Dubbin Motorsports heads to zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina, for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, the second stop on their 2026 campaign. Making their third appearance at the 4-wide format, the Minnesota-based A/Fuel Dragster team arrives with unfinished business after a razor-thin .005-second first-round loss at the Gatornationals. That losing margin – 30 times less than the blink of an eye – has Kirk Wolf and the Dubbin crew focused and looking for a win at Charlotte.
“We just got behind at Gainesville,” said team owner Dean Dubbin. “We lost a couple of runs with a wheelie bar problem in Q1 and smoking the tires in the second session. The car was really aggressive. Clay, and Chase, and the guys made some big changes to get it settled down. It made a good run in round one, but we just came out on the wrong side of a really good drag race. I like where the car is, and I like where the whole team is. Everyone is doing a great job, and we are looking for good things at Charlotte.”
The 4-wide format at zMAX Dragway is frowned upon by some drivers, but Kirk Wolf has always enjoyed the strategy-driven part of the race.
“We’ve always done well here, and I’ve always enjoyed the 4-wide format,” said Wolf. “The 4-wide format actually works in our favor. As well as this car runs, if I do my job on the starting line, I only need to outrun two of the three other cars to advance – and I like those odds. But you have to be consistent, and other than a few strange occurrences, we have been consistent and fast here.”
Team owner Dean Dubbin agreed, “We’ve had a few ‘What the heck was that?’ moments at Charlotte, but for the most part we’ve made good runs. Where you can get into trouble is that this track changes very fast, and you have to keep up with it. It seems to be very temperature sensitive, where it gets good fast, and it goes away fast, so you have to keep a close eye on it throughout the day. It is a challenge that has bitten us a couple of times. We don’t plan on letting it happen this year.”
The Dubbin Motorsports A/Fuel Dragster has delivered strong performances at zMAX Dragway over the past two seasons, with Wolf securing competitive qualifying positions while consistently running in the low‑5.20 range.
There is no doubt that Kirk Wolf and the Dubbin team are hungry and motivated to have a breakout weekend at the Charlotte 4-wide.
“We have a great car, and everyone is performing at a very high level. It’s time to turn that into a win this weekend,” said Wolf.
