{"id":103283,"date":"2026-03-26T19:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/five-things-to-watch-at-the-pdra-carolina-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T19:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:44:07","slug":"five-things-to-watch-at-the-pdra-carolina-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/five-things-to-watch-at-the-pdra-carolina-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Things to Watch at the PDRA Carolina Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series roars to life this weekend at Darlington Dragway for the KTR Carolina Nationals presented by Pee Dee Fleet, and the season opener is loaded with storylines. A returning host track, a wild weather swing, a stacked field across every category, and the unmistakable buzz of a series that spent the offseason getting better in every direction.<\/p>\n

Here are five things I\u2019m watching heading into the weekend.<\/p>\n

1. The Weather Swing Could Decide Everything<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s forecast calls for a high of 87 degrees. Saturday morning? Pack the hoodies \u2013 it drops to 63. That\u2019s a potential 20-degree swing from qualifying to eliminations, and it\u2019s going to separate the sharp tuners from everyone else.<\/p>\n

Teams will get data during Wednesday and Thursday testing, but Friday\u2019s tune-ups will look nothing like Saturday\u2019s. The cool, dense air on race day is going to make the track an animal \u2013 and when conditions shift that dramatically, anything can happen. Expect at least one big-name stumble in E1 and at least one underdog making a run for it that nobody saw coming.<\/p>\n

2. Winter Series Momentum Is Real<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DI Winter Series set the table for this weekend in a big way. Four-time PDRA world champion Jason Harris kicked it all off at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals with a win in the Harold Denton \u201cParty Time\u201d tribute car, earning the cover of the DI Photo Annual in the process. And in Pro 10.5, Fletcher Cox walked away with a Winter Series championship and a World Series of Pro Mod win, rolling into Darlington with as much momentum as anyone in the Pro Street field.<\/p>\n

Jerry Morgano is another name to watch. He found the Pro 10.5 winner\u2019s circle for the first time in several years over the winter and looked fast doing it. When a veteran gets that taste of winning again, he tends to come back hungry.<\/p>\n

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Pro Street driver Jerry Morgano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. Marcus Butner and Jay Cox are the Pro Nitrous Pick<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my pick to win it in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous: Marcus Butner. The reason is simple \u2013 his tuner, Jay Cox, has made a ton of laps at Darlington Dragway, whether it was PDRA events, Carolina Xtreme Pro Mod races, or just in private testing. Jay knows this track in hot conditions and cool conditions, and that matters when you\u2019re dealing with a 20-degree temperature swing between qualifying and the first round of eliminations.<\/p>\n

Butner and Cox are coming off a championship season in 2025. I don\u2019t see any reason that slows down this weekend at a track where Cox has more data than just about anyone in the field.<\/p>\n

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Reigning PDRA Pro Nitrous champion Marcus Butner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Pro Boost Could Reset the Record Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

The WS Construction Pro Boost field is as deep as it\u2019s ever been, and there\u2019s a real chance the class record falls this weekend. The ProCharger and Harts Charger cars looked stout all winter, and the screw blower cars were right there on the qualifying sheets at the World Series of Pro Mod. Innovation is driving innovation in this category \u2013 when one combination gets quicker, the other platforms respond. That arms race has elevated the entire class.<\/p>\n

Defending world champion Ty Tutterow is debuting a brand-new Larry Jeffers Race Cars-built \u201868 Camaro this weekend. It literally just started for the first time before testing began, and with proven, screw-blown horsepower from father Todd \u201cKing Tut\u201d Tutterow\u2019s Wyo Motorsports, it should be a contender right out of the box.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With cooler, denser air on Saturday, someone is going to uncork a number that changes the conversation. Keep an eye on Lyle Barnett, who\u2019s been racking up seat time early this year in both the Drag Illustrated Winter Series with Tommy Youmans and in NHRA Pro Mod with Billy Banaka. And two-time and reigning Pro Street world champion Ethan Steding continues to prove he\u2019s a natural behind the wheel \u2013 a first-time PDRA Pro Boost winner this weekend wouldn\u2019t shock anyone who\u2019s been paying attention.<\/p>\n

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Defending PDRA Pro Boost champion Ty Tutterow will debut a brand-new Larry Jeffers-built \u201968 Camaro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5. Super Street Is About to Have Its Moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been saying it all offseason: 2026 could be the year Super Street hits critical mass. The young-gun front-runners \u2013 defending world champion Connor McGee, Austin Vincent, Matt Schalow, Carson Perry \u2013 are all capable of winning on any given weekend. But the story this year is the wave of new cars and new faces entering the category. Brad McBride is back with a new Volkswagen build. Kenny Fox has been testing and looks sharp. There are teams out there who may show up for one race to test the waters and end up hooked.<\/p>\n

The tighter 2026 schedule, with all races centralized in the Mid-Atlantic region, is going to help this class grow. More teams can realistically chase a full championship. And when the car count rises, iron sharpens iron \u2013 the competition level jumps for everybody. I think one of the young guns parks it in the winner\u2019s circle this weekend and kicks off a championship hunt that runs all season long.<\/p>\n

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PDRA Super Street champion Connor McGee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The KTR Carolina Nationals presented by Pee Dee Fleet kicks off with testing Wednesday and Thursday at Darlington Dragway. Qualifying begins Friday, with eliminations Saturday. Watch it live on FloRacing. Tickets available at pdra660.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on March 26, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Five Things to Watch at the PDRA Carolina Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series roars to life this weekend at Darlington Dragway for the KTR Carolina Nationals presented by Pee Dee Fleet, and the season opener is loaded with storylines. A returning host track, a wild weather swing, a stacked field across every category, and the unmistakable buzz of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}