Madison Payne Makes it to the Final Round at Maple Grove

Reading - Madison Payne went to her second final round in a row at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals near Reading, PA. It was an exciting event for the Muscle Milk team where they qualified first but were stopped by NASCAR icon Tony Stewart in the finals. Beautiful warm weather helped sell out the race on Saturday but the finals were delayed until Monday due to some rain that came through the area after the semifinals on Sunday afternoon.

Madison qualified the Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster on the pole with a stunning 5.19 at 279 MPH. The Maple Grove race landed on Madison's birthday so qualifying at the top of the tough Maple Grove field made her day even more special. "My birthday gift was going number one" she said.

In round one, Madison had the task of racing Mark Albert. Albert got off the line first with an .034 to Madison's .052 but that's as far as the lead would go for Albert as he had some traction problems and had to lift. Meanwhile, Madison began to also lose traction but did a masterful job pedaling it and posted a winning 5.36 at 276 MPH.

Round two would be Madison's lucky round. Just like at Indy, she once again faced Karen Stabla in the second round. At the hit, Stabla left too soon while Madison lost traction off the starting line and had to idle the car to the finish line for the win to advance to the semifinals.

Next, Madison raced Canadian Jeff Chatterson in the Semis. Madison was back in winning form and took the win with a clean 5.33 at 270 MPH over Chatterson's traction-plagued run. Prior to the final round, it was all hands on deck in the Shields pit area as the team had to swap engines. They were ready in time for the finals had the weather cooperated. "The team did all they could especially considering the fact they swapped engines after the semis. We got extra help from Shelly, JJ, MATT, and Doug". Madison said.

In the final round on Monday, Madison raced Tony Stewart who is contending for the National Championship. This would be a great re-match after Madison squeaked by him in the final round last year in Las Vegas. As the tree came down, it was Stewart with the starting line advantage. He rang up an .043 light to Madison's .056. As the cars raced down the Maple Grove quarter mile, it was Stewart with the lead which he never relinquished, and scored the win with a 5.21 at 271 to Madison's close 5.25 at 276 MPH.

Overall, Madison was happy with how her birthday race went. "It was a great weekend for Duane, the team, and I. We are hoping to keep the momentum going and are excited for Charlotte. We didn't win, but two finals in a row is pretty cool" she said. Team owner Duane Shields agreed with Madison's assessment. "This is one of my favorite tracks and obviously we would have rather won. But we have gone to two finals in a row so I can't complain. Madison did a great job driving and we will go on to Charlotte and see if we can keep it going" he said.

Next, the team heads to Charlotte for the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals, September 22-24. Duane and Madison would like to thank Muscle Milk, Brad Anderson Enterprises, NGK Spark Plugs, GRP Connecting Rods, and Clean Boost for all of their support in 2023.