Advance for the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals
July 18-20 | Kent, Washington

Event Overview

Friday, July 18 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Nitro qualifying session (Q1): 9:15 p.m. PDT/12:15 a.m. EDT

Saturday, July 19 (Nitro Qualifying & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Nitro qualifying session (Q2): 12:30 p.m. PDT/3:30 p.m. EDT
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Round 1: 2:45 p.m. PDT/5:45 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Round 1: 3:15 p.m. PDT/6:15 p.m. EDT
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Finals: 5 p.m. PDT/8 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Finals: 5:30 p.m. PDT/8:30 p.m. EDT

Sunday, July 20 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Round 1: 10:30 a.m. PDT/1:30 p.m. EDT
• Round 2: 12:30 p.m. PDT/3:30 p.m. EDT
• Semi-Finals: 2:05 p.m. PDT/5:05 p.m. EDT
• Finals: 3:30 p.m. PDT/6:30 p.m. EDT

TV coverage
• Saturday, July 19: Qualifying show (10 p.m. PDT/1 a.m. EDT on FS1)
• Sunday, July 20: Qualifying show recapping Saturday’s action (2:30 p.m. PDT/5:30 p.m. EDT on FS1)
• Sunday, July 20: Finals show (4:30 p.m. PDT/7:30 p.m. EDT on FOX)

Notes of Interest

• The Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington, marks the first stop of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ two-week long Western Swing. The DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway will follow Seattle July 25-27. The NHRA Northwest Nationals is the 11th event on the NHRA’s 20-race calendar.

• Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) brings its two fulltime entries – one in Top Fuel for Tony Stewart and one in Funny Car for 52-time Funny Car winner and four-time champion Matt Hagan.

• Coming into Seattle, Stewart is leading the Top Fuel championship standings, 52 points over Shawn Langdon. Hagan is fifth in the Funny Car standings, 222 points behind leader Austin Prock.

• Direct Connection is the primary partner of Stewart and Hagan this weekend in Seattle. With muscle car enthusiasts looking for “ready to run” parts, Direct Connection serves as the source for high-performance parts and technical expertise straight from the factory.

• The NHRA Northwest Nationals will serve as Stewart’s 31st career Top Fuel start and his second at Pacific Raceways. For Hagan, this will be his 363rd career Funny Car start and his 15th at the track.

• Stewart is eyeing his first victory in the NHRA Northwest Nationals, as well as his first No. 1 qualifier at the event. In 2024, Stewart secured the No. 10 qualifying position and ran a 8.907 ET at 84.70 mph in Round 1 of eliminations, which lost to Jasmine Salinas’ 3.777 ET at 330.31 mph.

• Hagan won the NHRA Northwest Nationals in 2013. His 4.171 ET at 294.75 mph run defeated Bob Tasca III (5.324 ET at 164.81 mph). Hagan also has one No. 1 qualifier at the event, which came in 2018 (3.913 ET at 324.75 mph).

• For the second consecutive year, the NHRA has added a fourth qualifying session at the NHRA Northwest Nationals, for fans to get a special opportunity to watch nitro Funny Cars and Top Fuel Dragsters make a pass under the lights Friday night.

• By advancing to the Semifinals at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Hagan and Stewart qualified to participate in the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the NHRA Northwest Nationals, where Hagan will race Cruz Pedregon and Stewart will face a rematch against Clay Millican.

• Hagan and Stewart will participate in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge autograph session on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. PDT, which will take place at the Mission Foods tent in the midway.

Tony Stewart, Driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster

Seattle is the first race of the two-race Western Swing and starts the second half of the season. Going into this race what are the short-term and long-term goals with four races remaining in the regular season until the Countdown?
“I think short-term, we want to rebound from our race weekends at Norwalk and Virginia. We were able to salvage decent results during those two races, but we had major struggles that went along with it. Virginia was a battle in the heat and then having three explosions at Norwalk definitely didn’t help us. Going to Seattle and Sonoma, I feel like we’re going to two tracks that have pretty good grip and won’t be as hot as what we dealt with in Virginia and Ohio. We’ll get an opportunity to go fast again, so I’m looking to rebound from two tough races that still produced great results but had struggles to get there. I really enjoyed being in Seattle last year. We just really struggled with the race car at that event, so I feel like we’re in a way better spot going into Seattle than where we were a year ago. We just have to stay the course right now.”

You’ve advanced to eight consecutive Semifinal rounds, and your Round 1 streak continues – you’re the only driver to advance past Round 1 of eliminations in all 10 events so far this season. What confidence does that give you in this Dodge Direct Connection team?
“I think it gives us a ton of confidence. As I mentioned, we had adversity to face during the last two races that we had to battle through to get to the Semifinals. Being able to get through the first round of every event is something that we take a lot of pride in. I think it’s a testament of where our program is at right now. No matter where we qualify, we’ve been able to get through the first round whether the opponent was the last qualifier or towards the top of the board. I think it doesn’t matter where we qualify because whoever we race on race day in round one knows that we’re a threat and that we can produce results. But you can’t just rely on and fall back on what you’ve done in the past, you still have to do the work and keep yourself in those positions to keep getting through those first rounds and getting into the Semifinals. We have to stay focused as a team. The good thing is we’re restocked with parts and pieces that we’ve hurt the last couple of events and we’re back at full strength and ready to rip, so hopefully we’ll have a great weekend again.”

Matt Hagan, Driver of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car

You and the Dodge Direct Connection team advanced to the Finals at the previous event in Norwalk, Ohio. What confidence does that give you heading into Seattle?
“It was a big shot in the arm to go to the Finals at the last race in Norwalk. We had some first-round losses lately, but we were also trying some things out in the R&D (research and development) program, so we knew things may not go the way we wanted them to. We switched things back to the way we had started the season and sure enough, the win lights kept turning back on, so I’m excited about that. Obviously, we would have liked to have beaten (Austin) Prock. He’s extremely tough, but that’s how it is out there. There are no easy rounds. We beat J.R.Todd in Round 1 with Dickie Venables tuning his machine. We all know what Dickie is capable of, having won three championships with him. We had Jack Beckman in Round 2 and they’re second in points. Then, we had Cruz (Pedregon) in the Semifinals. He has been stepping things up. He’s a Dodge teammate that has been doing well. We lost lane choice in the Finals, so we couldn’t run as hard as we wanted to against Prock. It’s been a big learning curve for Mike Knudsen (crew chief). We’re moving in the right direction, and I knew this year was going to be a learning season no matter what. There are some growing pains with new leadership, but I’m super proud of our guys. Mike, Phil (Shuler – co-crew chief), and Alex (Conaway – car chief) have all been stepping up. Wins are right around the corner, and I feel like we can get it done in the next couple races.”

Seattle is the first race of the two-race Western Swing and starts the second half of the season. Going into this race what are the short-term and long-term goals with four races remaining in the regular season until the Countdown?
“I can’t believe we have four regular-season races left until the Countdown starts. The Western Swing doesn’t feel right without Denver on the schedule, so I’m really excited to see they purchased land for a new track. I’d like to get the broomstick to be able to sweep the Swing one day. We have a lot of momentum going and we have a lot of close drag races we haven’t been on the right side of. It’s been a productive season, but we just have to keep pushing and working hard. As long as I do my job on the tree, things will keep going the way they need to. I’m looking forward to the second half of the season.”

-TSR-

Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]