With the No Prep Elite playoffs kicking off in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Clay Cole picked a perfect time to capture his first-ever Invitational win, defeating points leader Shawn Ellington (Murder Nova) in the final round.
With only the top 16 drivers in No Prep Kings advancing to the four-race NPE championship series, the competition was as close as it’s been all season. Upsets were plentiful in the first round, with both Robin Roberts and Giuseppe Gentile – second and third in points respectively – having issues. Cole, who entered 11th in points, took full advantage of the chaos en route to a $10,000 payday.
“I can’t even tell you the emotions going through my head,” said Cole. “I was screaming so loud in the car I lost my voice. I almost cried. It’s just an amazing feeling, the satisfaction that comes from this for the crew, and for me as well – we’ve been there so many times but haven’t been able to seal the deal. Brandon Stroud, who tunes my car, is one of the baddest men on earth. And to win at Tulsa, which is one of our home tracks, is incredible.”
The weekend didn’t start out according to plan, as Cole had to abort the run on his second test pass Friday evening. Things only got worse as he then discovered the team had a lot of work to do to even make it to eliminations on Saturday.
“We broke some parts Friday night, and it was really late when we discovered them,” Cole said. “I was lying underneath the car with one of my crew guys, Travis, and was like, ‘Man, it doesn’t feel like I wanna be here anymore.’ Everything was broke, everything was fighting us. A good friend of ours, Paige Coughlin…her fiancé Johnny came over and helped, and it just made everything go so much smoother. After that first-round pass Saturday, I knew we were where we needed to be. We just kept building on that every lap.”
That first-round pass came against “Disco Dean” Karns, who came into the event sixth in points. Cole got win, advancing him to the quarterfinals where he faced Chris Rankin, who had defeated Robin Roberts in round one when Roberts blew the motor at the 60 ft. Another victory put Cole in the semifinals, where he drew arguably the most difficult back-to-back pairings possible in NPK – Ryan Martin and Murder Nova. Despite running well all day, even Cole was a bit surprised at the end result.
“I honestly did not expect to make it past Ryan,” Cole admitted. “Every time we’ve drawn Ryan before, we’ve gotten the loss. He’s just that fast, and everybody knows he’s fast. When we made it past him, and I heard on the big end that I had Shawn in the finals, my heart sank just a little bit. I know how fast Shawn is because I’ve been beside him. But we were able to go up there and turn on the win light. It’s just unreal.”
Despite the loss in the finals, Ellington’s solid performance enabled him to extend his points lead. With the points reset for NPE, Ellington came into Tulsa with just a 10-point lead over Roberts and Gentile. That lead is now up to 40 points. The battle below him has suddenly become congested however, with a four-way tie for second between Cole, Roberts, Gentile, and Martin. And with 1.5x points at the next two events before a double-points season finale at the Texas Motorplex, there’s still plenty of time for anyone to capture a championship.
“As long as Shawn maintains his program and stays consistent like he always is, I believe he’ll do exceptionally well,” said Cole. “But all of us below him, we’re gunning for it. It’s not going to be an easy task for him to maintain that lead; he’s got his work cut out for him. And I feel for him, because he’s got a huge target on his back. We all want to be where he’s at.”
Up next: No Prep Elite heads to Rockingham Dragway Oct. 11-12 for the second of four playoff races.
This story was originally published on October 8, 2024.
The post Clay Cole Overcomes Adversity to Secure First NPK Win to Kickoff No Prep Elite Playoffs first appeared on Drag Illustrated.