Dubbin Motorsports and driver Kirk Wolf continued their push to build late\u2011season momentum and resolve lingering performance issues at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals, held this past weekend at Brainerd International Raceway. With two solid qualifying passes and a competitive showing in eliminations, the DMP Awnings \/ Kentex Roofing\u2011backed team demonstrated forward progress as they work toward the consistently quicker runs that have eluded them throughout 2026.<\/p>\n
Wolf opened qualifying with immediate tire smoke, placing the team near the bottom of the ladder after Q1. The group rebounded sharply in the second session, posting a 5.435 at 267.75 mph to climb to 11th. In the final qualifier, Wolf delivered his best pass of the weekend \u2013 a crisp 5.37 at 270.0 mph \u2013 landing Wolf and the team in the No. 12 spot heading into Saturday afternoon eliminations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working hard to get the car responding the way we know it can,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cWe have had to start from scratch and work hard to get better every run, and the Q3 run showed we\u2019re headed in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
In round one of eliminations, Wolf lined up against No. 5 qualifier Mitch Kalitta, the son of two\u2011time Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta, who was making his national\u2011event debut in a Randy Meyer Racing A\/Fuel dragster. The pair left nearly together \u2013 Kalitta cutting a .044 light to Wolf\u2019s .056 \u2013 but the Meyer\u2011tuned machine quickly pulled ahead to post a winning 5.228 at 276.41 mph, holding off Wolf\u2019s 5.373 at 263.56 mph to end Dubbin Motorsports\u2019 Brainerd weekend.<\/p>\n
The round\u2011one ET and speed closely mirrored the Q3 numbers, which was both discouraging and revealing for the team. While the expected performance still wasn\u2019t there, the data made the limiting issue unmistakably clear, giving the team a definitive answer as to what is holding the car back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned a lot this weekend,\u201d said Wolf. \u201cWe finally pinpointed the issue in the clutch. This problem has been an issue all year, and we found it. The data from the Indy test and the runs this weekend made the problem in the clutch very clear to us. I\u2019m really looking forward to Michigan in a few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team owner Dean Dubbin had a similar view after the round one defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis car has been frustrating all year, and I think we finally found the problem in the clutch,\u201d said Dubbin. \u201cFor a while now, the harder we leaned on the clutch to develop plate load, the worse the car would drive through the clutch. The car has been doing exactly the opposite of what we were telling it to do. After the three runs this weekend, I believe we have figured out what the problem is, so I agree with Kirk, Michigan should be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Dubbin is confident the team will be ready for the Great Lakes Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a good place right now with everything we learned at the Indy test and the race this weekend,\u201d said Dubbin. \u201cThe weather should start to get cooler by the time we get to Michigan. US 131 is about 700 feet in elevation, so if the weather is right, we may see sea-level type conditions, and if this car behaves the way we know it can, we should be in the mix with the fast cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post Momentum Continues To Build For Dubbin Motorsports After Steady Brainerd Nationals Weekend<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dubbin Motorsports and driver Kirk Wolf continued their push to build late\u2011season momentum and resolve lingering performance issues at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals, held this past weekend at Brainerd International Raceway. With two solid qualifying passes and a competitive showing in eliminations, the DMP Awnings \/ Kentex Roofing\u2011backed team demonstrated forward progress as they work […]<\/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-104645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104645","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=104645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}