GAINESVILLE POST-RACE REPORT

Qualified: No. 5 (3.900 E.T. at 325.85 MPH)

The Results:
E1: 3.941 E.T. at 322.58 MPH defeated Jonnie Lindberg 3.950 E.T. at 324.44 MPH
E2: 9.028 E.T. at 77.04 MPH defeated by John Force 4.471 E.T. at 185.95 MPH

Race Recap:
As the most recent Funny Car winner on tour and 2018 Gatornationals runner-up, Matt Hagan looked prime to capture his first Gainesville Raceway Wally trophy on Sunday at the 50th running of the event.
 
Against his first-round opponent Jonnie Lindberg, Hagan wheeled his MOPAR Express Lane Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a 3.941 second run to claim the round win and setup a quarterfinal matchup with John Force. In round two, Hagan was first on the throttle but went up in smoke early into the run and was forced to watch his competitor drive away with the round win, dashing the Virginia native’s chances at his first Gainesville winner’s circle celebration.

Quotable:
“We had to have a blower swap right there (ahead of round two) and it had way too much power, knocked it off at the starting line, but now at least we know we’ve got a really good blower. At the end of the day, I really wanted to win this race. It’s the 50th anniversary, it’s the GatorNats. We didn’t win the 50th but we’d like to try and come back and win the 51st. But all in all, we’ve got a good car. I feel good rolling into Vegas. (Crew chief) Dickie Venables has a good handle on this combo that we’re running.”

Gatornats Recap at Gainesville