Pruett Takes Rush Truck Centers to Runner-Up Finish at 4-Wide Nationals

Leah Pruett & Matt Hagan

Top Fuel | Funny Car
Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
April 28-30 | Charlotte, North Carolina

Event Recap

Leah Pruett, driver of the Rush Truck Centers Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 15 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (6.603 ET at 102.88 mph)
• Earned No. 11 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.770 ET at 323.19 mph)
• Earned No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.719 ET at 323.27 mph)
• Secured No. 3 qualifying position in Q4 on Saturday (3.678 ET at 334.65 mph).
• Scored three bonus points for quickest run of the session.
• Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.702 ET at 331.77 mph, defeated Doug Kalitta (5.799 ET at 134.93 mph) and Shawn Langdon (6.932 ET at 97.67 mph). Pat Dakin also advanced to Round 2 (3.757 ET at 325.06 mph).
• Round 2: 3.753 ET at 326.40 mph, defeated Pat Dakin (3.774 ET at 325.30 mph) and Justin Ashley (4.224 ET at 200.68 mph). Austin Prock also advanced to the Finals (3.715 ET at 328.78 mph).
• Finals: 3.708 ET at 329.99 mph, lost to Austin Prock (3.684 ET at 330.88 mph). Josh Hart ran third (3.756 ET at 327.82 mph) and Steve Torrence finished fourth (3.717 ET at 334.32 mph – fouled out with a red light).
• Currently third in the championship standings, 53 points behind Top Fuel leader Steve Torrence.

Matt Hagan, driver of the Operation Healing Forces/Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.941 ET at 326.71 mph). Hagan’s parachutes didn’t deploy following his run, which resulted in the team moving to the backup car.
• Fell to No. 5 provisional qualifying position based off Friday’s Q1 run. In Q2 on Friday, Hagan ran a 9.465 ET at 77.89 mph.
• Earned No. 10 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.926 ET at 325.53 mph)
• Secured No. 4 qualifying position in Q4 on Saturday (3.866 ET at 328.46 mph)
• Scored two bonus points for second-quickest run of the session.
• Round 1: 4.343 ET at 293.73 mph, lost to Alexis DeJoria (3.854 ET at 332.51 mph) and Chad Green (3.951 ET at 319.98 mph). Dale Creasy Jr. (4.469 ET at 278.86 mph) was also defeated by DeJoria and Green.
• Currently leads the Funny Car championship standings with a 58-point advantage over Alexis DeJoria.

Notes of Interest

• Pruett’s Q4 run on Saturday marks a new career-best top speed with a run at 334.65 mph. Her previous best was 334.15 mph, a mark she set on February 24, 2018 at Phoenix.
• With Pruett’s performance in the final qualifying session (3.678 ET), she has posted quick time of the session on three occasions this year. Her two previous quick times came at Phoenix (3.721 ET) and Pomona (3.725 ET).
• Husband and wife duo, Pruett and Stewart, both advanced to the Finals in their respective NHRA classes for the first time. They both finished runner-up, which marked Pruett’s highest finish this season.
• Hagan represented Operation Healing Forces (OHF) and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage (JHG) at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. 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. JHG was formed in 2021 by Jason Johnson and brings a passion and flare to the automotive realm. They aim to inspire, drive and celebrate progress. JHG spans across Johnson’s car collection featuring more than 200 sought after vehicles from classics, to hot rods and supercars. JHG’s mission is to preserve and showcase the automotive industry.

Leah Pruett, Driver of the Rush Truck Centers Top Fuel Dragster

“I would consider this year’s Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals one of the most extreme from pending weather knocking on the door to delays. The racing was a rush. It was extreme and we were extreme in the decisions we were making to a particular path that had shown promise and it showed the results in qualifying. Coming into race day, getting that first round in before the rain was huge. It makes you feel like there are two race days in one. There are less rounds, but it doesn’t take any of the intensity away from it. We had a number of audibles to call between our second round and the final round. For the car to continue to have peak performance with variable mechanical differences shows a lot of momentum and strength moving forward. I’m very proud of my team. The parts have been put together fantastic and my crew chiefs are making fantastic calls playing on offense. It’s paying off and I’ve been driving my absolute butt off. On our first round, it wanted to drive underneath itself so hard. It was pulling wheelies at half-track. The front felt so loose and it was wild. We’re continuing to work on our combination. I felt like I was driving two different cars on race day. In the final round, there are rules you have to operate within and everyone did that. It caught some people off guard, but for me, I’m very proud of our performance. Every single time I’m in that car, it’s a rush and the thing I love most about racing is this team and working together. Those are my highs. I have a lot of grit and get mad about things. Watching Tony runner-up and knowing what he felt, I wanted to win even more, but didn’t quite get it done. Leaving here in third is something to hold our head high on moving forward. There’s always a small downside to it because you can taste the win and we weren’t able to chew on it right there. We’re hungry and we’re going to be eating soon.”

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

“We had a real rough weekend. Putting it in the sand trap kind of set the tone for how our weekend went and we had to pull out the spare car. We had one body for Operation Healing Forces and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage, so it was tough to trash it. Sometimes things happen that are outside your control, as much as you try to prevent it. We had some good runs in our spare car and I was feeling good about it for race day. The track was a little better than we thought it was and missed the setup a little bit. The tires shook and we pedaled the car and it just wasn’t enough. Four-wides are crazy and I’m looking forward to moving ahead. The crew will go back to the shop and get to work on the main chassis that went into the sand. We’ll probably shake it down the week before Chicago, so hopefully we’ll be back to normal and in the groove of things. This was an off weekend for our team, but we have to overcome adversity and that’s what we do.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is the Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance May 19-21 at Route 66 Raceway.

-TSR-

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