Event Recap for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals – HAGAN WINS!

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
April 26-28 | Charlotte, North Carolina

Event Recap

Tony Stewart, driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 9 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.769 ET at 324.90 mph)
• Earned No. 4 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.716 ET at 320.05 mph)
• Maintained No. 4 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 4.037 ET at 233.76 mph. Q3 was also part of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Stewart faced Justin Ashley, Antron Brown and Clay Millican. Stewart lost to Ashley’s 3.739 ET, 321.35 mph run and Brown’s 3.763 ET, 324.12 mph run. Millican also lost with a 3.808 ET, 288.27 mph run.
• Secured No. 6 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 3.763 ET at 323.43 mph.
• Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.762 ET at 326.71 mph, defeated Doug Foley (3.730 ET at 316.52 mph) and Dan Mercier (3.831 ET at 318.24 mph). Justin Ashley also advanced to Round 2 (3.763 ET at 331.69 mph).
• Round 2: 5.779 ET at 120.55 mph, lost to Justin Ashley (3.711 ET at 333.58 mph) and Antron Brown (3.728 ET at 333.66 mph). Brittany Force also lost (3.729 ET at 336.57 mph).
• Currently seventh in the championship standings, 212 points behind Top Fuel leader Justin Ashley

Matt Hagan, driver of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.914 ET at 321.81 mph)
• Fell to No. 6 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q2 on Friday, Hagan ran a 8.292 ET at 84.19 mph.
• Fell to No. 8 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 5.634 ET at 126.93 mph. Q3 was also part of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Hagan faced Ron Capps, Paul Lee and J.R. Todd. Hagan lost to Lee’s 3.901 ET, 321.96 mph run and Todd’s 3.932 ET, 296.50 mph run. Capps also lost with a 3.994 ET, 279.79 mph run.
• Secured No. 6 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 3.880 ET at 331.04 mph.
• Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.918 ET at 331.61 mph, defeated Austin Prock (4.609 ET at 225.86 mph) and Blake Alexander (no time). Dave Richards also advanced to Round 2 (4.014 ET at 319.60 mph).
• Round 2: 3.879 ET at 334.24 mph, defeated Bob Tasca III (4.825 ET at 186.95 mph) and Dave Richards (6.568 ET at 99.14 mph). Daniel Wilkerson also advanced to the Finals (3.906 ET at 328.30 mph).
• Finals: 3.946 ET at 332.34 mph, defeated Daniel Wilkerson (3.923 ET at 327.59 mph), J.R. Todd (3.978 ET at 320.36 mph) and John Force (3.960 ET at 329.75 mph).
• Currently third in the championship standings, 32 points behind Funny Car leader Austin Prock

Notes of Interest

• Hagan’s win at the Four-Wide Nationals marked the 50th win of his career. It was his fourth win at Charlotte (2011 and 2014 Carolina Nationals, 2013 Four Wide Nationals). It was Hagan’s first win at the track in 10 years.
• The NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Charlotte marked Hagan’s second consecutive appearance to the Finals, following the Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas.
• Stewart’s Q2 run on Friday marks a new career-best ET (elapsed time) with a run at 3.716 seconds. His previous best was 3.725 ET, a mark he set on March 9, 2024 at Gainesville.
• Stewart’s No. 6 qualifying position marks the first time this season he has qualified in the top-half of the Top Fuel field.
• Despite losing in Round 2, Stewart had the quickest reaction time (RT) of the quad at .047. Ashley had a .054 RT, Brown had a .057 RT and Force had .124 RT.

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

“I love the Four-Wide events. Obviously, you want to make the final round and contend for a win. But we had our best qualifying run of the season (3.713). Then, in the Semifinals, you have to race three of the toughest drivers in the business, and I left on all three of them. To leave on an honest light and have a great light, I’m very proud of that in my rookie year in Top Fuel. Overall, my lights were better than at Las Vegas and I feel we are gaining on all on it. And our team is gaining momentum with this Top Fuel car. I’m happy and proud of the progress of this team overall too. I was extremely excited about having Matt in the final-round and win the race. It’s his 50th career NHRA Funny Car win. So proud of Dickie (Venables – crew chief) and all of the Funny Car team as well.”

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

“This is a massive achievement to win 50 NHRA national events. It’s great to have Dodge with us in the winner’s circle for so many years. It’s so special to be around a great group of guys at Tony Stewart Racing. We have had the same crew for three straight years. Great people make the difference between winning and losing and this team is so strong and consistent. Dickie (Venables – crew chief), Mike Knudson (co-crew chief), Alex Conaway (car chief) and the whole team work so hard to give me a great race car. It’s always fun to put this Dodge//SRT Hellcat in the winner’s circle. This 50th win just passed a legend in Don “the Snake” Prudhomme in career wins and to have four NHRA Funny Car championship with John Force, Snake and Kenny Bernstein. I’m so honored to be with that group. This track is just two hours from my home in Virginia, so this is a home track for me. Winning four NHRA races at the zMAX Dragway in my career is special too. This place has always been special. I have so many fans here. I actually think I outsold Tony (Stewart) in T-shirts this weekend. So, right now, we might not be the fastest car, but the crew can really race on Sundays and showed again today. We just need to keep clicking away and score points and win races. We are going to the meat of the season, and we have been trying a lot of different pieces with this car. We didn’t get as much testing early this year due to the poor weather, but we are gaining on the tough Funny Car field with each race, and you saw that today. I never dreamed I would race a Funny Car, let alone win 50 races at the NHRA national level. We can’t do it without great sponsors like Dodge, Direct Connection, Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage, American Rebel and so many other supporters of the TSR team. I’m very excited to win again at zMAX Dragway and bring another “Wally” to the TSR crew and our sponsors.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance May 17-19 at Route 66 Raceway.

-TSR-

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