Post-Race NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Vegas

Matt Hagan, driver of the Haas Automation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car:

  • Earned No. 9 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.022 ET at 314.61 mph)
  • Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.936 ET at 327.82 mph)
  • Scored one bonus point for third-quickest run of the session.
  • Maintained No. 3 provisional qualifying position based off Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.253 ET at 221.74 mph.
  • Secured No. 3 qualifying position based off Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 3.972 ET at 322.19 mph.
  • Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
  • Round 1: 3.997 ET at 317.72 mph, defeated Alex Laughlin (4.225 ET at 265.22 mph) and Robert Hight (4.270 ET at 249.58 mph). Jeff Diehl also advanced to Round 2 (4.003 ET at 303.50 mph).
  • Round 2: 3.968 ET at 322.81 mph, defeated Alexis DeJoria (4.061 ET at 275.90 mph) and Jeff Diehl (4.291 ET at 228.31 mph). John Force also advanced to the Finals (4.069 ET at 321.04 mph).
  • Final: 3.943 ET at 326.79 mph, defeated Tim Wilkerson (3.969 ET at 319.45 mph). John Force ran third (4.005 ET at 321.81 mph) and Chad Green finished fourth (4.222 ET at 250.74 mph).
  • Currently leads the Funny Car championship standings with a 105-point advantage over Ron Capps.

Notes of Interest

Hagan’s win marks his fifth overall at Las Vegas and his first in the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. It’s his third win out of the first four events, after earning victories at Gainesville and Pomona.

  • Hagan earned Haas Automation their second back-to-back win in the NHRA as primary sponsor of the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car. Haas Automation was founded by Gene Haas, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.
  • Team owner Tony Stewart earned his first win as driver in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. It marks the 43rd consecutive season he has earned a motorsports victory.

“I’d like to start off talking about Tony Stewart. The guy is amazing and obviously a wheelman. He’s great at whatever he steps into. After he won, he crawled under my car and said ‘I just won, you better win. Let’s go!’ It is so special to be able to share the winner’s circle with him. It is the highlight of my career. People don’t realize what type of guy he is. I was looking up his accolades to see what he had accomplished when I decided I was going to drive for him. He’s genuinely a good man that you want to win for. I cannot say enough about my crew chief Dickie Venables. There isn’t a weekend he doesn’t impress me. It’s been nothing but glorious with him. We always have a chance at the championship each year. To start off the season this hot and win three out of four races is pretty awesome. You have to stay humble because luck can turn around at any moment out here. It’s been a special start to the year and it’s awesome for my guys that work so hard. They thrash in between rounds and I take a deep breath because I know they have it handled. They’re putting a heck of a race car underneath me.”