CONCORD, NC (October 13, 2019) – Due to constant rain showers throughout the morning and afternoon on Sunday, and despite multiple attempts by the NHRA Safety Safari to get the track dry, eliminations at the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway have been moved to Monday.

Sunday tickets will be honored tomorrow and walk up tickets will be available for $20 at the race track. Eliminations will begin at 11 a.m. ET.

Qualified: No. 3 (lane choice)

The Competition: No. 14 Dave Richards

The Results:
Q1: 6.674 E.T. at 98.20 MPH
Q2: 3.906 E.T. at 328.22 MPH
Q3: 3.940 E.T. at 328.78 MPH
Q4: 3.880 E.T. at 331.69 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)

Bonus Points: Three

Quotable:
“This MOPAR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Funny Car is going down the race track. We found some stuff earlier today with the clutch. I think (crew chief) Dickie (Venables) is getting more consistency with that. All in all, we have a good car, and we have to have a really strong run this weekend, or we will be out of the championship picture. We need to go some rounds tomorrow. We need to win this race and keep the hunt alive. We are five rounds back, and we have a long way to go.”

Competition Plus

 Qualified: No. 2 (3.854 E.T. at 333.08 MPH)

The Results:
E1: 4.204 E.T. at 265.06 MPH defeated by Jim Campbell 4.197 E.T. at 249.39 MPH

Race Recap:
After making three strong qualifying runs, including posting low E.T. of Q3, two-time Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan earned the No. 2 qualifying position, and was poised to make a deep run through eliminations on Sunday. First up for the driver of the DSM Precision Machining Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody was a round one meeting with Jim Campbell. Hagan powered by Campbell’s initial lead, and was looking good until his machine lost traction nearing the 330-foot mark. Campbell encountered issues further down track, but his momentum enabled him to coast across the finish line first.

Quotable:
“First round losses are always devastating. There are a lot of good cars out here in this class right now, and we just have to get our stuff together and do better. This team is better than that and we are better than what we showed here today in St. Louis. We showed how good we were in qualifying, grabbing that No. 2 spot. What happened today was unexpected. I was glad it recovered and we pedaled it to the finish, but it just wasn’t enough. It’s unfortunate. I apologize to our sponsors. I apologize to our fans. That’s just not the results we are accustomed to putting up. It’s crunch time. We have to do better. It’s just that simple.”