Massey, Hagan, Edwards, Arana, Jr. Four-Wide Winners

Matt Hagan

Rhonda McCole/AR1.com

Spencer Massey returned to Victory Lane in the Four-Wide Nationals for the second straight year, while Matt Hagan and Mike Edwards celebrated their first victories of the season in Sunday’s fourth annual Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway.

Hector Arana, Jr. scored his second-straight win in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, making their first appearance in the Four-Wide Nationals since 2010.

Now entering its fourth year, the Four-Wide Nationals features a unique setup: the only dragstrip in the NHRA Mello Yello Series where qualifying and elimination rounds utilize all four lanes, with the winner and runner-up in each round advancing.

Massey, who won the first four-wide event held at zMax in an exhibition race in 2009, notched his second consecutive Four-Wide victory with a win over Tony Schumacher, top qualifier Shawn Langdon and Brandon Bernstein in the final to give Don Schumacher Racing their third victory in the Four-Wide Nationals after Cory McClenathan won the inaugural event in 2010.

Massey qualified second behind Langdon for Sunday’s finals, and won in each of the first two rounds to advance to advance to his first money round of the season.

In the final, Langdon was first out of the gate but quickly smoked the tires, allowing Massey to power ahead to hit the win light posting the quickest pass of the day with a 3.771 at 325.45 mph for his 11th-career win and first of the season.

“The last two years we've taken home the Wally, but if you think about it, (crew chiefs) Todd (Okuhara) and Phil (Shuler) have had an awesome car and an awesome team for a number of years," said Massey. “Back when Cory McClenathan drove that FRAM car, Cory owned this racetrack. The first four wide was won by my crew, so it bleeds over from the old team, which is my team now.

“Whenever there's a racetrack that you do well at, you just seem to do well at it. It doesn't seem to make sense, but you just seem to do well. When you have confidence, it really seems to help, and when I roll up here, I know that we can win. We've won here before, so we just get out there and do what we know how to do and have fun."

Matt Hagan also collected his first Wally of the season with a victory in the Funny car final, beating out Tim Wilkerson along with Blake Alexander and top qualifier Chad Head, both making their first-career final-round appearances.

Hagan came into the final round with lane choice and selected lane two, the same lane where he won the first two quads and posted the quickest time of the day with a 4.057 in round one.

From the familiar second lane, Hagan hit a 0.052 light and led wire to wire as both Head and Wilkerson went up in smoke, posting a 4.071 at 315.34 mph to win by 0.137 second over Alexander, who posted a career-best runner-up finish.

“It was a big win for us, first win of the year – it’s been a year since we won, it’s been too long," said Hagan, who for the first time since the fall race here in 2011. “That feeling is great to have back. It’s a big win, and big move in the right direction."

Mike Edwards

Rhonda McCole/AR1.com

In Pro Stock, Mike Edwards finally broke through to record his first victory of the season after setting a new National record en route to posting his fifth-straight no. 1 qualifying spot, beating out Erica Enders-Stevens, Greg Anderson and Shane Gray for his 35th career NHRA victory.

Edwards, the 2010 winner of the event, was first off the line in the final with a .009 reaction time and beat out Enders-Stevens with an ET of 6.495 at 213.67 mph over Erica’s 6.521, taking home a Wally, the new National Record and 20 bonus points.

“It does feel satisfying to actually close the deal. We've had numerous opportunities, and anytime you can run really good and finally win, it’s a phenomenal day," said Edwards. “If you give yourself an opportunity to get to the finish line, you got a chance to win. Anytime you can run good and have a chance, that’s all you can ask for."

Mike Edwards

Rhonda McCole/AR1.com

Top qualifier in Pro Stock Motorcycle Hector Arana, Jr. won his second straight event with a victory over defending series champion Eddie Krawiec, Scotty Pollacheck and Jim Underdahl in the final.

Arana, Jr. finished runner-up in the opening round behind Krawiec to advance to the semis, where he and Krawiec swapped positions with Krawiec coming home second, setting up a re-match in the final.

At the start, it was Pollacheck hitting a perfect .000, but he faded quickly as Arana, Jr. –last off the line among the four – powered past everyone to get the win with a 6.896 at 190.73 mph over Krawiec, who went 6.924 at 190.65 mph in a losing effort.

“This feels excellent," said Arana, Jr., who collected his fifth-career win. “We really wanted to get some wins, and we’re making up for lost time. I was able to get two wins on Eddie (Krawiec) in just one race. To win the four wide my first time – I love this race."