Brainerd Event Recap for the NHRA Nationals – Hagan Runner Up

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Top Fuel | Funny Car
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Aug. 16-18 | Brainerd, Minnesota

Event Recap

Tony Stewart, driver of the Mahindra Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 14 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (6.792 ET at 91.86 mph)
• Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.688 ET at 332.18 mph)
• Scored two bonus points for having the second-quickest run of the session
• Maintained No. 2 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 8.352 ET at 78.23 mph. Stewart faced Steve Torrence in Round 1 of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Torrence’s 3.757 ET, 332.84 mph run defeated Stewart.
• Secured No. 2 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 3.725 ET at 333.16 mph.
• Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.724 ET at 334.73 mph, defeated Tony Schumacher (3.786 ET at 327.11 mph)
• Round 2: 9.435 ET at 78.54 mph, lost to Justin Ashley (3.763 ET at 328.30 mph)
• Currently seventh in the Top Fuel championship standings, 357 points behind Top Fuel leader Doug Kalitta

Matt Hagan, driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 9 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (6.509 ET at 113.08 mph)
• Fell to No. 14 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q2 on Friday, Hagan ran a 8.842 ET at 84.38 mph.
• Earned No. 13 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.997 ET at 323.27 mph). Q3 also served as Round 1 of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Ron Capps’ 3.981 ET at 321.19 mph defeated Hagan.
• Secured No. 13 qualifying position based off of Saturday’s Q3 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 7.633 ET at 94.37 mph.
• Advanced to the Finals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.937 ET at 329.26 mph, defeated Ron Capps (3.913 ET at 331.20 mph)
• Round 2: 3.969 ET at 324.05 mph, defeated Daniel Wilkerson (10.218 ET at 88.82 mph)
• Semifinals: 3.965 ET at 324.12 mph, defeated J.R. Todd (4.075 ET at 280.14 mph)
• Finals: 5.615 ET at 129.77 mph (red light), lost to Blake Alexander (3.927 ET at 324.67 mph)
• Currently third in the Funny Car championship standings, 230 points behind Funny Car leader Austin Prock

Notes of Interest

• Hagan has reached the Finals four times in 15 appearances in the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, winning in 2021 when he beat Cruz Pedregon in the Final.
• By advancing to the Semifinals, Hagan qualified to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the next NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series event, the NHRA U.S. Nationals, where he’ll face J.R. Todd. It will mark his ninth #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season and the final opportunity to earn bonus points prior to the Countdown to the Championship.
• Stewart continued to beat his personal best ET (elapsed time) and speed throughout the weekend. He ran a 3.688 ET at 332.18 mph in Q2, 333.16 mph in Q4 and 334.73 mph in Round 1 of eliminations. His previous career best ET was 3.716 and his previous career best speed was 332.02 mph.
• Stewart entered Sunday’s eliminations eighth in points and was able to move into the seventh position by advancing to Round 2.
• The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series has one race remaining in the regular season before the Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 13-15 with the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania. Points will be points and a half at the next event, the NHRA U.S. Nationals and will reset at the start of the Countdown.

Tony Stewart, Driver of the Mahindra Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster

“I feel like it was a huge success this weekend, even though we didn’t get past the second round. In the big picture, our car has speed for the first time this season and we’re running in the 3.60’s for the first time all season. We finally got the car to run in the 330 miles per hour range in Sonoma and we broke speed records three times this weekend. I feel like we finally have a car that is competitive, it’s just a matter of getting a handle on it and reeling it in when the conditions aren’t ideal. We’ve been in the opposite scenario all season, just trying to spur the thing to go faster. We’ve been struggling with it and found a couple things that have been holding us back. I am glad that we finally found them and it’s honestly at the right time. We’d like to have three or four events before the start of the Countdown, but at the same time, at least we found it. Better late than never, so we will get ready for the biggest race of the year in Indianapolis.”

Matt Hagan, Driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car

“I was really happy to have Andy Ross from American Rebel out here this weekend. It’s a great opportunity for him to continue and grow his brand. He’s a great guy and it’s nice having him around. He’s been to four races and we’ve advanced to the Finals in each of them and won two of those. We need to keep getting him out to the track. My guys did a great job this weekend. We missed it a little bit and qualifying, but they dug deep and worked hard. The more runs Dickie (Venables – Crew Chief) got, the more the car came around. My team did everything right this weekend and I let them down in the Final when I red lit up there. It’s a tough deal when you watch your guys work hard all day to get there and you mess it up as a driver. I wasn’t going up there pressing or doing anything out of the ordinary. The lights seemed long and the foots they go. I guess it is one of those things that happen, but it’s not a great excuse. It’s kind of a rookie mistake and I haven’t done that in a while. Obviously you’re pretty hard on yourself because of all the work the guys did to get there. We had the car to run with them (Blake Alexander) or beat them. We have some test sessions coming up tomorrow, so we’ll try to learn some more as we get ready for Indy and then the start of the countdown. This just continues to show that we can work through a lot of adversity during the weekend. We haven’t been qualifying the greatest, but we seem to really race well on Sundays. Congratulations to Blake. He and his wife are going to have another baby in the next week or two, so maybe it wasn’t meant to be my day today. Thank you to Andy Ross for all he has done to support us.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the NHRA U.S. Nationals August 28-September 2 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.

-TSR-

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