It wasn't a "move" to 9.0 it was an elimination of 9.50. So it's 8.50, 9.00, 10.00, 10.50, 11.50, and 12.50.
I hate to say, but
@RGPIII you're in the minority of owners of this car. I had an "Unlimited" class that was a heads up basically no limits class at ChallengerFest and never had anyone interested. We'd have 1-2 owners and then a couple of shop cars. I eliminated that one too. Had $1000 payout to the winner, $750 2nd, and $500 3rd. People just don't wanna buy a $70K car then put another $40-$50K in it to be competitive. Can't say I blame them. If I were going that route I'd buy like a 2017 or 2018 R/T and turn it in to whatever I wanted. Andy Wagner got a bad ass turn key car for $80K I think and it'll smoke just about anybody I can think of easily. Looks great too. Started life as a 2009 SRT8 Challenger I believe but has body panels and interior that look like a Hellcat.
The 170 isn't gonna be a 9.0 car on average. 9.50s is where it'll be IMO. All these low 9 and high 8 runs are in pretty good DA on very well prepped tracks so far and not in an actual race. Just time chasing. I don't see many if any Hellcats regularly running 9.0s. There are a few, but they're pretty modified cars and definitely not the norm.