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<\/p>\nFormer multi-time Pro Stock national event winner Shane Gray will return to NHRA competition this weekend at the 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, driving in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Modified Series presented by Elite Motorsports.<\/p>\n
Gray, who calls North Carolina home, will make his Pro Mod debut driving the Elite Motorsports \/ Modern Racing \/ Mason Wright Racing Pro Mod entry formerly driven by Mason Wright and Aaron Stanfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve been here at Indy\u20262017 or 2018,\u201d Gray said. \u201cI was fortunate enough to win this this thing in 2014 in Pro Stock so I\u2019m comfortable. We\u2019ll just go out there, see how we do, and have a good time. It\u2019s a great race. I\u2019ve got all my friends and family here, my grandson\u2019s coming tomorrow\u2026it couldn\u2019t be better.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a long-standing history with the Gray family,\u201d said Richard Freeman, owner of Elite Motorsports. \u201cWe used to race in Competition Eliminator with him and his brother Johnathon. We rented Shane\u2019s motors in 2013 when he was still racing Pro Stock. Pretty sure he made it to a handful of final rounds that year. One thing that has always stayed consistent was our mutual respect for each other. It feels right having him come on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his Pro Stock career, Gray raced to a total of 13 national event final rounds with a total of five victories. He raced to five final rounds alone in 2013 with one win. His last win came at the NHRA Gatornationals in 2017.<\/p>\n
Gray retired from Pro Stock racing at the end of the 2017 allowing his son, 2018 Pro Stock world champion and current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor for TRICON Garage, Tanner Gray, to take over driving duties for the family team. With Tanner and his brother Taylor, who races for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series, set on their motorsports paths, Shane felt the time was right to make his return to the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n
The screw-blown Camaro Gray will be driving at Indy is tuned by Modern Racing\u2019s Justin Elkes. Elkes was also previously Gray\u2019s crew chief in Pro Stock. when they won the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in 2014. But despite having won \u201cThe Big Go\u201d in the past, Gray enters the weekend without any weight on his shoulders of replicating that performance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really have any expectations. I\u2019m just happy to be here,\u201d said Gray. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for the people that gave me the opportunity to be here. I\u2019m just gonaa go have a good time. There\u2019s zero pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qualifying for the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Modified Series presented by Elite Motorsports begins on Friday, September 4 at 5:20 p.m. eastern Qualifying continues on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. Final qualifying will take place at 11:10 a.m. on Sunday, with first round of eliminations to follow at 4:45 p.m. Eliminations will conclude on Monday, September 7.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on September 4, 2026. <\/p>\n
The post Shane Gray Set to Make Pro Mod Debut With Elite Motorsports and Modern Racing at NHRA U.S. Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former multi-time Pro Stock national event winner Shane Gray will return to NHRA competition this weekend at the 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, driving in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Modified Series presented by Elite Motorsports. Gray, who calls North Carolina home, will make his Pro […]<\/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-104719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104719","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=104719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}