Author: Mike Haag

CONCORD, N.C. – Two-time Funny Car world champ Matt Hagan reset both ends of the zMAX Dragway track record in racing to the qualifying lead Friday in a rain-shortened day of action at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods. NHRA teams were only able to get in one of the two scheduled qualifying sessions before persistent rain showers moved into the area late in the afternoon. Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m. Sunday’s finals are set to begin at noon. Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock…

Track: Barber Motorsports Park, a 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course (clockwise) Race distance: 90 laps / 207 miles Entry List:  Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (PDF) Push-to-pass parameters: 10 activations for 20 seconds each Firestone tire allotment: Seven sets primary, three sets alternate Twitter: @BarberMotorPark @IndyCar, #HIGPA, #IndyCar Event website: www.barbermotorsports.com INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com 2015 race winner: Josef Newgarden (No. 67 Hartman Oil/CFH Racing Chevrolet) 2015 Verizon P1 Award winner: Helio Castroneves (No. 3 AAA Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet),1:07.1925, 123.228 mph Qualifying lap record: Scott Dixon, 1:06.7750, 123.999 mph, April 2013 NBCSN race broadcast: Sunday, April 24 (3 p.m. ET,…

CONCORD, N.C. – Now in his fourth season in Funny Car, Chad Head continues to find a better comfort level in his Head Racing Toyota Camry. The results indicate as much during the early portion of the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, but Head will be the first to admit there is still plenty to learn and plenty of areas to improve. Fresh off back-to-back semifinal performances, Head returns to zMAX Dragway for this weekend’s seventh annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods. The unique race is the only one on the NHRA circuit that features…

GLENDORA, Calif. – Drag racing fans are invited to join the NHRA, Shell Oil Company (Shell) and Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) on Thursday, April 28, at a special event in downtown Houston. NHRA, Shell and DSR will be in Hermann Square Park at City Hall at 900 Smith Street at 11 a.m. (CT) celebrating the long-lasting and successful relationships between the three companies. The event will give fans a chance to meet some of the world’s best drag racers and see their 10,000 horsepower, nitro-breathing machines up close and personal. All seven DSR drivers – reigning Top Fuel world champion…

CHARLOTTE, NC – Two racing legends will come together in Charlotte when John Force Racing and Rick Hendrick City Chevrolet team up in a one race multi-faceted marketing partnership. The 18-time championship Funny Car team will drive Chevrolet vehicles to and from the race track while they are racing at the Lowes Foods Four-Wide NHRA Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord. The City Chevrolet logo will also adorn all four race cars during the three day event. Vehicles will be provided for John Force 16-time Funny Car champion as well as 2009 NHRA Funny Car champion and current Funny Car…

KANNAPOLIS, N.C.  – Tony Stewart has been cleared by his doctors and NASCAR to return to racing, effective immediately. He will drive the No. 14 Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy Chevrolet SS fielded by Stewart-Haas Racing throughout this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Stewart missed the first eight races of the season after sustaining a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra in a Jan. 31 all-terrain vehicle accident. The prescribed rehabilitation regimen instituted by his doctors following a March 9 evaluation proved successful, allowing the three-time series champion to return for his final Sprint…

CONCORD, N.C. – Antron Brown lives for challenges, and the bigger they are the more excited the Top Fuel standout gets. The defending Top Fuel world champion has a major one this weekend at the one-of-a-kind seventh annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods at zMAX Dragway. It’s the only race that features four 10,000-horsepower nitro machines facing off against each other at once, presenting a challenge unlike any other race. But Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster have relished moments like these, winning the past two Four-Wide Nationals in the loaded Top Fuel class. The chance to…

CONCORD, N.C. – Hector Arana Jr. didn’t start his 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock Motorcycle season the way he wanted and he’s had a month to think about it. This weekend’s seventh annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods at zMAX Dragway marks the second of 16 races for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, and a first-round loss at the opener in Gainesville is enough to provide plenty of motivation for Arana Jr. The team has worked hard to make improvements on his Lucas Oil Buell during the time off and Arana Jr. has been…

CONCORD, N.C. – It was not the start four-time Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson expected, but it is one he will gladly take. There were vast changes in Pro Stock heading into the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the veteran Anderson admitted to at least some trepidation for his KB Racing Summit Racing Equipment team. But while Anderson’s Chevrolet Camaro looks much different, with the new look cars featuring fuel-injected engines, shorter wheelie bars, flat hoods and a 10,500 RPM rev-limiter, the early results have been very much the same. Anderson already has two wins…

CONCORD, N.C. – It is unique, it is thrilling and it is one of the biggest spectacles in all of motorsports. Seeing four 10,000-horsepower nitro machines power down zMAX Dragway during the seventh annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods, April 22-24, is a scene unlike any other in drag racing. For top competitors like Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force, the one-of-a-kind race is equally exciting and challenging. The feeling of 40,000-horsepower going down the track is surreal, but Force also notes this unique, once-a-year event presents some tough tests for her Monster Energy dragster. “The Four-Wide is…