CONCORD, N.C. — Matt Hagan stormed to his 50th career victory on Sunday at zMAX Dragway during a wild Funny Car finale at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.
No. 1 qualifier John Force missed the tree in lane one, rookie driver Daniel Wilkerson set the low ET in the quad in lane two and J.R. Todd made a clean run in lane four, but Hagan got the job done from lane three with a holeshot in his Tony Stewart Racing machine.
It was the reigning champion’s first victory of the season, making him the fifth different Funny Car winner in five races.
“It’s a massive achievement to win 50,” said Hagan, who hasn’t won at zMAX Dragway in 10 years. “I kind of felt like we were behind the eight ball, because at this time last year, we had already won three races. But it’s a long season and it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Wilkerson finished in the runner-up position, with J.R. Todd third.
Ashley Earns First Four-Wide Victory
Justin Ashley’s unnatural reaction times didn’t skip a beat in the four-wide format as the 29-year-old drove his SCAG Power Equipment dragster into the winner’s circle with a .046 reaction time in the Top Fuel final round.
It was his first career four-wide victory and second win of the season, allowing him to remain the points leader heading into the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Elwood, Ill., on May 17-19.
On Sunday, the fourth-year dragster driver outperformed Clay Millican, reigning champion Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown, who puffed the tires in the final round and was the slowest of the four.
Ashley recorded a 3.710-second run at 328.06 mph.
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Anderson Nabs Win No. 150
Greg Anderson motored away from his Pro Stock competitors during the factory hot rod final round, making a 6.502-second run at 210.77 mph en route to collecting his second consecutive victory at zMAX Dragway.
The KB Titan Racing driver also won at the NHRA Carolina Nationals last fall.
“(All these) young guns, they can all drop the clutch, they can all cut a great light — let me tell you, I’ve got to dig deep to find that these days and sometimes it happens, and it happened today. I had the best race car on the grounds all weekend. If I would’ve dropped the ball today, it would’ve been a heck of a disappointment to me,” Anderson said.
Anderson’s win against Aaron Stanfield, Dallas Glenn and Cristian Cuadra was the 105th of his career.
Herrera Repeats In Pro Stock Motorcycle
After struggling to put the pieces together during qualifying, Gaige Herrera collected his 13th career Wally during the Pro Stock Motorcycle finale against John Hall, Ray Gadson and L.E. Tonglet.
Herrera posted a 6.684-second elapsed time at 202.73 mph.
Hall placed second, while Gadson came in third during his first career final round appearance.