pro Stock. At the end of the day, Hagan’s Rocky Boots Mopar ended up second after flirting with a coveted three second pass by posting a 4.008 second elapsed time run at 321.50 mile per hour in Funny Car, while Coughlin finished up fourth on the Pro Stock timing sheets with a 6.542/211.20. After two sessions, the foursome of Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Dodge Charger R/T drivers were all provisionally positioned in the top-eight with Hagan pacing his teammates in second spot, Tommy Johnson Jr. in sixth with a 4.065/316.01, Jack Beckman posted the seventh quickest time at 4.069/313.58, and Ron Capps was eighth on the timing sheets with a 4.070/313.22. Sitting third in the championship hunt, Hagan earned a total of five bonus points for his qualifying efforts to put him within 39 points of the current leader in the Countdown, John Force. "It was another great qualifying day for our Rocky Boots Dodge, and we could run even better before the weekend's over," said Hagan who, after his title win in the first playoff event of the Countdown in Charlotte, and finishing runner-up last weekend in St. Louis, has high hopes to vie for his second the NHRA Funny Car World Championship. Two more Mopars attempting to make the Funny Car field include Jeff Arend in his Dodge Charger R/T who was 11th with a 4.093/310.55, and Mike Smith aboard a 2008 Dodge Stratus who sits 18th with a 4.667/197.31. The provisional Funny Car No.1 qualifier position was taken by Cruz Pedregon with a 3.991/319.52 elapsed time run at 319.52 mph. Defending Pro Stock World Champion, Jeg Coughlin Jr. got to work on trying to make his way back from a current seventh place spot in the Countdown and 133 points behind the leader, Jason Line, with just three eliminations left to determine the 2014 winner. Coughlin, who has won a class-leading four national titles at Reading, drove his pink-schemed Dodge Dart for Breast Cancer Awareness month to the third (6.543 /211.30) and fourth (6.542 /211.20) quickest times in Friday’s qualifying session and knows the importance of a strong showing this weekend "We've got a bit of a climb ahead of us but we're still pushing hard to achieve our ultimate goal of defending our title," said Coughlin whose best showing in the Countdown so far has been a semifinal appearance last weekend at the Midwest Nationals. "We ran well in St. Louis after making some pretty big changes to the car, and we're going to continue to push the envelope this weekend in Reading to try and close the gap. The exciting thing about being in the position we're in is that we can kind of go for it and try some things that normally we probably wouldn't try. These aren't crazy, panicky moves; they're more like moves we've all thought about and discussed in the past that we just didn't try because the points were so close. They still are close, but being six rounds back, we have the luxury of being able to take bigger chances." Johnson & Johnson HEMI-powered teammate, Allen Johnson, had a much more difficult day in the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart and had to abandon both of his qualifying runs after battling a loose car putting him in the 18th on the timing sheets. He will make two more attempts on Saturday to improve his seeding for eliminations at Maple Grove Raceway. Mopar driver V. Gaines posted a first lap of 6.568 / 211.00 mph then improved on his second run to a 6.557/210.77 to sit in the provisional seventh spot in qualifying aboard his Dodge Avenger. The provisional top spot was held by Erica Enders-Stevens with a 6.513/211.76. An hour and a half of qualifying highlights from the 30th annual NHRA Nationals will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 3:30 a.m. (ET) and then re-aired later that afternoon at 4:30 pm (ET). Three hours of elimination round coverage from Maple Grove Raceway, the fourth stop in four consecutive weekend NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series national events and the fourth of the six-event playoff series referred to as the “Countdown to the Championship”, will air Sunday evening starting at 8:00 p.m. (ET). 2014 Countdown to the Championship Standings (Following NHRA Midwest Nationals Race Final) PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses) 1. Jason Line – 2364 (4) 2. Dave Connolly – 2338 (3) 3. Erica Enders-Stevens – 2297 (4) 4. Shane Gray 2256 (1) 5. Jonathan Gray – 2245 (1) 6. Vincent Nobile – 2241 (1) 7. Jeg Coughlin Jr. – Dodge Dart – 2231 (2) 8. Allen Johnson – Dodge Dart – 2220 (4) 9. V. Gaines – Dodge Dart – 2155 10. Chris McGaha – 2104 FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses) 1. John Force – 2344 (3) 2. Courtney Force – 2314 (4) 3. Matt Hagan – Dodge Charger R/T – 2302 (2) 4. Robert Hight – 2253 (5) 5. Ron Capps – Dodge Charger R/T – 2218 (2) 6. Tommy Johnson Jr. – Dodge Charger R/T – 2216 (1) 7. Alexis DeJoria – 2196 (3) 8. Del Worsham – 2193 9. Tim Wilkerson – 2155 10. Cruz Pedregon – 2135 (1) 11. Jack Beckman – Dodge Charger R/T – 974 About Mopar Motorsports Mopar’s commitment to professional motorsports competition was established in the 1950s when a partnership ignited with drag racing pioneer Don Garlits, resulting in the breaking of numerous speed and performance barriers in HEMI®-powered vehicles over the next several decades. In 2014, Mopar celebrates the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the GEN III 426 Race HEMI® and looks to defend back-to-back NHRA World Championship titles (2012-2013) in the Pro Stock class and battle for another Funny Car World Championship after wins in 2011-2012. While Mopar remains involved in a various professional motorsports series, it continues to honour its roots by being a proud supporter of amateur racing within the NHRA with its sponsorship of the HEMI Challenge and Mopar Sportsman Cup. Mopar Brand Mopar (a simple contraction of the words Motor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product but truly made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era. From Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, the brand soon expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, Mopar is FCA’s service, parts and customer-care brand and distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in more than 130 markets, integrating service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance dealer and customer support worldwide. Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for FCA brands. Mopar parts are unique in that they are engineered with the same teams that create factory-authorized vehicle specifications for FCA vehicles – a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance parts is available at www.mopar.com. Mopar-first Features Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including: Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with customers Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format. First to offer complete vehicle-information kits in Spanish Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot Wireless charging: first to introduce in-vehicle wireless charging for portable devices Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owner a text when vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set parameters wiAdvisor: first to provide factory-connected tablet technology in the service lane for instant vehicle diagnosis wiTech: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated wireless tool network 2011 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak: first to introduce a 500-plus cubic-inch V-10 drag-race package car NHRA Mopar Reading Hagan Coughlin