Dallas Event Recap for the Texas NHRA FallNationals

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Top Fuel | Funny Car
Texas NHRA FallNationals
Oct. 10-12 | Dallas

Event Recap

Tony Stewart, driver of the Mobil 1 Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 4 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.817 ET – there was a timing malfunction with the mph)
• Fell to No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.724 ET at 331.86 mph)
• Maintained No. 8 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 3.936 ET at 250.42 mph.
• Secured No. 8 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 4.478 ET at 177.18 mph.
• Eliminated following Round 1 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.774 ET at 321.52 mph, lost to Clay Millican (3.700 ET at 335.32 mph)
• Currently sixth in the Top Fuel championship standings, 236 points behind leader Doug Kalitta

Matt Hagan, driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 4 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.970 ET at 325.36 mph)
• Fell to No. 12 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q2 on Friday, Hagan ran a 4.086 ET at 269.64 mph.
• Maintained No. 12 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.565 ET at 184.87 mph.
• Secured No. 12 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.017 ET at 300.16 mph.
• Eliminated following Round 1 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.934 ET at 330.35 mph, lost to Paul Lee (3.908 ET at 331.25 mph)
• Currently second in the Funny Car championship standings, 112 points behind leader Austin Prock

Notes of Interest

• Despite losing in Round 1, Hagan earned back-to-back wins at the Texas NHRA FallNationals in 2023 and 2024. He has recorded five career wins at the Texas NHRA FallNationals, which came in 2010, 2015, 2019, 2023, and 2024. He has gone to the final round the last six years heading into Sunday’s FallNationals and has appeared in more final rounds in Dallas than in any other event in the series (nine times in 17 appearances). Augmenting his five wins are four runner-ups (2012, 2020, 2021 and 2022).
• In 2023, Hagan won TSR’s first and only double-up victory thus far with Leah Pruett in Top Fuel.
• Ahead of the Texas NHRA FallNationals, Stewart participated in his 15th “Smoke Show” event. For the past 14 years, the event took place at Texas Motor Speedway. This year’s event featured the inaugural bowling tournament. The event benefitted Speedway Children’s Charities. Since 1997, Speedway Children’s Charities at Texas Motor Speedway has distributed more than $12.4 million in funding to non-profit organizations in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties supporting children in need.

Tony Stewart, Driver of the Mobil 1 Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster

“This wasn’t the weekend we were looking for at the FallNationals. We were able to qualify the Mobil 1 machine in the top-half of the field during Friday’s night session. We knew Clay (Millican) was going to be a tough opponent in round one today. We just didn’t have enough for him. We have two races left to try and capitalize on points and try to bring home a couple more wins.”

Matt Hagan, Driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car

“This was a really challenging weekend and obviously not what we set out to do losing first round. It all started with Friday night when we missed it because we had a big explosion in the first session. It wasn’t a tune-up issue or parts being put on wrong, but just a parts failure. It’s hard to swallow when we keep having part failures from manufacturers, but it’s the hand we’re dealt. In the second session on Friday night, we had all new parts on the car. It was an unrealistic challenge to think we could go up there and row low (ET). We had cylinders out and had to shut the car off, so we didn’t qualify well. On Saturday in the heat of the day, we were making half-track pulls because we’re out of parts and pieces. We don’t have any more blowers, so we were trying to salvage the two we have to get through race day. That’s challenging because you’re going up there at kind of half-go. We’ve blown up six times this year. We had a close drag race today against Paul (Lee). We did the best we could in the right lane. I got him a little on the tree, but he had more for the racetrack. That’s how it goes sometimes and I’m not mad. I know it’s easy for my guys put their heads down, but we have two races to go. No matter how the points hunt shakes out, we can still win two more races, so that’s what we’re focused on.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the NHRA Nevada Nationals Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is the fifth event in the Countdown to the Championship and the second-to-last race of the season.

-TSR-

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