Event Recap for U.S. Nationals – STEWART WINS REG SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP

Indianapolis Event Recap for the 71st Annual NHRA U.S. Nationals – STEWART WINS REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
71st Annual NHRA U.S. Nationals
Aug. 27-Sept. 1 | Indianapolis

Event Recap

Tony Stewart, driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 10 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.744 ET at 328.78 mph)
• Maintained No. 10 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q2 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 6.858 ET at 95.54 mph.
• Maintained No. 10 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 5.776 ET at 119.36 mph.
• Maintained No. 10 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q4 on Sunday, Stewart ran a 3.778 ET at 330.47 mph.
• Secured No. 10 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q5 on Sunday, Stewart ran a 4.865 ET at 149.40 mph.
• Advanced to the Finals on Monday:
• Round 1: 3.716 ET at 334.65 mph, defeated Steve Torrence (3.741 ET at 331.20 mph)
• Round 2: 3.802 ET at 328.06 mph, defeated Kyle Wurtzel (4.454 ET at 177.65 mph)
• Semifinals: 3.837 ET at 325.85 mph, defeated Jasmine Salinas (10.754 ET at 73.87 mph)
• Finals: 3.815 ET at 321.88 mph, lost to Justin Ashley (3.839 ET at 326.16 mph)
• Currently leading the Top Fuel standings heading into the Countdown to the Championship (there will be a points reset for the Countdown to the Championship). Stewart won the Regular Season Championship by 39 points over Shawn Langdon (Stewart – 1,138, Langdon – 1,099).

Matt Hagan, driver of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 4 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.893 ET at 330.88 mph)
• Maintained No. 4 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q2 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 3.958 ET at 329.42 mph.
• Maintained No. 4 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.312 ET at 218.62 mph.
• The PlayNHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout served as Round 4 of qualifying, where Hagan maintained the No. 4 provisional qualifying position. Hagan ran a 3.931 ET at 328.62 mph, defeating J.R. Todd (9.289 ET at 80.77 mph).
• Scored two bonus points for second-quickest run of the session
• In the PlayNHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout Semifinal, which did not serve as Round 5 of qualifying, Hagan ran 3.965 ET at 330.07 mph, losing to Austin Prock’s 3.910 ET at 333.66 mph.
• Secured No. 5 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q1 run. In Q5 on Sunday, Hagan ran a 4.968 ET at 154.55 mph.
• Advanced to the Round 2 on Monday:
• Round 1: 3.887 ET at 334.73 mph, defeated Cruz Pedregon (3.912 ET at 309.34 mph)
• Round 2: 5.936 ET at 146.80 mph, lost to Alexis DeJoria (3.935 ET at 331.85 mph)
• Currently third heading into the Countdown to the Championship, behind Funny Car leader Austin Prock (there will be a points reset for the Countdown to the Championship)

Notes of Interest

• Stewart clinched the 2025 NHRA Regular Season Championship. He entered race day third in the Top Fuel point standings behind Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta. Stewart became the Regular Season Champion following his Round 2 win over Kyle Wurtzel, due to points leader Shawn Langdon losing in Round 1 and second-place Doug Kalitta losing in Round 2.
• Stewart advanced to the Finals in his second NHRA U.S. Nationals appearance. His previous best was a Semifinal appearance in 2024, where he lost to Steve Torrence. The Indiana native has a long history of racing in Indianapolis, having competed at the Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) oval and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in IndyCar and NASCAR. Stewart won NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 in 2005 and 2007.
• Hagan earned the 2025 overall #2Fast2Tasty championship, having collected 16 Mission Foods points in 2025. Those points will be added to the reset heading into the start of the Countdown to the Championship at Maple Grove Raceway.
• Hagan has advanced to the Countdown to the Championship for the 13th consecutive year.
• Hagan is the track record holder at Indianapolis in both time and speed (3.799 seconds, 338.77 mph), which he set on Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. The 3.799-second mark is a personal best and it made Hagan just the second Funny Car driver to break the 3.800 second barrier.

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

“I was not happy on Saturday after the second run, but it got way better after that. It’s all about the crew chiefs (Neal Strausbaugh and Mike Domagala) and what we were missing. Once they found it and put it all back, the car was responding like it was earlier in the year when we were clicking rounds off. It is hard not to be disappointed when you have the quickest car in the final and didn’t turn on the win light. Justin (Ashley) is just tough. I had a good light (0.053) and he had a great light (0.027). It’s hard to hang your head after that. We all have to figure out what he is doing and how he is doing it. There is a reason that he is number one in the class on reaction times. We just have to do our work and get better in the category. Looking back at Saturday, I would not have predicted that we would get to the U.S. Nationals final round. Winning the Top Fuel Regular Season Championship is massive for us in my eyes. It took 14 weeks to win a regular season championship, and it took four good rounds to win today. I’m not taking away from this race by any means. There was nothing I wanted more than to win the final round and take the U.S. Nationals trophy. I’m extremely proud of what we did for 14 weeks to win the regular season championship. I think there are things this weekend that we hit on for the ‘Countdown.’ We realized what we were missing on the last few races. I feel that we are in as good of a spot as we can be for the next six races. We just need to execute in these next six races. Every round of qualifying is going to matter. I have been involved in so many points championships in so many different series that anytime there are points available, you need to score as many as possible. The bonus points for the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty events will be very important. It always comes down to the end of the year. Matt (Hagan) won the Funny Car title in 2023 in the final Pomona round. Leah (Pruett) and Doug (Kalitta) went right down to the final Top Fuel race of the year. We are getting ready for that final push now.”

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

“It was a long week at Indy, and we were testing here last week too. We gave it a valiant effort this week. I’m super proud of Tony, Leah and guys to win the Top Fuel Regular Season Championship. They picked up $150,000 for the title. I’m happy for Dodge, Direct Connection, Rinnai, American Rebel Beer, JHG and our other sponsors. It’s a team effort on both sides here at TSR. Our Funny Car team got the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Season Funny Car Championship too on Sunday. I really love that ‘Taco Tussle’ during the qualifying rounds. It’s exciting for the fans too. It’s been a while since I won Indy (2016) and it is going to be another year now. We had a couple of hundred more horsepower that we expected for that run. I don’t know if it was a tune-up situation or the track just got hotter. It’s nice to have more horsepower, but it’s just how you use it. It’s a nitro car and it’s always unpredictable with a 12,000-horsepower monster. The regular season is over, and we’ll reset everything for the next six races. We have been running better in qualifying, and we can be consistent in eliminations too. The win at Seattle showed that. I’m very proud of our TSR Direct Connection crew and I’m anxious to see what we can do in the next six races. I know we’ll be ready to go at Reading.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the 40th Annual NHRA Nationals presented by Nitro Fish Sept. 11-14 at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania. It is the first race in the six-race Countdown to the Championship, where the top-10 drivers in each of the four professional categories – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle – vie for the title in their respective divisions.

-TSR-

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