Brainerd Event Recap for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals

Leah Pruett & Matt Hagan

Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Aug. 18-20 | Brainerd, Minnesota

Event Recap

Leah Pruett, driver of the Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 4 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.777 ET at 327.35 mph)
• Q2 of Top Fuel was canceled due to a track delay and conditions being too dark to run
• Maintained No. 4 provisional qualifying position based off Friday’s Q1 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Pruett ran a 3.809 ET at 315.71 mph.
• Secured No. 5 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Pruett ran a 3.818 ET at 326.71 mph.
• Advanced to the Finals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.820 ET at 267.27 mph, defeated Tony Schumacher (5.103 ET at 144.92 mph)
• Round 2: 3.750 ET at 333.41 mph, defeated Brittany Force (4.309 ET at 262.49 mph)
• Semifinals: 3.733 ET at 331.94 mph, defeated Justin Ashley (3.753 ET at 322.73 mph)
• Finals: 3.757 ET at 331.12 mph, lost to Antron Brown (3.715 ET at 326.08 mph)
• Currently fifth in the Top Fuel championship standings, 262 points behind Top Fuel leader Justin Ashley

Matt Hagan, driver of the Dodge Direct Connection Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 1 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.910 ET at 328.06 mph)
• Scored three bonus points for quickest run of the session
• Fell to No. 3 provisional qualifier based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q2 on Friday, Hagan ran a 7.317 ET at 91.28 mph.
• Maintained No. 3 provisional qualifying position based of off Friday’s Q1 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.826 ET at 167.16 mph. Q3 also served as the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Finals, where Hagan faced J.R. Todd. Hagan defeated Todd’s 9.471 ET, 82.02 mph run.
• Secured No. 3 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.043 ET at 311.20 mph. Q4 also served as the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Finals, where Hagan faced Robert Hight. Hight defeated Hagan with a 3.988 ET, 315.05 mph run.
• Eliminated following Round 1 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 8.022 ET at 90.47 mph, lost to Dave Richards (4.469 ET at 234.98 mph)
• Currently second in the Funny Car championship standings, 21 points behind Funny Car leader Ron Capps

Notes of Interest

• Pruett advanced to her 21st career Top Fuel final round in her 200th Top Fuel start. She leaves Brainerd International Raceway maintaining the track record for elapsed time with 3.640 ET, a mark she established on Aug. 18, 2017 en route to one of her two victories at the track.
• By advancing to the Semifinals, Pruett qualified to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the next NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series event, the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals, where she’ll face Justin Ashley.
• Hagan participated in his fifth Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season. His four previous appearances came in the NHRA Arizona Nationals, the Route 66 NHRA Nationals, the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals and the Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor.
• The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series has one race remaining in the regular season before the Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 14-17 with the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania. Points will be doubled at the next event, the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals.

Leah Pruett, Driver of the Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster

“What a race day for this Dodge Direct Connection team starting from the fifth spot. We competed against three world champions and the current points leader, so we had our work cut out for us today. We were able to execute and turn on three win lights, but unfortunately just didn’t have enough from the starting line to the finish line to beat Antron (Brown). Our focus is on propelling this momentum built from being extremely thorough and diligent from the parts to the tune-up and digging even deeper into where our improvements live. I’m stoked that we get to be in the final Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season in Indy, which allows us to capitalize on race mode while qualifying. We definitely do not have our heads down, even though we could taste this Brainerd win because we know that we have room for improvement and that’s one of the driving forces of how and why we do what we do. The road to claiming second place on my 200th Top Fuel start really tested me as a driver today and pushed my triggers implementing new tactics from brake, throttle position, eye movement, and focus. I’ve been so locked-in on analyzing every variable of preparing to drive to driving, that when you’re making changes to improve, you’re not always going to get it right every time. In the second round, I definitely didn’t get it right, but my team and hot rod absolutely pulled the weight of that win. We’re in a position where you don’t just get lucky, you make your own luck and that’s where the diligent work to get down moving track conditions lie. Today was a product of proper execution, a little bit of deserved luck, and great recovery. Our original plan no matter what was to test here in Brainerd on Monday in preparation for the U.S. Nationals and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’ll service our Hemis and parts, analyze today’s wins and shortcomings, and dig our heels in to be a top-leaver and exceptional performing car.”

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

“It was obviously a very tough weekend. The points will not be great for us this weekend having not gotten out of first round. We’ve got to move forward. We are better than that. We can perform better than that. You are going to have a couple of hiccups along the way and unfortunately this is one of them. We are going to dig deep and figure out what we did wrong. It stops with us as a team and we are going to work harder.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals August 30-September 4 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.

-TSR-

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