Hagan Leads Mopar with No.2 Starting Spot for NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

  • Matt Hagan and Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car earn No.2 qualifier spot for 7th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
  • A DSR Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car has qualified first or second in the first five events of the 2016 NHRA season
  • Allen Johnson Dodge Dart is top Mopar Pro Stock qualifier in ninth spot on the eliminations ladder
April 23, 2016 , Concord, North Carolina - 
Don Schumacher Racing’s (DSR) Matt Hagan will drive into race day at the 7th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Four-Wide Nationals as the No. 2 qualifier for eliminations at the specially built four-lane zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, N.C.
 
The two-time Funny Car world champ and his DSR Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car provisionally held the top spot on Friday with both ends of the track record after posting a 3.941 second lap and a speed of 323.50 miles per hour before rain wiped out the second evening qualifying session and competitor Alexis DeJoria dislodged Hagan from the pole position with a 3.934/321.04 lap in Saturday qualifying. 
 
While this is the first time this year without a Mopar as the No. 1 qualifier going into eliminations, Hagan is content with the no.2 spot as he would much rather come away with the top honor on Sunday.
 
“I’m very optimistic,” said Hagan who has earned three titles at his home track in five final round appearances. “I just have to race my race. There are so many ways to get distracted and lose focus. I just have to do my job and my focus will be on that.” 
 
The Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T ran 3.941/323.50 mph and 4.015/314.75 laps during Saturday qualifying in preparation for eliminations.
 
“We’re happy to get more data to work off. (Crew Chief) Dickie (Venables) has changed some things over the last two weeks in the fuel system and clutch so we’re hoping for a solid run in the first round. It’s only three rounds tomorrow to win it so we’re one step closer to the winner’s circle when we get to the track.”
 
Hagan will begin eliminations against three other competitors with the first two to cross the finish advancing to the next round. Hagan will stage his Mopar against Daniel Wilkerson, Chad Head and DSR teammate Ron Capps to start the day. Only three rounds will be contested with the winner of the final foursome getting the coveted Wally trophy.
 
DSR teammate Jack Beckman, who has three of Mopar’s four No.1 qualifier honors this season, is next on the final qualifying sheets in sixth place with his best lap of 3.964/319.45 aboard the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T. He finds himself in an opening round quad against John Force, Bob Tasca and DSR teammate Tommy Johnson Jr.
 
Capps, whose DSR Dodge Charger R/T is third in Funny Car points on the strength of a win and a runner-up finish and a pole position in the first three events of the year, qualified tenth with his best run of 3.986/319.67 to find himself in the same quad as Hagan to start race day.
 
Tommy Johnson Jr., who went into the final session not qualified, laid down a 3.992-second lap at 315 mph to put the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T 11th overall and put him in a foursome against Beckman, Force, and Tasca.
 
"A year ago at the Four-Wide, if you ran a 3.99 you would've looked like a hero,” Johnson said. “Come in this weekend with a 3.99 and you're middle of the pack. The performance of the class is so good right now. You can't be off. That's why you really have to focus and do your job every run. Everybody has stepped it up.
 
John Hale is the fifth Dodge Charger driver to make the field with a 4.094/309.91 run to earn a 13th place seeding and a spot in a first round quad against Courtney Force, Del Worsham and Cruz Pedregon.
 
The Mopar Pro Stock contingent’s top qualifier was Allen Johnson and his J& J Racing Marathon Petroleum Dodge Dart GT after recovering from a problem on his first run on Friday to make a pass at 6.634 seconds at 208.24 mph to put himself ninth on the eliminations ladder and in a quad against No.1 qualifier Greg Anderson (6.576/210.41), Shane Tucker and Chris McGaha for the opening round.
 
Elite Motorsports driver Erica Enders was close behind in tenth place with her best run of 6.644/207.08, but despite finding herself in the bottom half of the ladder, the driver of the Mopar Performance Dodge Dart GT is keeping things in perspective.
 
"Sure, it's frustrating when you don't run well and we did expect to be a little better this weekend than what we've shown so far, but we will stick to the master plan (team owner) Richard Freeman drew up when we signed with Mopar and keep on marching forward," said the two-time and defending Pro Stock champion. 
 
“The biggest bummer is seeing my guys and how hard they're working and then not seeing positive results on the racetrack,” Enders added. “I'm more proud of them now than I've ever been because the determination and perseverance they're showing is just incredible. No one is leaving until they are 100 percent satisfied that we have a race car capable of winning tomorrow. I'll certainly do my best behind the wheel and we'll take our chances."
 
Enders will stage next to Drew Skillman, John Gaydosh, and Alex Laughlin in the first of three elimination rounds on Sunday to determine a winner.

An audio file of Erica Enders talking about the NHRA Four-Wide experience is available at: https://soundcloud.com/chryslercommunications/mopar-driver-erica-enders-talks-about-the-nhra-four-wide-experience-from-under-the-helmet
 
For Elite Motorsports teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr., finding himself in a similar position in the bottom half of the ladder and seeded 12th isn’t something he’s very happy about either after driving his “Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar”/JEGS.com Dodge Dart’s best pass came in the final lap session with a 6.660/207.37 pass.
 
“Coming into the event we certainly felt like we were making more in the horsepower department, and Erica's car was tested and ran well last week in Tulsa (Okla.), but something still appears to be holding us back," Coughlin said. "We're not quite scratching our heads but we're close to that. We know we're capable of running within a few hundredths of the front teams, which would be a low 6.60 here, but we weren't able to do that this weekend.
 
"Typically, when you're as far off as we are here it's something pretty obvious, but that's not the case. The boys are already hard at it trying to find a way. It'll be a busy 18 hours until we run the first round of eliminations. Hopefully, we get some things figured out."
 
Coughlin will see Bo Butner, fellow Dodge Dart driver Deric Kramer (13th), and Shane Gray as his first round opponents.
 
Seeded 14th with a 6.671/206.99 best lap, V. Gaines and his HEMI-powered Western Motorsports Kendall Dodge Dart will line up against Jason Line, Vincent Nobile, and Kenny Delco.
 
Qualifying for the Lowes Foods 7th Annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, the fifth of 24 events on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season schedule, will air on FS1 with a two hour qualifying show on Saturday, April 23 at 10 p.m. (ET) and a three hour eliminations broadcast scheduled for Sunday, April 24 starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.
 
2016 NHRA Championship Points Standings
(Following the Las Vegas NHRA Nationals Race Final)
 
PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Jason Line – 503 (2)
2.         Greg Anderson – 461 (2)
3.         Bo Butner – 369
4.         Drew Skillman – 303
5.         Chris McGaha – 247
6.         Allen Johnson – Dodge Dart – 244
7.         Jeg Coughlin Jr. – Dodge Dart – 223
8.         Vincent Nobile – 209
9.         Erica Enders – Dodge Dart – 203
10.       Alex Laughlin – 187
11.       Deric Kramer – Dodge Dart – 161
12.       V. Gaines – Dodge Dart – 155

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Robert Hight – 369 (1)
2.         John Force – 332
3.         Ron Capps – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 321 (1)
4.         Del Worsham – 318
5.         Jack Beckman – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 307
6.         Courtney Force – 302
7.         Alexis DeJoria – 277 (1)
8.         Chad Head – 270
9.         Tim Wilkerson – 254
10.       Matt Hagan – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 190
11.       Tommy Johnson Jr. – (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 181

About Mopar Motorsports
The Mopar brand’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 2016, Mopar will look to once again vie for a NHRA World Championship title in both Pro Stock and Funny Car categories. While Mopar remains involved in a various professional motorsports series, it continues to honor its roots by being a proud supporter of Sportsman racing within the NHRA with its sponsorship of the HEMI Challenge and Mopar’s Tom Hoover Sportsman Challenge.
 
              
About Mopar Brand
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product, but it 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 over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 27 customer-contact hubs globally, Mopar integrates 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 engineered together with the same teams that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles. This offers 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.
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