Madison Payne Takes Pole at the Circle K NHRA 4Wide Nationals

Charlotte - Madison Payne behind the wheel of the Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster nailed down the pole position at the Circle K NHRA 4 Wide Nationals in Charlotte with a sizzling 5.16 at 277 MPH. This was the second pole for Madison with her first being at the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona last season. "It was fun to see that 5.16 come up on the scoreboard" car owner Duane Shields said.

In her first-round quad of cars, which coincidentally were made up of all female drivers, Madison had the slowest reaction time of the four and lost by just three thousandths of a second with a competitive 5.26 at 275 MPH. "I hesitated at the tree and there was nothing I could do to change that. It's unfortunate that it happened when the car is running so well. Dana Hopewell and the crew have the car running phenomenally right now" Madison said.

Duane Shields agreed "We are disappointed, but we now have the car to beat. This was the third race where we lost by only three thousandths. The problem I have with the four-wide races is that if you are the top qualifier, you would normally race against the slowest car which qualified sixteenth. But here at the four-wide the first round gets diluted with other very competitive cars, so your chance of winning is not as good. Also, we didn't want to give it too much power and risk tire shake which had happened at our last race in Las Vegas" Duane said.

Next, the team moves on to Reading, PA for Duane's final race at Maple Grove Raceway, May 26-28. Duane and Madison would like to thank Muscle Milk, GRP Connecting Rods, NGK Spark Plugs, Clean Boost, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their ongoing support.