NHRA 4-WIDE NATIONALS: ELITE MOTORSPORTS EVENT PREVIEW

April 25, 2026 On April 22, 2026

2026, Comp Eliminator, Elite Motorsports Team, Greg Stanfield, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Mike Lomas, NHRA, Pre Race, Pro Mod, R+L Carriers, Tony Stewart, Troy Coughlin Jr.

CONCORD, N.C. (April 22, 2026) – After securing their first Top Fuel victory in just the third race with a nitro program, Elite Motorsports enters this weekend’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, the fourth of 20 events on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series schedule, on a high-note.

Elite Motorsports Tallies First Top Fuel Victory
Tony Stewart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team, led by crew chiefs Mike Green and Joe Barlam, rallied to victory at the NHRA Winternationals defeating rising-star Justin Ashley for the third Top Fuel victory of Stewart’s career.

Elite Motorsports team owner Richard Freeman purchased the Top Fuel operation late in the 2025 season and quickly began putting the pieces together for a full-time program starting with Stewart as the driver. R+L Carriers came on board and with the hiring of championship crew chiefs Green and Barlam, a winning operation took shape.

Through the first two races Stewart and the R+L crew qualified in the top five and had quarterfinal finishes to put them sixth in points. Their No. 7 qualifying position and victory in Southern California pushed them into fourth in points as they look to finish out the first quarter of the Mission Foods season.

“All the ingredients are here. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but to see these guys and see their progression, it’s awesome. It’s been great to race with them,” Stewart said. “This is not easy, we definitely know that, but it’s such a unique and great group of people at Elite Motorsports. To get Richard his first win in the nitro class, there’s no words to express how much that means. It’s such a special deal and a cool feeling.”

Jeg Coughlin Jr. Reaches Milestone
When Jeg Coughlin Jr. takes the tree during the first round of eliminations on Sunday at this weekend’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, it will be his 500th NHRA Pro Stock national event start.

“Five hundred Pro Stock events. Yet it seems like yesterday I was making my debut at the 1997 Dallas FallNationals,” said Jeg Jr. who raced his first full professional season in 1998. “I’ve had so many great runs, wins and championships since then. And been on so many great teams and made some awesome fans along the way. It really has been such a fun run and we ain’t done yet.”

En route to the milestone, Jeg Jr. was the 1998 Rookie of the Year, has visited the final round professionally 121 times and tallied 69 Pro Stock victories and is the only professional driver to visit the winners circle from all 16 possible starting positions. In the sportsman ranks, Jeg Jr. has tallied 19 national event wins in 26 final rounds and a Super Gas world championship. This weekend, he’ll be hoping to round out his Pro Stock victories to 70.

“As we continue into Charlotte and our 4-Wide event, this JEGS team couldn’t be more excited,” Jeg Jr. said. “Our car has been better and showing signs of winning ways. If we could pull that off this weekend it would be my 70th Pro Stock victory. That would be really cool. Stay tuned to FS1 this weekend and follow how it goes.”

HBOT4 Heroes Hosts Decorated Veteran
Elite Motorsports partner, HBOT4 Heroes, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to veterans and first responders suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI), post‑traumatic stress (PTSD), and other invisible wounds of service, has invited Sergeant Major Joe Houles to be their guest for the 4-Wide Nationals weekend.

Children of Valor will also have guests Thomas Moore, a Children of Valor ambassador and previous grant recipient sharing his story for month of the military child (April), and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rick Fowler, who served 20 years on active duty in the Navy. He retired from SEAL Team 1 and served another 25 years as the Force Training Officer for Naval Special Warfare, onsite for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.

Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge
The four-wide format for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals offers additional opportunity for Elite Motorsports drivers to take home victory. Like the regular two-wide format, the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge will be a rematch of the semifinal competitors from the previous race, however, at zMAX, the rematch will also include quarterfinalists to keep with the four-wide format through qualifying.

Not only will race winner Tony Stewart and semifinalist Greg Stanfield compete in the race-within-a-race but quarterfinalists Erica Enders and Jeg Coughlin Jr. as well.

Elite Motorsports Continues Expansion
Earlier this week it was officially announced that Mike Lomas will join Elite Motorsports competing in the Lucas Oil NHRA Drag Racing Series. Lomas joins Royce Lee Freeman in the Competition Eliminator category and will make his debut at zMAX Dragway this weekend. The addition solidifies Elite’s commitment to growing the sport. The team now houses six Pro Stock cars, a Top Fuel dragster, two Competition Eliminator entries as well as a Pro Mod program driven by Mason Wright.

Competition at this weekend’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway begins with four rounds of qualifying Friday at 4:15 and 7 p.m. and Saturday at 12:30 and 3 p.m. Eliminations are slated for Sunday at noon. Television coverage of the event will be on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) beginning with qualifying shows Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at noon ET. Eliminations will air Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.