{"id":34092,"date":"2021-05-21T14:34:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T19:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=34092"},"modified":"2021-05-21T14:34:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T19:34:40","slug":"defending-pro-stock-champion-erica-enders-after-another-hometown-win-at-mopar-express-lane-nhra-springnationals-presented-by-pennzoil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/21\/defending-pro-stock-champion-erica-enders-after-another-hometown-win-at-mopar-express-lane-nhra-springnationals-presented-by-pennzoil\/","title":{"rendered":"Defending Pro Stock champion Erica Enders after another hometown win at Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of the NHRA<\/em><\/p>\n

BAYTOWN, Texas \u2013 Following a first-round loss last weekend in uncharacteristic fashion, the best thing for defending back-to-back Pro Stock world champ Erica Enders is to get right back in the car, which she will do at this weekend\u2019s 34th annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park. It’s also at her hometown track is just an added bonus for the four-time NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series champ.<\/p>\n

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Erica Enders. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Enders loves the chance to put on a show where her drag racing career started, and there will be plenty of family and friends on hand to watch the fan-favorite driver try to win for the third time in Pro Stock in Houston. After a first-round loss last weekend in Charlotte, it\u2019s also a chance to get that bad taste out of her mouth in her Melling Performance\/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to get another shot at things and redeem yourself, and I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d Enders said. \u201cBeing it\u2019s my hometown track and we\u2019ve won here before, it\u2019s a track that\u2019s been good to us. I\u2019m lucky to have the best crew chiefs and everyone is working hard to get back on track. I really love going home and it\u2019s always fun to race in front of a hometown crowd. We\u2019ll have lots of family and friends there, and I\u2019m excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Erica Enders. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Tommy Johnson Jr. (Funny Car) and Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) won last year at the event in Houston, which took place in October. This year\u2019s event will be televised on Fox Sports 1 (FS1), including eliminations at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 23. It is the fifth race of the 2021 NHRA season and the first back-to-back race weekend of the year. Due to the impact of rain on the facility and the forecasted additional rain, the event will be a two-day race, with two rounds of qualifying on Saturday and eliminations on Sunday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a solid start to the season for Enders, who is currently second in points behind Greg Anderson. She won in Las Vegas last month, earning her 30th career win, but Enders isn\u2019t completely satisfied, especially after failing to advance to the second round at last weekend\u2019s four-wide race in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

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Erica Enders. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Enders lost on a holeshot in Charlotte, which is rare for one of the top drivers in the sport, and the team is still looking for more consistency out of the car. They stayed and tested in Charlotte on Monday, and Enders believed it was a positive step in regaining their mojo and getting things moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

That has Enders hopeful for success in Houston, but she\u2019ll need to get past a top-notch Pro Stock lineup that include Anderson, Charlotte winner and rookie Dallas Glenn, Troy Coughlin Jr., Mason McGaha, Aaron Stanfield, who won in Pro Stock in Houston last year, Matt Hartford and Deric Kramer.<\/p>\n

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Erica Enders. NHRA photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt has not been the start we were hoping for and we\u2019re working hard to get our act together, myself included,\u201d Enders said. \u201cI\u2019ve lost on two holeshots this year and that shouldn\u2019t have happened. Every round matters and you\u2019ve got to fight every time out there. I haven\u2019t shown that on reaction time and we haven\u2019t shown that on performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thankful for my team\u2019s positive attitude and we\u2019re heading in the right direction after Monday\u2019s test session. We were all mad about losing in Charlotte, and I know I\u2019m going to race with a different mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Points leader and three-time defending world Top Fuel champ Steve Torrence won in Charlotte and the Texas native is after his first win in Houston. He\u2019ll face off against Brittany Force, Shawn Langdon, Doug Kalitta, Leah Pruett, Justin Ashley, Antron Brown, Josh Hart, and Clay Millican.<\/p>\n

John Force is coming off an impressive performance in Charlotte and he\u2019ll try to keep that going against a stout Funny car field that includes points leader Bob Tasca III, Matt Hagan, Gainesville winner J.R. Todd, Ron Capps, Tim Wilkerson, Cruz Pedregon, Alexis DeJoria, and Robert Hight.<\/p>\n

The event also includes thrilling competition in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, where future stars of the sport hone their skills, along with the Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown Drag Racing Series and the Top Fuel Harley class.<\/p>\n

Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds on Saturday, May 22 at 12:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 23. Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 22, and eliminations beginning at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 23 on FS1.<\/p>\n

To purchase tickets, call 281-383-7223 or purchase online at www.houstonraceway.com. For more information about the NHRA visit www.NHRA.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of the NHRA BAYTOWN, Texas \u2013 Following a first-round loss last weekend in uncharacteristic fashion, the best thing for defending back-to-back Pro Stock world champ Erica Enders is to get right back in the car, which she will do at this weekend\u2019s 34th annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":34093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[46,738,739,6],"class_list":["post-34092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-erica-enders","tag-houston-raceway-park","tag-mopar-express-lane-nhra-springnationals-presented-by-pennzoil","tag-nhra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/2021_Erica_Enders_Action-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-8RS","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34094,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34092\/revisions\/34094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}