Stellantis Media Site 'Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil' Event Revs Up This Weekend in St. Louis Contact: Tom   Blattler 'Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil' Event Revs Up This Weekend in St. Louis Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil take place at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, Oct. 2-4 Mopar and Dodge//SRT title event commitment to the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) continues by extending its support to this weekend’s annual stop in St. Louis Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) carries a streak of 10 consecutive national event wins and four-way Funny Car championship battle into Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil Mopar liveries return to Matt Hagan’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car and Leah Pruett’s Top Fuel dragster this weekend Leah Pruett and Mark Pawuk will race their Mopar Drag Paks in Factory Stock Showdown in the third of six events this season September 30, 2020,  Auburn Hills, Mich. - National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series teams in four professional classes and nine sportsman categories are all revved up and ready to drive into the Mopar Express Lane Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil at the World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, Missouri, on Oct. 2-4. Just a short drive from the famed Gateway Arch, the drag strip held its inaugural NHRA national event in 1997, while this 2020 edition marks its first year under the Mopar Express Lane sponsorship banner. The venue will feature the familiar blue, white and yellow Mopar Express Lane signage associated with speedy in-and-out quality, factory-backed service by the certified technicians that keep customer vehicles in tip-top shape while providing everything from convenient oil changes to complimentary multi-point check-ups. In addition to the non-stop racing action on the drag strip, those attending will be able to watch teams at work in the pits and are also invited to visit the Mopar and Dodge//SRT displays in the midway where production vehicle offerings will be showcased. This weekend’s support of the Midwest Nationals marks the second of four title event commitments by Mopar and Dodge//SRT brands of NHRA national events on the reconstructed 2020 calendar: Aug. 6-9: Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals Presented by Pennzoil – Indianapolis, Indiana Oct. 2-4: Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil – Madison, Illinois Oct. 23-25: Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented By Pennzoil – Houston, Texas (rescheduled from the spring date) Oct. 30-Nov. 1: Dodge NHRA Nationals – Las Vegas, NevadaThe Mopar Express Lane Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil is the first of the final four national events left to contest the 2020 season and could be the gateway to a championship run for one of the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars. A four-way battle for the Funny Car world championship is being fought amongst the HEMI®-powered teammates, with Jack Beckman leading the charge and Matt Hagan right on his bumper with a slim four-point deficit, while Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps remain within just a few car lengths out of the top spot. While they jostle for position atop the leaderboard, the DSR Funny Car foursome will also be looking to extend their team’s current streak of consecutive national event wins to a record 11 victories. Each driver has contributed at least one Wally trophy to the string of 10 wins that dates back to October 2019. The DSR team previously set the win streak record at 10 races during the 2017 season with the same driver lineup. Capps has taken four Wallys home from St. Louis (1997, 2005, 2007, 2017) and Beckman has two (2012, 2016), while both Hagan and Johnson will be looking to earn their first wins at the venue. Hagan will park the red, black and chrome Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye-themed Funny Car that he has been running since July to return to the World Wide Technology Raceway drag strip aboard his familiar Mopar HEMI-powered machine. Leah Pruett will also return to her blue and white Mopar Top Fuel Dragster as she looks for any opportunity to gain some traction in the Top Fuel championship, where she sits in third place within two rounds of points leader Steve Torrence and second-place contender Doug Kalitta. Pruett knows a breakthrough win is within sight after advancing to at least a semifinal appearance or better in her last four attempts. Pruett is also looking to turn on some win lights in Factory Stock Showdown competition aboard her Mopar Drag Pak, along with teammate Mark Pawuk and his Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak. This will be the third of six events on the revised season schedule. Two NHRA nitro qualifying sessions are scheduled for 1:30 and 5 p.m. ET on Sat., Oct. 3, with highlights to be aired on FS1 later that night from 10-11 p.m. ET and also on Sun., Oct. 4 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET. Elimination rounds for the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Sun., Oct. 4, with the television broadcast on FS1 beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET featuring live coverage of the final round. NHRA Championship Points Standings:Following the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)1. Jack Beckman (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 569 (2)2. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 565 (2)3. Tommy Johnson Jr. (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 512 (1)4. Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 486 (2)5. Tim Wilkerson – 4486. Bob Tasca III – 4347. J.R. Todd – 4208. Alexis DeJoria – 2969. Cruz Pedregon – 26610. Paul Lee – 258 TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)1. Steve Torrance – 548 (3)2. Doug Kalitta – 526 (1)3. Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge//SRT) – 5154. Billy Torrance – 433 (1)5. Justin Ashley – 402 (1)6. Shawn Langdon – 383 (1)7. Terry McMillen – 3778. Antron Brown – 3739. Clay Millican – 33710. Doug Foley – 216  DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing NewsFans can follow all the NHRA’s action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads, and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com. @DodgeMoparMotorsports on InstagramThe @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and  NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.Official Driving School of Dodge//SRTDodge is the official sponsor of the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Chandler, Arizona, where guests get behind the wheels of the fastest street-legal cars in the world with professional instruction and time on the track. Customers who buy a new SRT model receive one full-day session as part of the Dodge//SRT Package and have the opportunity to learn how to get the optimum performance from their new vehicles in a controlled environment.  For more information, visit dodgegarage.com/track-experience.  MoparMopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) is the service, parts and customer-care brand for FCA vehicles around the globe. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, the Mopar brand has evolved over more than 80 years to represent both complete care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide. Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era, with Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, and expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, the Mopar brand’s global reach distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in more than 150 markets. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 25 customer-contact centers globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide. Complete information on the Mopar brand is available at www.mopar.com. Mopar is part of the portfolio of brands offered by global automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. For more information regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com. Dodge//SRTFor more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete. 2021 marks the year that Dodge is distilled into a pure performance brand, offering Hellcat-powered, 700+ horsepower SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2021 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the new 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful SUV ever. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.     In June 2020, Dodge was named the "#1 Brand in Initial Quality," making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by global automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. For more information regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com. Follow Dodge, SRT and FCA news and video on:  Company blog: http://blog.fcanorthamerica.comMedia website: http://media.fcanorthamerica.comDodge brand: www.dodge.comDodge Garage: www.dodgegarage.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/dodge or https://www.facebook.com/FiatChrysler.NorthAmerica/Instagram: www.instagram.com/dodgeofficial or www.instagram.com/FiatChrysler_NATwitter: www.twitter.com/dodge or www.twitter.com/FiatChrysler_NAYouTube: www.youtube.com/dodge or www.youtube.com/fcanorthamerica