Force, Wilkerson, Line, Hines Win Four-Wide Nationals
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| L-R: Tim Wilkerson, Andrew Hines, Jason Line and Brittany Force celebrate in the Winner's Circle |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1 |
Brittany Force became the first female driver to win the Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway, besting two-time defending race winner Antron Brown to score her second victory of the season and extend her points lead over Brown in the Top Fuel division.
Tim Wilkerson won in the Funny Car division while Jason Line took the top spot in Pro Stock. Eddie Krawiec rode rocketed to victory in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Force won in both of the first two quads posting low ET of the round in each before moving onto the final round against Brown, Clay Millican and Doug Kalitta.
Force had a little hang-up getting to the staging lanes when her seatbelts became entangled inside the cockpit, forcing her crew to scramble to fix the belts and get Brittany secured again in the driver’s seat.
Force shook off that slight distraction and hit the tree with a .042 light to grab the lead right at the start as Millican and Kalitta both smoked the tires, leaving Force and Brown to battle it out alone. Force rocketed to the finish with a run of 3.764 at 319.98 mph to win by half a car-length over Brown, who posted a 3.779 at 316.75 in his third straight Four-Wide final round appearance.
Force extended her to 25 points over Brown, who now trails by 63 after five events
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| Force (second from top) takes on Clay Millican, Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1 |
"No one could probably see, but we thrashed to get up here and I didn't think we were going to make it up to the lanes in time to run here," said Force about the issue with the belts prior to pulling up to the staging lanes. "Our belts got pulled back when they put the car back together and we had to unbolt the car and then re-buckle me in and I wasn't sure we were going to make it. But we did and I guess it's good because under pressure we all figured it out and got the car down the track.
"Sometimes drivers just do better under pressure and I always wondered what type I was. It wasn't just me; it was the entire team. I am just still trying to get over this. Four-wide is not easy. The fact that I just won the four-wide is just huge because it was a challenge. It is new and it's not easy. It just feels good to get the win, but to be the points leader is just fantastic."
In Funny Car, Tim Wilkerson came out on top of a thrilling final that was four wide all the way, beating Cruz Pedregon by two car-lengths for his second win of the season and his first-ever at the Four-Wide Nationals.
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| Wilkerson (second from top) won out over Ron Capps, Matt Hagan and Cruz Pedregon |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1 |
Wilkerson was second off the line in the final but quickly rallied and had the lead at the 330-foot mark as Pedregon, Ron Capps and Matt Hagan pulled nearly dead even, coming across the line nearly three abreast behind Wilkerson, who clocked in with a 3.967 at 315.56 mph in the win. Pedregon scored a 3.995, 313.37 for his second runner-up finish in the Four-Wide Nationals.
Capps posted a 4.055 at 315.42 for a third place finish, followed by top qualifier Matt Hagan, who ran 4.069, 305.56.
Wilkerson, who also won both his earlier rounds and posted low ET in each, collected his 20th-career win to tie Whit Bazemore for tenth all-time in NHRA Funny Car victories.
"I got this off my bucket list," Wilkerson said. "I’ve been in the finals at this one twice, so I am really happy to get it done. I am excited about it. The whole year has really been exciting, especially with the new TV package and the way everything has been going. My buddy Brittany has won twice, so that’s really cool, too. I was happy to see her win. The Four-Wide is really a neat deal, especially since I won."
The win moved Wilkerson from ninth to fourth in the points standings, 35 points behind leader Robert Hight.
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| Line (second from top) defeated Drew Skillman, Bo Butner and Chris McGaha |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1 |
Sunday’s Pro Stock final was yet another Summit Racing show with Jason Line beating his KB Racing teammate Bo Butner along with Drew Skillman and Chris McGaha for his first Four-Wide Nationals victory in another four-wide battle that saw the top three cars finish within a car length of each other.
Line – who posted the low ET of event with a 6.555 in the opening round – finished with a 6.565 at 211.33 mph and won by less than five feet over Butner, who ran 6.591, 210.77. Skillman came across the finish line even with Line’s back bumped, but that was only good enough for third with a 6.620, 209.43. McGaha finished five car-lengths back in fourth running 6.646 at 208.68 mph.
The victory was the third straight for Line and the fifth straight for KB Racing, and moved Line out to a 102-point advantage over Anderson in the points standings.
"It was a tough weekend of racing and I have to give a lot of credit to the KB Racing crew again," said Line, who notched his 44th-career victory. "To finally win this event is special to me, and to get 40 wins is special, too. We have a long way to go in the season, but we're off to a good start."
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| Hines (second from top) won out in the Pro Stock Motorcycles |
| Mike Mercurio/AR1 |
Andrew Hines won his third straight Four-Wide Nationals with a victory over his teammate Andrew Hines to score his first victory of the season and 37th of his career.
Hines finished runner-up in both of his earlier round including a second-round loss to Krawiec but was Johnny-on-the-spot in the finals, hitting a .002 light to grab the early lead and was never headed, running a 6.884 at 195.42 mph.
"This race track just agrees with me, I feel very comfortable here," Hines said. "It is almost a calming effect it has on me with everything that is going on up there because it makes me focus that much more."
Krawiec ran a 6.849, 194.44 to post his fourth-straight runner-up finish in the Four-Wide – three of those losses coming courtesy of his teammate Hines, but took solace in holding onto the points lead by 35 points over Hines.
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