With the threat of rain pending, the NHRA announced Saturday that Sunday's final eliminations for the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway would be moved up one hour. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate and the rain came to stay. After multiple attempts to dry the Charlotte track on Sunday, NHRA final elimination runs were moved to Monday with a 10 a.m. start time.
In Top Fuel, defending world champion Steve Torrence would love to add to his small points lead over Doug Kalitta. After Saturday's qualifying rounds, Leah Pritchett's 3.714 ET and Richie Crampton's pass in the .73s look to be the cars to beat. Rick Hord is the defending Top Fuel champion at this year's Carolina Nationals.
In Funny Car, "Fast Jack" Beckman continued his pursuit of his second Funny Car world title by setting a new track record in his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger Hellcat. Under the lights on Friday night, Beckman grabbed the Number One qualifier spot with a 3.873 ET at a 334.07 mph. The new speed mark broke the two-year old, previous speed record of 333.91 mph set by John Force Racing's Robert Hight.
After qualifying in the top spot for the last three Pro Stock events, Eric Enders put her Melling/Elite Pro Stock Camaro in the top spot for Monday's finals. After her recent win in St. Louis, the two-time champion finds herself in the number two spot for championship. More importantly, she made her Pro Stock competitors take notice after sweeping all six (6) bonus points available during Saturday's qualifying runs. With previous wins at the 2018 Four-Wide zMAX Raceway event and a Carolina Nationals title in 2015, Enders has the team to beat.
