Las Vegas Advance for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Top Fuel | Funny Car
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
April 12-14 | Las Vegas

Event Overview

Friday, April 12 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Nitro qualifying session (Q1): 12 p.m. PDT/3 p.m. EDT
• Nitro qualifying session (Q2): 2:30 p.m. PDT/5:30 p.m. EDT

Saturday, April 13 (Nitro Qualifying & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q3): 12 p.m. PDT/3 p.m. EDT
• Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Round 1: 12:15 p.m. PDT/3:15 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q3): 12:20 p.m. PDT/3:20 p.m. EDT
• Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Round 1: 12:35 p.m. PDT/3:35 p.m. EDT
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q4): 2:30 p.m. PDT/5:30 p.m. EDT
• Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Finals: 2:45 p.m. PDT/5:45 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q4) – 2:50 p.m. PDT/5:50 p.m. EDT
• Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Finals: 3 p.m. PDT/6 p.m. EDT

Sunday, April 14 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Round 1: 12 p.m. PDT/3 p.m. EDT
• Round 2: 1:45 p.m. PDT/4:45 p.m. EDT
• Finals: 3:20 p.m. PDT/6:20 p.m. EDT

TV coverage on FS1
• Friday, April 12: Qualifying show, recapping all of Friday’s action (8 p.m. PDT/11 p.m. EDT)
• Sunday, April 14: Qualifying show, recapping all of Saturday’s action (8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT)
• Sunday, April 14: Finals show (4 p.m. PDT/7 p.m. EDT)

Notes of Interest

• The NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is the fourth event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ 20-race calendar in 2024. Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) brings its two full-time entries – one in Top Fuel for Top Fuel rookie Tony Stewart and one in Funny Car for 49-time Funny Car winner and four-time champion Matt Hagan.

• Coming into Las Vegas, Stewart is ninth in the Top Fuel standings, 161 points behind leader Shawn Langdon. Hagan is fourth in the Funny Car standings, 73 points behind leader J.R. Todd.

• Stewart enters Las Vegas representing the Rayce Rudeen Foundation on his blue and yellow Top Fuel dragster. Hagan, meanwhile, sports red, white and blue colors of Operation Healing Forces and Shelor Motor Mile on his Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car.

• The Rayce Rudeen Foundation is a non-profit organization that works with organizations and programs to encourage a healthy and productive life that is free of addiction. The designated 501(c)(3) is named in honor of Rayce Rudeen, who at age 26 passed away from an accidental Fentanyl overdose. Since its inception, the Rayce Rudeen Foundation has advocated for creating a supportive community in which everyone can access prevention, treatment, recovery and family-support services, all free from stigma. By collaborating with local universities, researchers, organizations, businesses and community coalitions, the Rayce Rudeen Foundation is leading communities toward a united and compassionate response to addiction by identifying gaps in care and building educational tools.

• Operation Healing Forces (OHF) was formed in 2011 with the goal of strengthening human bonds amongst the Special Operation Forces (SOF) community. OHF’s programs are specifically designed and tailored to enable war-torn men and women to break through the silence and openly discuss their battlefield and personal hardships and provide needed support. OHF believes in reintegration, rehabilitation and resiliency.

• Shelor Motor Mile is a family-owned car dealership serving the Christiansburg, Virginia, area since 1974. In addition to a large selection of cars and trucks from various manufacturers, Shelor Motor Mile also has an in-house financing department that can help customers determine a financial plan for buying their desired vehicle. They also make trading-in a vehicle a seamless process and offer a sizable assortment of pre-owned cars. Shelor Motor Mile is owned by Hagan’s father, David Hagan.

• The Four-Wide Nationals will mark Stewart’s fourth career Top Fuel start. It’ll be his first overall Top Fuel start at Las Vegas and his first in the Four-Wide Nationals. Stewart competed in the Top Alcohol Dragster class in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in 2023, where he earned his first national event win (over Todd Bruce, Chris Demke and Mike Coughlin). Stewart made his NHRA driving debut at Las Vegas during the NHRA Nevada Nationals Oct. 28-30, 2022. He qualified No. 2 in the field and reached the final-round before losing to Madison Payne. During Stewart’s Top Alcohol career, he earned six of his 19 round wins at Las Vegas.

• Stewart has won an event on all tracks at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway property – the dirt track (his first USAC Silver Crown event on October 18, 1997), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (captured his 1997 IndyCar championship and earned the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series event win), the Las Vegas Bullring pavement short-track (won in a USAC midget in 2002 and also won in a sprint car in the same night) and the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (won the 2010 Las Vegas Sprint Car Nationals).

• For Hagan, the Four-Wide Nationals will be his 336th career Funny Car start. It’ll be his 29th overall start at Las Vegas and his sixth in the Four-Wide Nationals.

• Hagan is seeking back-to-back wins as he rolls into the Four-Wide Nationals. He is the defending Four-Wide Nationals winner, where his 3.943 ET, 326.79 mph run defeated Tim Wilkerson (3.969 ET at 319.45 mph), John Force (4.005 ET at 321.81 mph) and Chad Green (4.222 ET at 250.74 mph) in 2023. Hagan has four wins at Last Vegas in the fall – 2017 when his 3.942 ET at 329.42 mph defeated Courtney Force’s 4.020 ET, 320.05 mph run, 2019 when his 3.876 ET at 331.36 mph defeated Jonnie Lindberg (3.945 mph at 321.12 mph), 2020 when his 3.914 ET at 326.40 mph defeated Ron Capps (4.463 ET at 173.70 mph) and 2022 when Hagan’s 3.896 ET at 330.23 mph defeated Robert Hight’s 6.157 ET, 111.12 mph run.

• Hagan will look to earn his fourth No. 1 start at Las Vegas, but his first since the track was reconfigured to four lanes. He scored his first No. 1 qualifier in October 2009 (4.030 ET at 313.88 mph), his second in November 2014 (3.983 ET at 322.42 mph) and his third in April 2015 (4.007 ET at 318.02 mph).

• By advancing to Round 2 at the Arizona Nationals, Stewart qualified to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. The challenge brings competitive racing to the qualifying schedule at 13 regular-season events during the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series campaign, pitting competitors from the previous race against each other in a pair of rematches, with the two winners then matching up in the final qualifying session. Stewart earned a rematch against Billy Torrence in Round 1. There is a bonus purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship on the line.

• Stewart will participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty autograph session on Saturday at 9 a.m PDT. The session will take place at the Mission Foods Display.

• Stewart and Hagan will be available to speak with the media on Friday at 10:45 a.m. PDT at the TSR pit.

• Join Stewart’s crew chief, Neal Strausbaugh, for Nitro School at the Nitro Alley Stage on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. PDT.

• TSR will be launching a Facebook giveaway in conjunction with Operation Healing Forces on Tuesday, April 9. Fans can enter to win a limited-edition Operation Healing Forces diecast. The car not only symbolizes speed and precision, but also carries the support of our veterans. In order to enter, fans must follow OHF and TSR on Facebook, like the post and tag a friend that loves the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series and supporting our nation’s veterans. A winner will be selected on Wednesday, April 10.

Tony Stewart, Driver of the Rayce Rudeen Foundation Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster

You’re returning to the track where you got your first NHRA national event win at the Four-Wide Nationals in 2023. How special will it be going back to Vegas, now in the Top Fuel Dragster?
“Vegas has been pretty good to us. Even before our Four-Wide Nationals win in 2023, I made my Top Alcohol debut in the Fall of 2022 at Vegas and got a runner-up finish. I really enjoy the four-wide races at Vegas and Charlotte. Having the opportunity to do it with the Top Fuel car is something I’m really looking forward to. I really looked forward to it last year also because I think some of the other drivers might now care for it quite as much as the traditional two-wide, so I feel like it’s an equalizer a little bit. I feel like that closes the gap a bit.”

Explain the difference in the staging process for a four-wide event.
“If you pay attention, it works just fine. It’s not something that’s really difficult. Last year with the Top Alcohol team, they’d put a piece of tape with a number on there inside the car, so if for any reason I got distracted on which light I needed to look at, I could check that as a reference. I think if you’re doing your job and paying attention, you don’t necessarily need that help. I felt it was very easy to know where I needed to be and which bulb I needed to be looking at. I know the routine tends to be a little longer, since you’re trying to get four teams organized and their cadence right.”

You’ll be representing the Rayce Rudeen Foundation at Vegas. How special is their mission of encouraging a lifestyle free from addiction to you and your relationship with the Rudeen family?
“This is one of those race weekends that’s more personal for me. Kevin (Rudeen) and his wife and family have been through so much losing his son to an addiction. It really brings it close for us on how bad this problem really is in the World. To be able to support the Rayce Rudeen Foundation and try to help that cause with people that are personal friends of ours is something that’s really important to me. It’s going to be a great weekend. We’re going to have a lot of guests there and I’m very proud and honored to be able to represent them.”

Matt Hagan, Driver of the Operation Healing Forces/Shelor Motor Mile Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car

You earned a double-up victory at last year’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals with Tony Stewart in the Top Alcohol Dragster. How special would it be to double up with him now in Top Fuel?
“Anytime you can double-up, it’s always special. It was really cool being able to do that last year with Tony in the Top Alcohol Dragster and us in the Funny Car. It was really neat seeing Tony advance to the Semifinals in Phoenix. It only takes one run to change your whole weekend. We all have a combination to work on for Vegas. We have a good baseline to go off of and have done well in Vegas, so we can reference back to that. We have a lot of work ahead of us. We’re not blowing the doors of everybody by any means. That’s just racing. You struggle and then you win some races, and the cycle starts again. That’s what makes this sport so humbling. The work we put in will prevail. Hopefully we can both get lucky and go some rounds in Vegas.”

After starting the season with three car-to-car battles down the strip, how different will the Four-Wide Nationals be?
“Four-wides are not always my favorite, even though I’ve won them before. Everything we do is about repetition and routine and these races throw a little bit of a kink in that. You get one run in each lane and hope for the best. You never know how they’re going to go. I hope we can use the weekend as a bit of a test session. We’ll also stay in Vegas an extra day for some additional testing, so it’s always nice to get more runs. If you can win at the four-wide events, it’s awesome because it’s out of the norm a little bit.”

You’ll be returning to the Operation Healing Forces colors at Vegas. How special is it representing their mission of supporting war-torn men and women?
“I would love to personally activate a bit more with the folks from Operation Healing Forces. I think it’s important to get to know these guys and girls and have them out to the races more to better their lives. They’ve sacrificed so much for our country to allow us to do what we do. They’re some of the baddest people in the World, so it’s always great to be able to hang out with them. I want to show them an awesome time at the track.”

-TSR-

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