Qualified: No. 9

The Competition: No. 8 Shawn Langdon

The Results:
Q1: 10.049 E.T. at 75.90 MPH
Q2: 3.940 E.T. at 329.76 MPH
Q3: 3.919 E.T. at 333.00 MPH
Q4: 3.913 E.T. at 333.66 MPH

Quotable:
“We won’t have lane choice, but it never matters if you don’t have it. This MOPAR Hellcat Widebody has been running pretty good. We’ve had three out of our four runs be very consistent – running 90s pretty much every time, so things look to be pretty equal. So, unless something major happens or the weather changes drastically, I think we’ve got a pretty solid hot rod to at least get down the race track and give it a good shot.” 

Countdown to the Championship standing: 6th

Reading Event Highlights:

• 2014 event champion  
• 2010 runner-up  
• Two-time No. 1 qualifier (2010, 2016) 

2018 Reading Recap
Qualified 10th; First round exit (defeated by John Force in E1)

Last Event (Indianapolis):
Qualified second; Semifinal finish (defeated Bob Bode in E1, Shawn Langdon in E2; defeated by John Force in E3)

2019 Season Statistics:
25 round wins; ranked sixth in points 

Career Statistics:
258 races; 31 wins; 35 No. 1 qualifiers

Noteworthy;

• In the last six events, Hagan has raced to a win, a runner-up, and four semifinal finishes

Quotable:
“Every one of these Countdown races is so important. I feel like you have to win two or three of them to really have a shot at winning the championship. It’s just a matter of who’s going to get hot at the right time. In the last six events, we’ve won a race, been runner-up and been to four semifinals, so it’s clear our MOPAR Dodge Charger Hellcat Widebody is running great. The confidence is there, our car is there, and I think we’re peaking at the right time. I can’t wait to turn on some win lights this weekend. I’ve done well at Reading in the past, I’ve even won it on fire which made it onto ESPN’s SportsCenter. I’ll try and stay off of SportsCenter this weekend, but hopefully still get the win for MOPAR.”

Qualified: No. 2 (3.874 E.T. at 327.66 MPH)

The Results:
E1: 3.892 E.T. at 329.02 MPH defeated Bob Bode (Broke, No Time)
E2: 3.939 E.T. at 320.89 MPH defeated Shawn Langdon 12.468 E.T. at 68.70 MPH
E3: 13.019 E.T. at 75.31 MPH defeated by John Force 3.940 E.T. at 330.88 MPH

Race Recap:
For two-time Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan, consistency has been the focus, and that continued during the NHRA U.S. Nationals. After qualifying the MOPAR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Funny Car second in the field, the 2016 U.S. Nationals winner opened competition with a smooth run of 3.892 seconds to advance over Bob Bode, who wasn’t able to make a full pass. In the quarterfinals, Hagan made another clean run of 3.939 seconds while his opponent Shawn Langdon went up in smoke. The result moved Hagan into his fourth consecutive semifinal where he faced John Force for the 43rd time in his career. Hagan raced from the tricky right lane and lost traction almost immediately, coasting to the finish with a run of 13.019 seconds while his opponent put together a clean pass. Hagan will start the Countdown to the Championship playoffs from the sixth position.

Quotable:
“We really wanted to have a chance to win Indy, and we did. We’ve got consistency and we are getting really close every weekend. It’s just a few little things here and there. That right lane was like the kiss of death. Keeping lane choice was critical today, and we just lost it by a thousandth of a second or two. We have a great car. The team is working great. The boys made a great turnaround for the semifinal round. I just can’t say enough about how hard everyone is working. We’ve got six races, and we are all in. It’s time to step up and go to work.”