Madison Loses Traction at Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals

Charlotte - Madison Payne and the Muscle Milk team took a tough first-round tumble at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Madison qualified the Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster in the eleventh position with a respectable 5.33 at 277 MPH.

As was the case in Las Vegas, the format at the Four-Wide events is different than a traditional drag race as four cars race together in "quads" and the first and second-place finishers in each of the four quads move on to the next round until only four cars remain and in that final race only the car that crosses the finish line first wins the event.

In the first round, Madison raced against Kirk Wolf, Sarah Allen, and Mike Lewis. Kirk Wolf made a good run and reached the finish line first followed by Sarah Allen to advance. Madison and Mike Lewis both lost traction and did not move on to the semifinals.

While it was a tough loss, Duane Shields is optimistic that the team will be back in the hunt after a couple of disappointing losses. "We have been struggling at the last few races to get the car to transition past the shake zone. After the race we have found a few things and hope to have better results going forward" he said.

Duane and Madison would like to thank their sponsors Muscle Milk, NGK Spark Plugs, GRP Connecting Rods, Cleanboost, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support this season.