LAS VEGAS (April 13, 2023) – After an intense testing session in Tulsa, Okla. earlier this week, the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock team is feeling confident as they head to Las Vegas for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals this weekend. Four-wide events are exciting for the fans and offer a unique set of challenges for even the most seasoned competitors. With eight Pro Stock machines in the Elite stable, this team will have an advantage in terms of valuable data across all four lanes at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Elite Motorsports team will enter the fourth event of the 2023 season with two No. 1 qualifiers, one win and one runner-up finish.
Troy Coughlin Jr. is on track for a standout performance in his JEGS.com / White Castle Camaro. The skillful driver won the season opener earlier this year in Gainesville, Fla., and is looking forward to parlaying that success into his first four-wide win. He got his first national event win in the sportsman ranks at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Super Comp category in 2009. Coughlin’s teammate Aaron Stanfield is no stranger to the four-wide format having reached the final round at this event in 2021. Stanfield was the No. 1 qualifier at this event last year and will be one to watch throughout the weekend. Bo Butner’s Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Camaro has been looking great all season and the experienced driver knows this track better than most as he has multiple wins across multiple categories at this facility.
Five-time Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders has ten wins to her credit at this exemplary facility, more than any other professional driver in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. With two consecutive four-wide wins in Las Vegas in 2021 and 2022, the talented driver is eager to take to the track with her teammates including Pro Stock rookie Jerry Tucker as he gears up for his first four-wide race. Tucker has demonstrated an uncanny ability to adjust to the complexities of Pro Stock racing thus far and he knows that all eyes will be on him as he attempts this format for the first time.
The Cuadra Boys are creating quite a stir in the Pro Stock category this season. In Phoenix, Cristian Cuadra became the first Mexican-born driver to secure a No. 1 qualifier position in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. He and his brother, Fernando Cuadra Jr., have been racking up impressive round wins and can feel their first professional NHRA victory within reach. Their father, Fernando Cuadra Sr., has been testing this week and his sleek black Corral Boots Mustang is sure to be a contender in Las Vegas.
The competition in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Pro Stock category is incredibly fierce this season and four-wide events are known to shake things up. The only certainty going into this fourth stop on the tour is that there are no certainties. The Elite Motorsports team must be prepared for infinite unknowns with their eyes open and their sleeves rolled up.
Pro Stock action at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals begins with qualifying on Friday, April 14 at 11:30 am PDT.
Erica Enders
“After Pomona, we brought my rig home and spent some time testing in Tulsa, Okla. We have renewed confidence heading into Vegas. It’s no secret that The Strip at LVMS is my favorite place to race and we look forward to continuing our success there. I’m ready to give the fans a phenomenal four-wide show in our JHG/Melling Performance Chevy Camaro.”
Aaron Stanfield
“The four-wide race in Las Vegas is always a lot of fun for the fans and we are excited to put on a good show for them. This race is going to shake things up. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Troy Coughlin Jr.
“Four-wide racing, to me, is a great challenge because it’s different and that excites me as a driver! TeamYellow is making great strides this year and we can’t wait to continue our journey as a group. We are learning a ton!”
Bo Butner
“We love Las Vegas! This is where I married the love of my life last year and the four-wide event is always full of surprises. It’s going to be exciting and we are ready to shake things up out there.”
Fernando Cuadra Sr.
“The Cuadra Boys are getting better and stronger at each event. I’m so proud of my sons as we continue to all learn together.”
Fernando Cuadra Jr.
“Coming to Las Vegas to race in the four-wide format is always a challenge, especially for Pro Stock drivers. Our reaction times will be a key factor at this event. I’m excited to embrace that challenge and I’m confident that we will have a really good race car.”
Cristian Cuadra
“I love to race in Las Vegas. It’s one of my favorite race tracks. I’m feeling very optimistic about this event because in our last two showings there, I was runner-up and made it to the semis. I’m ready to turn on some win-lights!”
Jerry Tucker
“The fourth event of my Pro Stock career is going to be a four-wide! I’ve been doing all I can to mentally prepare and I’m excited to get this Elite Motorsports machine on The Strip!”
Pre-Race Notes
Elite Motorsports: Pre-race notes
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas (April 14-16)
The Elite Motorsports team, the largest team in professional drag racing, has expanded for 2023 and will field a total of eight entries for this weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. The Elite Pro Stock team features eight drivers including reigning and five-time world champion Erica Enders, Aaron Stanfield, Troy Coughlin Jr., Bo Butner, Fernando Cuadra Sr. and his two sons, Fernando Jr. and Cristian, as well as newcomer Jerry Tucker.
In the 19 Pro Stock events contested last season, Team Elite won 15 times and appeared in 26 of 38 possible final rounds. In addition to Erica Enders’ 10 wins, Aaron Stanfield collected three victories while Troy Coughlin Jr. earned his first two professional victories.
Enders is coming off the most dominant season of her career that produced ten wins in 13 final round appearances and an astounding 55-9 record in elimination rounds. This season, Enders’ impressive roster of supporters includes Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage, Melling Performance, SCAG Power Equipment, PeopleLease and Gallagher Global.
During her professional career, Enders has accumulated 43 wins in 74 final rounds and has a round-win record of 440-243 for a .644 win percentage. Enders also has a win in Super Gas (2004 Houston) bringing her career total to 44 national event victories.
Enders has won at least one event at 17 different venues including The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In fact, Enders has enjoyed tremendous success in Las Vegas with 10 victories at the facility in her Pro Stock career making her the winningest professional driver of all time at this facility. This includes back-to-back wins at the Las Vegas four-wide events in 2021 and 2022.
Enders currently holds both the elapsed time and speed records for the NHRA Pro Stock class with bests of 6.450-seconds and 215.55 mph. The elapsed time record was set at the 2022 Gatornationals last March.
If Enders wins four events this season, she will surpass three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Angelle Sampey as the sport’s winningest female driver. Sampey currently has 46 wins while Enders has 44.
Thanks to a quarterfinal finish at the most recent event in Pomona, Calif., Enders comes into the Las Vegas event as the No. 10 ranked driver in the Pro Stock class.
Following an impressive fourth-place finish in 2022, Troy Coughlin Jr. has begun his fourth full season behind the wheel of the familiar yellow and black JEGS.com Camaro. Coughlin enjoyed a breakout season last year with back-to-back victories in Seattle and Topeka. Coughlin also went to final rounds in Phoenix, Reading and Las Vegas.
Coughlin heads to Las Vegas as the No. 4 ranked driver in the points after a dominating win at the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals and a quarterfinal finish in Pomona. He currently sits just 26 points out of first place. At last weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix, Coughlin became the first winner of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, a special event open to the four semifinal finishers from the previous event. Coughlin defeated Greg Anderson in the final with an elapsed time of 6.57, compared to Anderson’s 6.60, to capture the inaugural event victory.
In addition to his three career Pro Stock victories, the multi-faceted Coughlin has won in Top Alcohol Dragster, Super Comp and Super Gas.
Coughlin’s father, Troy Sr., is a 15-time national event winner in Pro Stock, Pro Mod and Super Gas. Including his uncles, John, Mike, and Jeg Jr., the Coughlin family has combined to win 131 national event titles.
Coughlin’s career bests in Pro Stock are 6.515-seconds and 212.29 mph, set earlier this year at the season opener in Gainesville.
Aaron Stanfield has also returned to the Elite team for another season behind the wheel of the Janac Bros/JC3 Energy Camaro. Stanfield, the son of five-time Super Stock world champ Greg Stanfield, is coming off a season where he was the third-ranked driver in Pro Stock.
Last year, Stanfield earned Pro Stock wins in Phoenix, Bristol and the Fall Charlotte race to go with four runner-up finishes in Pomona, Epping, Norwalk and Denver. Stanfield finished the season with a 38-16 record in elimination rounds.
Stanfield is coming off a semifinal finish at the recent Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona and has moved from No. 10 to No. 7 in the standings. He is currently 62 points out of first place.
Stanfield won back-to-back titles in the FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown class in 2020and 2021. He will continue to drive his Janac Bros.-owned COPO Camaro in that class and will also continue to race in the Wright Trailers Top Dragster class.
In Pro Stock competition, Stanfield was a runner-up to his teammate Erica Enders at the 2021 Four-Wide race in Las Vegas.
All told Stanfield has 21 career wins in Pro Stock, Factory Stock, Super Stock, and Top Dragster. He’s enjoyed previous success in Las Vegas with back-to-back Factory Stock titles at the track’s fall events in 2020 and 2021.
Stanfield’s career bests in Pro Stock are 6.457-seconds and 213.47 mph, both set last year in Gainesville.
Bo Butner is a two-time NHRA world champion in Pro Stock (2017) and Comp Eliminator (2006). He joined the Elite team last season as the driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Camaro.
Last season, Butner drove to a ninth-place finish in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Pro Stock standings. Earlier this season in Phoenix, Butner drove to a runner-up finish in Pro Stock, reaching the finals for the first time since the 2019 Richmond event. Butner defeated Erica Enders, Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Kyle Koretsky to reach his 26th career Pro Stock final. Butner is now ranked No. 5 in the Pro Stock standings, 53 points out from first place.
While he did not win a Pro Stock event last year, the multi-talented Butner did earn a pair of victories in the Super Gas class in Indy and Reading.
Butner has 29 career national event victories including 11 in Pro Stock. He also has wins in Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Gas, and Super Street. Butner has also enjoyed success as a big-money bracket racer with a victory at the K&N Spring Fling Million in Las Vegas in 2021.
Butner has six career wins in Las Vegas, including Pro Stock titles in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, Butner won the Four-Wide Nationals by defeating Matt Hartford in the final round. He also qualified No. 1 at that event.
Butner’s career bests in Pro Stock are 6.475-seconds and 214.28 mph, set in Dallas (2015) and Gainesville (2017), respectively.
The Cuadra family including Fernando Sr., and his sons Fernando Jr. and Cristian, have returned to Elite Motorsports again this season with their three-car Corral Handcrafted Boots team. The Cuadra family will race Ford Mustangs under the Elite banner.
Fernando Sr. is a two-time national event runner-up with final-round appearances at the 2019 races in Reading and Pomona. Cristian Cuadra was also the runner-up to Enders at the 2022 Four-Wide event in Las Vegas.
The Cuadra family has career-best elapsed times of 6.515 (Fernando Jr.), 6.524 (Fernando Sr.) and 6.527 (Cristian) – all of them recorded in Gainesville. Their career-best speeds are 212.13 (Fernando Sr.), 211.43 (Cristian), and 210.73 (Fernando Jr.).
Cristian Cuadra went to the final round of the Four-Wide event in Las Vegas last season where he finished second to teammate Enders. He finished the season as the sport’s No. 8 ranked driver in Pro Stock.
A few weeks ago in Phoenix, Cristian Cuadra became the first Mexican-born NHRA racer to qualify No. 1 in a pro category when he drove his Elite-powered Corral Handcrafted Boots Mustang to a 6.552 pass. C. Cuadra is one of just 11 non-U.S.-born drivers to qualify No. 1 in a professional NHRA class and the only one to accomplish the feat in Pro Stock.
New to the Elite Pro Stock team this year is Jerry Tucker, who enjoyed a memorable debut in Gainesville. Tucker qualified his Elite Camaro in the No. 15 spot with a 6.573 and won the first round after teammate Enders encountered a mechanical issue. Tucker also performed well in Phoenix and Pomona, qualifying for both events. He is currently ranked No. 14 but is well within striking distance of the Top 10.
Tucker, of Lindsay, Okla., has spent the last 30 years racing everything from Sprint cars to Midgets and has also enjoyed success in drag racing. Tucker previously raced in the Top Sportsman class.
Tucker is expected to be one of the leading contenders for the NHRA Rookie of the Year award.
Collectively, the eight current team Elite drivers have combined to win 104 NHRA national event titles across all classes including 64 in the Pro Stock class.