On Monday night, two of television’s automotive worlds will collide for a second time when the stars of Discovery Channels’ Street Outlaws and Fast ’N Loud face off in round two of Mega Race, part of Discovery’s all-new Motor Mega Week. The drag racing portion of Mega Race 2, the build-up to which is being aired over four consecutive days this week on Discovery, will pit Oklahoma City street and track racer Ryan Martin against Dallas, Texas-based Gas Monkey Garage and its Fast ’N Loud star, Richard Rawlings, and his driver Alex Laughlin.

For Martin, his involvement in the Mega Race is a validation of his efforts — he’s propelled his famed Fireball Camaro to number one on the Street Outlaws’ infamous top-ten list, becoming one of the certifiable stars of the franchise and thereby earning his shot on the big stage. Meanwhile, for Rawlings, Mega Race 2 is an opportunity for redemption.

In the inaugural Mega Race, Gas Monkey’s supercharged Dodge Challenger, with Laughlin, an accomplished NHRA Pro Stock pilot, at the wheel, came up short of Street Outlaws star Justin “Big Chief” Shearer in a drama and controversy-filled affair. But Rawlings and company certainly made their presence known with performances on-par with — and even quicker than — their more experienced foes with a largely untested machine.

Despite the frustration at their loss, Rawlings admits that a rematch wasn’t something he immediately considered.

“That race was all street hustle and how to get around the rules. It’s not something I’ve ever been involved in and didn’t really understand it. I don’t mind making a bet and standing behind it, it was just a different thing for me. I did not want to deal with the caliber of people that I dealt with the first time — it’s not my desire to be in the presence of that kind of person.”

“I have a lot of feelings on last year, but that was last year and I don’t care,” he continues. “When they did call me about Mega Race 2, I was very happy that it was going to be a different group of guys. This time around, working with Ryan and the 405 guys was unbelievable. They’re top-notch guys, super, super educated, and really knowledgeable about what they do. Sure, we still have a rivalry and sure we want to win, but we can have a little fun with that rivalry. I had a great time with those guys.”

Rawlings, who founded the now-world famous Gas Monkey Garage in 2002, has been involved in drag racing for a number of years through his sponsorship of and friendship with Laughlin. But he admits that building a drag racing machine at this level has been an eye-opening and challenging experience, but the results that Gas Monkey achieved in a relatively short amount of time cannot be understated.

This time around, working with Ryan and the 405 guys was unbelievable. They’re top-notch guys, super, super educated, and really knowledgeable about what they do. – Richard Rawlings

“We built that car from the ground-up here at our shop, not having ever built a car of that caliber before. So I was really proud of how it turned out. I was super proud of the team, super proud of the car, and quite truthfully, when we went to the track to race Big Chief, we had maybe one and a half, two passes on the car, so the two passes in the Mega Race were the third and fourth runs we had made. The car, even now, has less than seventeen passes on it. And it’s fast,” he says.

Knowing to be the best, you have to beat the best, facing Martin was a welcome challenge for Rawlings, who noted, “when I found out who he was, we really had to step up our game quite a bit. We still had a lot of imperfections in the car.” Rawlings, Laughlin, tuner Frankie Taylor, and the Gas Monkey team were tasked with opposing a well-oiled machine in Martin and his Fireball Camaro, while their car — with less than a handful of runs on it — had been collecting dust in a storage area for nearly a year. If not for the call to participate in Mega Race 2, Richard shares the car was destined to be retired and hung in a soon-to-be-completed addition to the Gas Monkey facility as a show-piece.

“We never touched it after the first race. I got kind of pissed off about losing, pulled the motor and stuffed it into the back corner. When we accepted the new challenge, I had to go out there and take a car that had five or six passes on it, ever, and put it back together in a short period of time and go race again. I was really proud of the guys,” he says. “It was a challenge, but we put together a hell of a good car, and we fixed a lot of the problems we had the first year — we’re pretty happy with it.”

Martin, for his part, wasn’t taking the Gas Monkey crew — with decades of collective drag racing experience — lightly.

“The 405 represented well in the first Mega Race and I couldn’t do anything but the same thing,” he says. “I also had to overestimate their capability to make sure I was bringing enough to win. I was confident but not enough that I took them lightly. I knew they would be out for blood and trying to do whatever it took to make sure they wouldn’t lose again. So myself and my crew took the mindset that they were going to be even faster than before and we had to be also. And as expected,  they were.”

Rawlings brought the same battery of crew members back for Mega Race 2, citing the successful formula they had assembled in their first go-round.

“I had a good group last time, taking a car and running that quick with that little track-time, and I wasn’t about to switch that up. I was really high on Frankie [Taylor, a veteran Pro Modified racer and tuner] … he is a true connoisseur and a badass at what he does,” Rawling shares.

I knew they would be out for blood and trying to do whatever it takes to make sure they wouldn’t lose again. So myself and my crew took the mindset that they were going to be even faster than before and we had to be also. – Ryan Martin

One of the over-arching themes of the inaugural Mega Race was the contempt from the Street Outlaws’ cast over Laughlin — not Rawlings — piloting the Gas Monkey machine. While Rawlings stands by his decision to tab a seasoned, experienced (and NHRA-licensed) driver to handle the 3,500-horsepower machine, he isn’t shy about dipping his toes in the water, and in 2018 he intends to do exactly that.

“I’m going to get out there this year and get my NHRA license. I’ve got a new Dodge Demon coming in that we’re going to race, and then we’ll kind of move up the performance ladder from there. I feel comfortable in a seven to eight-second car in the quarter-mile, but I don’t have any time in something faster than that. But I want to get some seat-time. We’re also getting into some of this radial and no-prep stuff with Alex, and that’s been a good time, so we’re definitely not going anywhere when it comes to drag racing,” he says.

The Mega Race 2, filmed at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix, Arizona will air Monday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery.