Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan
Top Fuel | Funny Car
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Aug. 15-17 | Brainerd, Minnesota
Event Recap
Tony Stewart, driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.827 ET at 326.40 mph)
• Scored two bonus points for having the second-quickest run of the session
• Earned No. 6 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.799 ET at 321.65 mph)
• Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.732 ET at 331.61 mph)
• Scored one bonus point for having the third-quickest run of the session
• Secured No. 5 qualifying position based off of Saturday’s Q3 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 5.356 ET at 127.63 mph.
• Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.733 ET at 328.54 mph, defeated Josh Hart (3.788 ET at 328.78 mph)
• Round 2: 3.746 ET at 328.54 mph, lost to Billy Torrence (3.708 ET at 335.73 mph)
• Currently second in the Top Fuel championship standings, 45 points behind Top Fuel leader Shawn Langdon
Matt Hagan, driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.681 ET at 175.91 mph)
• Earned No. 13 provisional qualifying in Q2 on Friday (4.113 ET at 245.00 mph)
• Earned No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.935 ET at 329.02 mph). Q3 also served as Round 1 of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Hagan’s run defeated Austin Prock’s 4.761 ET at 167.20 mph.
• Secured No. 10 qualifying position based off of Saturday’s Q3 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 6.636 ET at 101.53 mph. Q4 also served as the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Finals, where Hagan lost to Jack Beckman’s 3.942 ET at 324.59 mph.
• Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.883 ET at 333.58 mph, defeated Cruz Pedregon (3.940 ET at 327.11 mph)
• Round 2: 4.092 ET at 239.70 mph, lost to Austin Prock (3.886 ET at 332.18 mph)
• Currently third in the Funny Car championship standings, 269 points behind Funny Car leader Austin Prock
Notes of Interest
• American Rebel Beer served as the primary sponsor of both Hagan and Stewart in Brainerd. American Rebel Beer was founded in April of 2024 by American Rebel CEO Andy Ross. American Rebel Beer is All Natural, Crisp, Clean and has a Bold Taste with a Lighter Feel. It does not use corn, rice or other sweeteners typically found in other mass-produced beers. American Rebel Beer is currently offered in 14 states (Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia), with additional states being announced soon. You can also find American Rebel in various legendary bars like Kid Rock’s, Tootsies, Honky Tony Central, and many others in the entertainment district in Nashville, as well as retail outlets, venues and music festivals throughout the United States. American Rebel Beer is America’s Patriotic, God-Fearing, Constitution-Loving, National Anthem Singing, Stand Your Ground Beer.
• The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series has one race remaining in the regular season before the Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 11-14 with the 40th Annual NHRA Nationals presented by Nitro Fish at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania. Points will be points and a half at the next event, the NHRA U.S. Nationals and will reset at the start of the Countdown.
• After the 14th and final regular-season event on Sept. 1 with the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, the top-10 drivers in the standings in each of the four professional categories of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle – qualify for the Countdown to the Championship. The top-10 drivers in each class then compete in the final, six-race playoffs to vie for the title.
Tony Stewart, Driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
“There were a lot of positives to the weekend. The car made it down the track three of the four runs. In the fourth run, we pressed knowing that it may or may not make it down the track and didn’t have anything to lose. I’ proud of our qualifying effort. We stayed within the top two to six the whole time. We made two solid runs today, just fell short on both of them with what the crew chiefs were looking for. We didn’t hit the number that we were trying to run, which shows we have some things to work on. We still have a consistent car that is making it down the race track. We’ll go to Indy and our biggest race of the season. Indy is points and a half and we’re only within 45 points to Shawn Langdon, which is less than two rounds. We have to keep our nose to the ground. We’re going to test here in Brainerd tomorrow, so hopefully we can find some things with the car’s performance, so once we get to Indy, everything is sorted the way we want it.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
“We had an unexpected blow-up in the second round, but the car is running good. It was nothing that the crew chiefs or guys did wrong, we just had a parts failure. Sometimes, you push these cars as hard as you can push them and parts break. It was a valvetrain issue, so we are lucky we didn’t get an oil-down penalty. But, it cost us a round win. We were winning, until we weren’t. We’ll come back tomorrow to test. We were planning on testing the valvetrain anyways, so we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again. We have some American Rebel Beer to drink tonight. We had a great time with Andy (Ross – American Rebel CEO) out here this weekend and had a lot of fun with him in the ‘Zoo.’ I just feel bad that we weren’t able to take our cars further in eliminations for him. He’s been a great sponsor to work with. They’re picking up distribution at all these race tracks we go to. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Next Up
The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the NHRA U.S. Nationals August 27-September 1 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.
-TSR-
Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]
Continue reading...
Top Fuel | Funny Car
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Aug. 15-17 | Brainerd, Minnesota
Event Recap
Tony Stewart, driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.827 ET at 326.40 mph)
• Scored two bonus points for having the second-quickest run of the session
• Earned No. 6 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.799 ET at 321.65 mph)
• Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.732 ET at 331.61 mph)
• Scored one bonus point for having the third-quickest run of the session
• Secured No. 5 qualifying position based off of Saturday’s Q3 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 5.356 ET at 127.63 mph.
• Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.733 ET at 328.54 mph, defeated Josh Hart (3.788 ET at 328.78 mph)
• Round 2: 3.746 ET at 328.54 mph, lost to Billy Torrence (3.708 ET at 335.73 mph)
• Currently second in the Top Fuel championship standings, 45 points behind Top Fuel leader Shawn Langdon
Matt Hagan, driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.681 ET at 175.91 mph)
• Earned No. 13 provisional qualifying in Q2 on Friday (4.113 ET at 245.00 mph)
• Earned No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.935 ET at 329.02 mph). Q3 also served as Round 1 of the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Hagan’s run defeated Austin Prock’s 4.761 ET at 167.20 mph.
• Secured No. 10 qualifying position based off of Saturday’s Q3 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 6.636 ET at 101.53 mph. Q4 also served as the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Finals, where Hagan lost to Jack Beckman’s 3.942 ET at 324.59 mph.
• Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.883 ET at 333.58 mph, defeated Cruz Pedregon (3.940 ET at 327.11 mph)
• Round 2: 4.092 ET at 239.70 mph, lost to Austin Prock (3.886 ET at 332.18 mph)
• Currently third in the Funny Car championship standings, 269 points behind Funny Car leader Austin Prock
Notes of Interest
• American Rebel Beer served as the primary sponsor of both Hagan and Stewart in Brainerd. American Rebel Beer was founded in April of 2024 by American Rebel CEO Andy Ross. American Rebel Beer is All Natural, Crisp, Clean and has a Bold Taste with a Lighter Feel. It does not use corn, rice or other sweeteners typically found in other mass-produced beers. American Rebel Beer is currently offered in 14 states (Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia), with additional states being announced soon. You can also find American Rebel in various legendary bars like Kid Rock’s, Tootsies, Honky Tony Central, and many others in the entertainment district in Nashville, as well as retail outlets, venues and music festivals throughout the United States. American Rebel Beer is America’s Patriotic, God-Fearing, Constitution-Loving, National Anthem Singing, Stand Your Ground Beer.
• The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series has one race remaining in the regular season before the Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 11-14 with the 40th Annual NHRA Nationals presented by Nitro Fish at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania. Points will be points and a half at the next event, the NHRA U.S. Nationals and will reset at the start of the Countdown.
• After the 14th and final regular-season event on Sept. 1 with the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, the top-10 drivers in the standings in each of the four professional categories of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle – qualify for the Countdown to the Championship. The top-10 drivers in each class then compete in the final, six-race playoffs to vie for the title.
Tony Stewart, Driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
“There were a lot of positives to the weekend. The car made it down the track three of the four runs. In the fourth run, we pressed knowing that it may or may not make it down the track and didn’t have anything to lose. I’ proud of our qualifying effort. We stayed within the top two to six the whole time. We made two solid runs today, just fell short on both of them with what the crew chiefs were looking for. We didn’t hit the number that we were trying to run, which shows we have some things to work on. We still have a consistent car that is making it down the race track. We’ll go to Indy and our biggest race of the season. Indy is points and a half and we’re only within 45 points to Shawn Langdon, which is less than two rounds. We have to keep our nose to the ground. We’re going to test here in Brainerd tomorrow, so hopefully we can find some things with the car’s performance, so once we get to Indy, everything is sorted the way we want it.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
“We had an unexpected blow-up in the second round, but the car is running good. It was nothing that the crew chiefs or guys did wrong, we just had a parts failure. Sometimes, you push these cars as hard as you can push them and parts break. It was a valvetrain issue, so we are lucky we didn’t get an oil-down penalty. But, it cost us a round win. We were winning, until we weren’t. We’ll come back tomorrow to test. We were planning on testing the valvetrain anyways, so we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again. We have some American Rebel Beer to drink tonight. We had a great time with Andy (Ross – American Rebel CEO) out here this weekend and had a lot of fun with him in the ‘Zoo.’ I just feel bad that we weren’t able to take our cars further in eliminations for him. He’s been a great sponsor to work with. They’re picking up distribution at all these race tracks we go to. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Next Up
The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the NHRA U.S. Nationals August 27-September 1 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.
-TSR-
Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]
Continue reading...
