All Eyes 4-Wide Open « DragRaceCanada.com

All Eyes 4-Wide Open

by editor on Sep.21, 2025, under National News

NHRA’s unique 4-Wide racing format – playoff round – goes down in Carolinas…..

Funny Car points leader Austin Prock won the first four-wide playoff race in NHRA history on Sunday at zMAX Dragway, defeating Matt Hagan, Chad Green and Dan Wilkerson in the final round of the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals.

Justin Ashley (Top Fuel), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 16th of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Prock went 3.912-seconds at 332.43 mph in his JFR/Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet SS in the championship quad, powering to his eighth victory of the season and 20th in his career. The victory, Prock’s 16th since moving to Funny Car last year, also gave the reigning world champ a season sweep at all three four-wide races in 2025.

After a rough start in Reading, falling in the second round and crossing the centerline, Prock rebounded in dominant fashion on Sunday, winning the first two quads and then quickly chasing down Wilkerson. He held off Hagan at the finish line to keep a stranglehold on the points lead, which now stands 79 points over Hagan.

Austin Prock has moved even closer to a 2nd consecutive NHRA fuel FC championship — notching his 8th win of the season.

“That was a big win, especially after everything that went on in the semifinals when a few of the front-runners went out and we capitalized on it,” Prock said. “We extended our lead a little bit going into St. Louis next weekend and there’s only four [races] left so it was good to keep up our performance this weekend and extend our points lead. To get it done here in Charlotte with for HendrickCars.com is really special. Mr. H [Rick Hendrick] is pretty, pretty pumped right now.

“The ‘Prock Rocket’ was on point all weekend. Our package just seemed suited for Bruton Smith race tracks. I wasn’t my typical self on the starting line this weekend. I was good, but not where I wanted to be, but the car ran good enough and our total package was good enough to win.”

Hagan, who qualified No. 1, finished as the runner-up in his third appearance in the finals this year.

In Top Fuel, Justin Ashley picked up his fourth victory in 2025 and had another brilliant Sunday on the starting line, defeating a quad that featured Shawn Langdon, Doug Kalitta and Clay Millican with a stellar run of 3.784 at 329.83 in his Scag Power Equipment dragster.

Ashley and Doug Kalitta posted identical times in the final round, but Ashley was quicker on the starting line, thanks to a standout .043 reaction time. A round earlier, Ashley made history by posting the first triple holeshot in Top Fuel history, coming out on top in a quad that featured Langdon, Brittany Force and Tony Stewart.

Justin Ashley continued his serious season championship contention for Top Fuel.

Ashley was slowest in the quad but won with a .036 reaction time en route to his 19th career win. It’s also Ashley’s second win in the last three races, sending him to second in points with four races remaining this season. He also posted his second career win at zMAX Dragway, celebrating another special moment in what’s shaping up to be an incredible late-season run. He now trails Kalitta by just 38 points.

“It’s a great feeling. Obviously, winning any four-wide race, or any race for that matter, is great, but to win it right here for the first four-wide race in the fall that NHRA has ever had in the Countdown, this was a critical day for us,” Ashley said. “When you look through some of those quads, even specifically when you get to those final two rounds, it’s just brutal. The margin for error now is so small. Obviously four races left, but these races are hard to win, so I’m a firm believer in the fact you have to enjoy them when they come before shifting your focus over the next one.

Kalitta stayed in the points lead with the runner-up finish, advancing to the final round for the fifth time this season. Kalitta leads Ashley by 38 points and teammate Shawn Langdon, who finished third in the quad, by 59 points.

Pro Stock’s Dallas Glenn couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Countdown to the Championship, winning his second straight race thanks to a run of 6.554 at 209.95 in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to get past a quad that also featured runner-up Greg Anderson, Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield.

Glenn has been red-hot in the postseason, qualifying No. 1 at both playoff races and winning in both Reading and Charlotte, and pushing his season win total to six. He impressed throughout eliminations on Sunday, posting a stellar .016 reaction time in a wire-to-wire victory.

With his 6th win of the season – Dallas Glenn – extended his Pro Stock championship points total.

It is his 19th career win and Glenn stayed unstoppable at zMAX Dragway as well, as the points leader has now won three straight races at the track, dating back to last year. He swept both four-wide races at the phenomenal facility, opening up a 79-point lead over Greg Anderson in the process.

“I knew I had a fantastic car coming in, so I really just wanted to try to keep the momentum,” Glenn said. “I really felt like I let everybody down in Indy when I let my foot up a little against Erica [Enders]. I made that mistake. So, I just wanted to come into this race, and step it up just a little bit more and be a little more aggressive.

“You look at the ladder and you’re like, this is going to be a tough day, so you just got to try to bring your A-game. I made a small pedal [adjustment] and went up there and just tried to do everything I could do kind of throw a Hail Mary and hope it stuck.”

“I think I have 79 points right now, so I still count that as basically three rounds, because that’s what it’s going to be in Pomona. I want to keep my foot on their throats and keep pressure on until they hand me a trophy.”

Anderson finished as the runner-up with a run of 6.562 in his eighth trip to the final round this year. Stanfield, who was fourth in the quad, moved to third in points, but he’s a distant 172 points behind Glenn.

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Richard Gadson earned his first career victory in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, beating a quad that was Matt Smith Racing-dominant with a run of 6.803 at 199.55 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to defeat Matt Smith, Angie Smith and Jianna Evaristo.

Gadson had a lightning-quick .015 reaction time and rode away from the trio, picking up his third victory of the season and moving into the points lead for the first time in his professional career.

Richard Gadson has now vaulted to the Pro Stock Motorcycle points lead for NHRA.

Teammate Gaige Herrera suffered a shocking first-round loss, but that opened the door for Gadson, who won his first two quads and then rolled to the victory in the final round with another standout performance. After a long wait for his first career win, Gadson has now won three races in the past three months, setting up what could be a thrilling championship run. His points lead now stands at eight over Matt Smith.

“When you say points leader, I just I can’t believe you’re talking about me,” Gadson said. “Sometimes, when I’m at home and I look at the points and even see my name in second place, I have to read it twice because I just can’t believe it’s really me in this position.

“You know, you just want to avenge your team. You’re racing against three bikes from a rival team and you don’t want to go up there and do anything stupid. If they’re going to outrun you, then that’s going to be what it is. You just don’t want to beat yourself and when you’re the lone ranger up there racing for your team, you carry it with a little bit more pride. These bikes are really easy to do something stupid on.”

M. Smith finished as the runner-up with a pass of 6.821 at 199.37 in what was his fourth appearance in the final round this year.

Racing a zMax also included the most recent rounds for the NHRA’s Congruity Pro Mod Series and the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock circuit.

The Pro Mod final round “quad” was probably the most bizarre and problem plagued one so far in drag racing history! That event win light went to Mississippi’s Billy Banaka with his Pro-Charger Camaro – despite having a red-light foul start and then a close encounter with the centre line in the final round. Rather incredibly — his three other competitors had “first or worse” violations – with Mason Wright (rolling the beams) and then both Mike Castellana and Sidnei Frigo (both) leaving before the tree was activated.

Banaka’s win was the 1st of his NHRA career and came after qualifying mid-pack (#8 @ 5.755 secs) for an impressively quick and attended Pro Mod eliminator which saw 22-cars produce a swift 16-car bump spot of 5.770 secs.

Billy Banaka won over a very tough gathering of Pro Mod class cars.

Canada’s Justin Bond (Mission BC) was the low qualifier for zMax 5.713 secs – but Justin was eliminated in round #1.

NHRA’s Congruity Pro Mod Series has two more Playoff rounds of racing left – coming up for St. Louis and Las Vegas.

The MMPS eliminations produced a first time circuit win for Vincent Nobile – who had formally raced NHRA 500 CID class Pro Stock cars extensively in his career.

Nobile (from New Jersey) set low ET of the event in the final with a stout 6.306 secs at 221.38 mph to defeat Mike Coughlin in a battle of Chevy Camaro machines.

Vincent Nobile collected his first win within NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock class racing.

Nobile, who qualified #4/7 cars attending, defeated Chris Powers and John DeFlorian Jr., in rounds #1 & 2.

The zMax race was the penultimate season round for the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage MMPS series which wraps up it’s season at St. Louis next weekend.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Sept. 26-28 with the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis.

NHRA Lucas Oil Series Sportsman Racing Final Round Results

Top Alcohol Dragster — Matthew Cummings, 5.182, 276.86 def. Jon Bradford, 5.225, 274.78 and Jackie Fricke, 5.215, 273.72 and Joey Severance, 6.710, 135.44;

Top Alcohol Funny Car — Brian Hough, Chevy Camaro, 5.548, 262.08 def. Sean Bellemeur, Camaro, 5.464, 266.11 and Chip Beverett, Camaro, 12.561, 56.21 and Bob McCosh, Camaro, broke;