Matt Hagan news

Post-Race NHRA Route 66 Nationals

Posted on by bigfishtools
21
May

“We’ve had two tough races in a row with first-round losses. It is not a representation of what I feel like this team is or the level we’re at. It didn’t help that I put the car in the sand in Charlotte and we had to put a new front half on it. At the end of the day, I know what we are capable of isn’t a reflection of what today was. Hats off to Alex Laughlin getting his second round win in a Funny Car. I know how good those feel to get when you are a driver in a new category. We didn’t have a good showing on our end this weekend for Dodge and Direct Connection. Sorry doesn’t really make up for it, so we have to go back and fix it and that’s what we’ll do. Epping is where the mustache is at and where we’ve won four races, so I better start growing my mustache. It’s tough because my guys have put in a lot of work the last couple weeks with the new front half of the car. They rewired the car and we did some testing. It would be nice to see them get a little break. We’ll hit the reset button and go from there. I know what we’re capable of and we’ll do better.”

  • Earned No. 7 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (7.133 ET at 91.63 mph)
  • Fell to No. 10 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Saturday (4.565 ET at 184.40 mph). Q2 was also part of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Hagan faced Terry Haddock. Haddock defeated Hagan with a 4.044 ET, 311.56 mph run.
  • Secured No. 4 qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.938 ET at 329.42 mph)
  • Round 1: 4.179 ET at 283.373 mph, lost to Alex Laughlin (4.093 ET at 304.87 mph)
  • Currently leads the Funny Car championship standings with a 13-point advantage over Ron Capps.
  •  The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series made its first visit to Route 66 Raceway since 2019.
  • Hagan participated in his second Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season, with his previous challenge taking place at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.
  • Despite losing in the first round, Hagan has a 12-3 overall round record this season, having lost in the second round at the NHRA Arizona Nationals and in the first round at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.
bigfishtools