CONCORD, N.C. – When the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and zMAX Dragway first made plans for a four-wide drag race in 2010, Cruz Pedregon considered himself a fan of the concept.
Heading into this weekend’s 10th annual NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at the state-of-the-art facility, not much has changed for the two-time Funny Car world champion.
Pedregon still enjoys the most unique experience in drag racing, picking up his first four-wide win a year ago. It broke a long winless streak and now the veteran driver looks to grab his first win of 2019 in his 10,000-horsepower Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger. Based on previous performances, Pedregon, who is currently 11th in Funny Car points, has high expectations for the weekend as he again looks to thrive at one of the biggest spectacles in motorsports.
“Ten years for this race is a great milestone, and I’ve liked it from the very beginning,” said Pedregon, who has 36 career Funny Car wins. “It’s a little different and it mixes things up a little bit, but I like it. You get four Funny Cars out there, it’s quite a scene. It’s a lot of power. I like the facility and I love the track, and I’ve made some of my best runs in Charlotte.”
Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Pedregon (Funny Car), and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were last year’s winners. It is the sixth of 24 events during the NHRA season and Pedregon will look to cash in during the special 10th anniversary of the race.
Pedregon thrived in the unique conditions a year ago at zMAX Dragway, and he believes he’s bringing a better car to the race in 2019. He has qualified in the top half of the field at four of the first five races, qualifying third in Las Vegas. It has translated to just two round wins thus far, but Pedregon believes that luck is about to change. Things have come together well early in the season, and Pedregon remains confident in the path his team has taken.
“We’re on track and if we keep chopping wood, we’ll break through,” Pedregon said. “The main thing to do is not try too hard. You can’t press too hard whether you’re tuning or driving, and you just have to be confident in what you’re doing can carry you through. When you start pressing, that’s when you start making mistakes. This isn’t our first rodeo. The car is running well and we’re confident in what we’re doing away from the track and at the track will pay off.”
With the schedule picking up, including a stretch of three races in four weeks and seven in nine weeks, Pedregon knows he will need to be in prime form. Throw in the fact he’ll be competing against the likes of points leader Robert Hight, who has three wins in 2019, defending world champ J.R. Todd, John Force, Ron Capps and Phoenix winner Matt Hagan, and things get even more difficult. But Pedregon likes performing when things get challenging, and he seems to excel during the frenetic pace of the NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.
“Every driver has a track where they do well, and for whatever reason Charlotte has been good to me,” Pedregon said. “I love going there. Our car is as good or a tick better than last year, so we’ll just try to go out and do what we did last year. For me, I prefer this type of year when it gets busy. I can get in more of a groove and we feel like the breaks will start to come for us.”