Seattle Event Recap for the NHRA Northwest Nationals – HAGAN WINS!

Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan

Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals
July 18-20 | Kent, Washington

Event Recap

Tony Stewart, driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (6.439 ET at 93.60 mph)
• Earned No. 10 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Saturday (6.178 ET at 107.53 mph)
• Earned No. 6 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.811 ET at 327.59 mph). Q3 also served as Round 1 of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Stewart faced Clay Millican. Stewart’s run defeated Millican’s 8.648 ET at 81.07 mph.
• Scored three bonus points for being the quickest car of the session
• Secured No. 5 qualifying position in Q4 on Saturday (3.759 ET at 327.51 mph). Q4 also served as the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Finals, where Stewart faced Shawn Langdon. Langdon’s 3.718 ET at 338.17 mph defeated Stewart.
• Scored one bonus point for being the third-quickest car of the session
• Advanced Round 2 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.751 ET at 328.38 mph, defeated Josh Hart (3.746 ET at 331.12 mph)
• Round 2: 4.817 ET at 122.53 mph, lost to Shawn Langdon (3.685 ET at 334.24 mph)
• Currently second in the Top Fuel championship standings, 12 points behind Top Fuel leader Shawn Langdon

Matt Hagan, driver of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 11 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (7.713 ET at 87.10 mph)
• Earned No. 10 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Saturday (4.264 ET at 221.45 mph)
• Earned No. 7 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.966 ET at 329.58 mph). Q3 also served as Round 1 of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Hagan faced Cruz Pedregon. Hagan’s run defeated Pedregon’s 4.055 ET at 306.88 mph.
• Scored two bonus points for being the second-quickest car of the session
• Secured No. 2 qualifying position in Q4 on Saturday (3.887 ET at 332.43 mph). Q4 also served as the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Finals, where Hagan faced Austin Prock. Prock’s 3.879 ET at 336.40 mph defeated Hagan.
• Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.979 ET at 275.51 mph, defeated Buddy Hull (9.728 ET at 70.84 mph)
• Round 2: 3.861 ET at 331.53 mph, defeated Jack Beckman (5.697 ET 135.04 mph)
• Semifinals: 3.879 ET at 332.92 mph, defeated Alexis DeJoria (3.946 ET at 329.34 mph)
• Finals: 3.904 ET at 331.94 mph, defeated Ron Capps (3.919 ET at 331.61 mph)
• Currently third in the Funny Car championship standings, 166 points behind Funny Car leader Austin Prock

Notes of Interest

• The Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals marked Hagan’s 53rd career win and his 95th career final-round appearance. It marked his third trip to the Finals at Pacific Raceways and second win at the track. . In 2012, Hagan defeated Jeff Arend, Johnny Gray and Ron Capps before losing to Courtney Force in the Finals. In 2013, Hagan earned his first win at Seattle after defeating Todd Lesenko, Paul Lee, Courtney Force, and Bob Tasca III.
• Stewart continued his Round 1 win streak – he is the only driver to advance past Round 1 of eliminations in all 11 events so far this season.
• Stewart earned a holeshot win against Josh Hart in Round 1 with a .073-second reaction time (RT) compared to Hart’s .108-seconds.
• Stewart participated in his ninth Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season. The only event he hasn’t participated in the specialty race was the 65th NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California. The challenge brings competitive racing to the qualifying schedule at 13 regular-season events during the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series campaign, pitting semifinalists from the previous race against each other in a pair of rematches, with the two winners then matching up in the final qualifying session.
• By advancing to the Semifinals, Hagan qualified to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the next NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series event, the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, where he will face Alexis DeJoria.
• Hagan moved from fifth to third in the championship point standings.
• There are three races remaining before the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ Countdown to the Championship begins.

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

“There were highs and lows to the weekend. We didn’t get the run we were looking for on Friday night, which we thought would set the field. But we rallied and got back to fifth and made it to the Finals of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. We just fell a little short there even though we were close. We had a good Round 1 today. Last night, we knew if we made it to Round 2, that was going to be one of the biggest rounds of our season so far racing Shawn (Langdon). We had an unfortunate explosion again. It’s a part of racing and it’s going to happen in this sport, it’s just unfortunate it caught us two events in a row. We’ll rebound from it. We lost the points lead, but we’re only 12 points behind which is only one round down. We’re still in striking distance. It’s hard to be disappointed. Every time I feel frustrated about it, I think about where we were this time last year. This was one of the lowest points of the season when we left Seattle. We’ll carry our heads high and just keep plugging away at it.”

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

“It has been a while since my last win, which was last year at Dallas. I am very happy for the whole team, especially Mike Knudsen, who took over as crew chief this year. We were on a learning curve with Mike as a new crew chief after many years working under Dickie Venables (previous crew chief) with our team. Dickie helped us win three World Championships and many race wins. We feel that success will continue with Mike working with Phil Shuler (co-crew chief) and Alex Conaway (car chief). I want to thank Tony (Stewart – team owner) too for bringing in a new guy to head his Funny Car team. He has given Mike a shot working with Phil and here we are in the winner’s circle. I would have liked to have won earlier this year, but everyone was learning, and this win feels great. I think with a final round at Norwalk and a win at Seattle that we are definitely coming into our own with our TSR Dodge//SRT team. We are very happy to put Direct Connection back in the winner’s circle too. I have been with Dodge for 18 years now and all my NHRA wins have come in Dodge Funny Car. So, getting career win number 53 is very special. It takes time to build that confidence in a crew chief and a new team overall. Unfortunately, we have been on the wrong side of some close drag races this year. Now, I see us fighting back into the hunt every weekend. I haven’t won at Sonoma before and I would like to put that “Wally” (trophy) on the trophy shelf next. We’ll celebrate this win and get ready for Sonoma next weekend now.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals July 25-27 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. The event serves as the second and final stop in the NHRA’s Western Swing.
 
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Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]