Pomona Advance for the 65th NHRA Winternationals

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Top Fuel | Funny Car
65th NHRA Winternationals
March 28-30 | Pomona, California

Event Overview

Friday, March 28 (Nitro Qualifying & NHRA All-Star Top Fuel Callout, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q1): 1:30 p.m. PDT/4:30 p.m. EDT
• NHRA All-Star Top Fuel Callout – Round 1: 2 p.m. PDT/5 p.m. EDT
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q1(: 2:15 p.m. PDT/5:15 p.m. EDT
• NHRA All-Star Top Fuel Callout – Semifinals: 3:20 p.m. PDT/6:20 p.m. EDT
• Nitro qualifying session (Q2): 4 p.m. PDT/7 p.m. EDT
• NHRA All-Star Top Fuel Callout – Finals: 4:55 p.m. PDT/7:55 p.m. EDT

Saturday, March 29 (Nitro Qualifying & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Round 1: 12:30 p.m. PDT/3:30 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Round 1: 1:05 p.m. PDT/4:05 p.m. EDT
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Finals: 3 p.m. PDT/6 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Finals: 3:30 p.m. PDT/6:30 p.m. EDT

Sunday, March 30 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Round 1: 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT
• Round 2: 1:15 p.m. PDT/4:15 p.m. EDT
• Semi-Finals: 2:50 p.m. PDT/5:50 p.m. EDT
• Finals: 4:10 p.m. PDT/7:10 p.m. EDT

TV coverage on FS1
• Friday, March 28: NHRA All-Star Top Fuel Callout (6:30 p.m. PDT/9:30 p.m. EDT)
• Saturday, March 29: Qualifying show, recapping all of Friday’s action (5 p.m. PDT/8 p.m. EDT)
• Sunday, March 30: Qualifying show, recapping all of Saturday’s action (9 a.m. PDT/12 p.m. EDT)
• Sunday, March 30: Finals show (3:30 p.m. PDT/6:30 p.m. EDT)

Notes of Interest

• The NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip is the third event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ 20-race calendar in 2025. Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) brings its two full-time entries – one in Top Fuel for Tony Stewart and one in Funny Car for 52-time Funny Car winner and four-time champion Matt Hagan.

• Coming into Pomona, Stewart is sixth in the Top Fuel standings, 112 points behind leader Shawn Langdon. Hagan is seventh in the Funny Car standings, 27 points behind leader Paul Lee.

• Stewart and Hagan enter Phoenix representing Rinnai America Corporation and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage respectively.

• Stewart’s Top Fuel dragster carries the colors of Rinnai America Corporation, a subsidiary of Rinnai Corporation. Established in 1974 and headquartered in Peachtree City, Ga., Rinnai Corporation manufactures gas appliances including tankless water heaters, a wide range of kitchen appliances and heating and air conditioning units. As the technology leader in its industry, Rinnai is the largest gas appliance manufacturer in Japan and is the number one selling brand of tankless gas water heaters in the United States and Canada. With a global perspective to create 21st-century products for the home and business, Rinnai Corporation commits itself to safety and Creating A Healthier Way of Living©.

• Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage (JHG) is the primary partner of Hagan this weekend in Pomona. JHG was formed in 2021 and brings a passion and flare to the automotive world. They aim to inspire, drive and celebrate progress. JHG spans across Jason Johnson’s car collection featuring more than 200 sought after vehicles from classics, to hot rods and supercars. Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage’s mission is to preserve and showcase the automotive industry. The vehicles are driven to and displayed at events by Johnson and his team with the goal of growing interest and keeping car culture thriving. Johnson’s history in the industry began with Mather Auto Dismantler, Mather Mini Trucks and U-Pull It in Northern California. He later held an instrumental role in the growth and success of Copart, Inc., a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services. JHG also serves as a primary sponsor of Elite Motorsports in the NHRA Pro Stock series.

• The NHRA Winternationals will mark Stewart’s 23rd career Top Fuel start. It’ll mark his third overall Top Fuel start at Pomona and his second in the Winternationals. He is seeking his first win and first No. 1 qualifier at the event. In 2024, Stewart secured the No. 13 qualifying position. He ran a 8.841 ET at 76.15 mph in Round 1 and lost to Steve Torrence’s 3.695 ET at 336.65 mph.

• On Friday, Stewart and seven of his Top Fuel competitors will participate in the NHRA All-Star Top Fuel Callout. The event was scheduled to take place at the NHRA Gatornationals, but was canceled due to rain. Stewart was called-out by Steve Torrence in Round 1. The Callout is a specialty event with bonus money, bragging rights and a special Callout trophy on the line.

• Stewart’s wife, Leah Pruett, has won the NHRA Winternationals two times (2017 and 2021).

• The NHRA Winternationals will be Hagan’s 355th career Funny Car start. It’ll be his 31st overall start at Pomona and his 17th in the Winternationals. He’s has recorded four career wins at the Winternationals in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2023. In 2015, he defeated Ron Capps with a 4.011 ET at 320.89 mph (compared to Capps’ 4.078 ET, 314.97 mph run). In 2017, Hagan’s 3.875 ET at 330.67 mph defeated Courtney Force (3.901 ET at 326.95 mph). In 2018, Hagan defeated Robert Hight with a 3.823 ET at 335.90 mph run (compared to Hight’s 3.866 ET, 336.99 mph run). In 2023, Hagan’s 3.967 ET at 328.06 mph run defeated Ron Capps’ 4.303 ET, 211.13 mph run. Hagan has four No. 1 qualifiers at Pomona, which came in 2017 (3.822 ET at 335.57 mph), 2018 (3.822 ET at 336.32 mph), 2020 (3.841 ET at 333.25 mph), and 2024 (3.893 ET at 330.15 mph).

• Hagan has been a finalist in six of his last 11 appearances in the Winternationals, including the last two.

• Hagan has won more races (7) and more rounds (56) at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip than he has at any other venue in the series.

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

You’ll be representing Rinnai for their first primary race this season. You’ll also be making a distributor appearance with their clients. Talk about how valuable their partnership is.

“Rinnai has been a great partner of ours both in my NASCAR days and now in the NHRA. The NHRA program works for Rinnai because they’re able to do a lot of BTB (business-to-business) at the racetrack in a neutral setting. We’re able to have meetings with customers in the hospitality tent and then show them a great time at the racetrack and show them what 11,000 plus horsepower looks like so it’s a great partnership. We’re very proud to represent them and for us to have the opportunity to go to one of the distribution facilities and sign autographs for them before the event is something we always enjoy doing. They always do a great job with it and it makes for a very fun weekend for us.”

The NHRA Winternationals marks the second of three races on the Spring Western Swing. How special are the Phoenix, Pomona and Las Vegas events with Lake Havasu City, Arizona being your second home with wife Leah Pruett?

“I always enjoy the Spring West Coast Swing and the Fall one as well to finish the season. In the Spring, we have the opportunity to race in Phoenix, Pomona and Vegas. Phoenix and Vegas are within three hours of our home in Lake Havasu City, so we kind of consider those two races home races so to speak. A lot of our friends from Lake Havasu get to come to Phoenix and Vegas and watch us and support us. It’s something that’s been awesome about moving out to Arizona. The community in Lake Havasu City really got behind Leah and I and TSR. We have friends like Shawn Reed who we compete against in Top Fuel that also has a house in Lake Havasu, so it’s a big motorsports and car-centric town. To be close enough to two of the races in the Spring for our community to be able to come to the track is pretty cool for us, so we enjoy it.”

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

You’ve won more races (7) and more rounds (56) at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip than any other venue in the series. How special is it returning to a track that has shown you so much success?

“We’ve had a lot of success in Pomona. It’s one of the racetracks that has shown us a lot of love and I’m very excited to get back there. We want to qualify better there, but the weather conditions will be a little cooler, so it won’t be pulling the car back as much. I think we can turn the knobs open and run a little harder and stronger. If we can qualify well, hopefully we can set ourselves up for a little better-looking ladder. But, it’s drag racing and you never know what you’re going to get. There are so many qualified drivers, especially when we saw Chad Green and Paul Lee as the first two winners of the season. Funny Car is so competitive and anything can happen. We’re excited to get there.”

You earned the No. 1 qualifier at last year’s NHRA Winternationals (fourth total at the event). How valuable are those bonus points as the season progresses?

“Bonus points will always add up. Even though points reset for the Countdown, the #2Fast2Tasty points also really add up and it usually comes down to a couple points at the end of the championship. Any championship I’ve won has always come down to the last day, so it’s a nail biter. We need every point we can get. You can’t look at it as being too early in the season to worry about it because they all matter.”

-TSR-

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