{"id":55983,"date":"2021-09-20T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=55983"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:21:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:21:03","slug":"runner-up-performance-by-pedregon-and-his-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-at-nhra-carolina-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2021\/09\/runner-up-performance-by-pedregon-and-his-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-at-nhra-carolina-nationals.html","title":{"rendered":"Runner-up Performance by Pedregon and his Dodge Charger SRT®<\/sup> Hellcat at NHRA Carolina Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cruz Pedregon drove the Snap-On Tools\nDodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat Funny Car to their fourth final round appearance of\nthe National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World series season at the 13th\nannual Carolina Nationals, the second of seven \u201cCountdown to the Championship\u201d\nplayoff events. Pedregon finished runner-up at zMAX Dragway after securing the\nNo. 3 position with his Friday evening 3.879-second\nelapsed time qualifying run at 323.58 mph marking the 12th time this\nseason the Cruz Pedregon Racing team started from the top half of the\neliminations ladder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With round wins over Dave Richards, J.R. Todd, and Alexis DeJoria, Pedregon advanced to the final and lined up his HEMI\u00ae<\/sup>-powered Snap-on Tools \u201csocket to breast cancer\u201d machine, dressed in pink for breast cancer awareness, next to No. 8 seed Tim Wilkerson. It was a close side-by side battle from start to finish as Pedregon launched with a 0.063-second reaction time and ran a stout 3.947 sec.\/325.53 mph only to be edged out by Wilkerson \u2018s 0.061-second r.t. and 3.927 sec.\/331.36 mph winning run. This weekend\u2019s performance moves Pedregon and his Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat from seventh to fifth place in the Funny Car championship standings with five races remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ron<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) veteran driver Ron Capps arrived at the Carolina Nationals third in the Funny Car championship hunt and put the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in the No. 5 starting position on the strength of his final qualifying run which put them second on the Q3 timing sheets, adding two valuable bonus points to his tally. Capps kicked off race day with a win over Jim Campbell to set up a quarterfinal Dodge versus Dodge battle against DSR teammate Matt Hagan, who returned to competition following a two-week absence to recover from COVID-19. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ron<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Capps was\nquicker on the draw and turned win lights on with a 3.949-second run at 315.71\nmph for the holeshot victory over Hagan\u2019s hard charging 3.938 sec.\/327.74 mph\npass to advance to the semifinals. It was there that he faced-off against No. 8\nseed Tim Wilkerson, to whom he finished runner-up in a close final at the\nDodge\/\/SRT U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis to close out the regular season.\nWhile a good start and solid run by the HEMI-powered DSR machine at 3.939\nsec.\/319.07 mph wasn\u2019t quite enough to overtake Wilkerson\u2019s 3.909 sec.\/315.42\nmph pass, Capps\u2019 performance was enough to put him back atop the Funny Car\nleaderboard where he had started his playoff drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matt<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Defending Funny Car world champion Hagan wasted no time\ngetting back to form by putting his Shelor Motor Mile Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Dodge Charger SRT\nHellcat fourth on the eliminations ladder after powering to the quickest runs\nin both Saturday qualifying sessions. That added six bonus points to his team\u2019s\ntotal which had been bolstered with a win by Tommy Johnson Jr. who filled in for\nHagan at last weekend\u2019s Mopar Express Lane Nationals Presented by Pennzoil in\nReading, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n