“The great stuff that’s come out of this weekend is the progress of the team and the car under the cards we were dealt. The guys are doing a phenomenal job with the parts and pieces. I’ve been working really hard on my focus game and reaction time and there’s a huge outlier between round one and round two for me – I was just behind the entire time. It was an uncharacteristic thing given the tools I’ve been using in my toolbox. Frustrating, no doubt, but we have a big handful of races coming up and a very intense faith and backing.
I’ll be carrying this pretty heavily for a while until I’m able to prove again and again on Sundays. I can do two things – I can let it eat me up or work on it, improve it, get over it and show the world the potential that this team has. We’ve been doing that. It’s just heartbreaking when it doesn’t come and it’s at your own cost, but that’s a true reflection of how bad you want it. It’s hard to maintain consistency when there are a lot of different changes. This one’s on me, but we’re a mature group and we have a mature mindset about it and we’ll continue on.”
- Earned No. 1 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.878 ET at 332.51 mph).
- Scored three bonus points for quickest run of the session.
- Maintained No. 1 qualifying position based on Friday’s Q1 run. No. 1 in Saturday’s Q2 session (3.908 ET at 328.78 mph).
- Scored three bonus points for quickest run of the session.
- Secured No. 1 qualifying position based on Friday’s Q1 run. No. 9 in Saturday’s Q3 session (6.187 ET at 110.60 mph).
- Advanced to the final round on Sunday:
- Round 1: 4.097 ET at 261.83 mph, defeated Dale Creasy Jr. (10.284 ET at 88.72).
- Round 2: 3.948 ET at 323.27 mph in a bye.
- Semifinal: 3.963 ET at 325.69 mph, defeated J.R. Todd (3.981 ET at 323.58 mph).
- Final: 3.922 ET at 327.98 mph, defeated Robert Hight (6.232 ET at 110.15 mph).
- Currently leads the Funny Car championship standings with a 41-point advantage over Hight.
- Hagan’s Funny Car victory in the NHRA New England Nationals was the 42nd of his career, his third of the season and his fourth at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.
- Hagan has been the winning Funny Car driver in four of the last five NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series events at Epping (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022).
- The victory was Hagan’s first in the four, head-to-head, final-round matchups against Robert Hight this season. In their 40 career head-to-head matchups, Hagan and Hight have now won 20 times apiece. Hight holds an 8-4 advantage in final-round matchups.
- Hagan’s final-round appearance was the 77th of his career. He has advanced to the finals in six of this year’s eight NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series events.
- The No. 1 qualifying position Hagan earned on Friday was his second in a row and third this season. It was the 46th of his career and his second at Epping.