Matt Hagan, driver of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
- Earned No. 17 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (8.245 ET at 88.16 mph)
- Earned No. 7 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (4.018 ET at 322.88 mph)
- Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.886 ET at 331.45 mph). Hagan faced Alexis DeJoria in Round 1 of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where his run defeated DeJoria’s 4.400 ET at 199.70 mph.
- Earned two bonus points for second-quickest run of the session
- Secured No. 3 qualifying position in Q4 on Saturday (3.880 ET at 331.85 mph). Hagan faced Ron Capps in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Finals, where Hagan defeated Capps’ 3.889 ET at 330.88 mph.
- Advanced to Semifinals on Sunday:
- Round 1: 3.916 ET at 330.39 mph, defeated Blake Alexander (4.036 ET at 320.28 mph)
- Round 2: 3.919 ET at 328.62 mph, defeated Ron Capps (3.957 ET at 326.08 mph)
- Semifinals: 3.942 ET at 327.90 mph, lost to Austin Prock (3.931 ET at 329.75 mph)
- Currently third in the championship standings, 63 points behind Funny Car leader Austin Prock
- Stewart’s win marked the second of his Top Fuel career and his first at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals. The victory gave Stewart the Top Fuel points lead.
- Stewart has now completed the trifecta at Chicago – the oval track, dirt track (as a team owner – Donny Schatz in 2005 and 2017) and dragstrip.
- Stewart advanced to his fourth consecutive final. His previous final-round appearances came at the 65th NHRA Winternationals, NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, and American Rebel Light NHRA 4-Wide Nationals.
- Hagan earned his first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the season. The specialty race rewards a bonus purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship.
- Hagan and Capps went head-to-head for the first two times in 2025. They first faced each other in Saturday’s #2Fast2Tasty Finals and again in Round 2 on Sunday. Hagan and Capps have had 83 career matchups, with Capps leading 42-41.
- Stewart’s Q3 run of 3.679 ETmarked the quickest run of his Top Fuel career. His previous best elapsed time was 3.688-seconds, a mark he set at Brainerd in 2024.
- By advancing to the Semifinals, Hagan and Stewart qualified to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next event, the NHRA New England Nationals. The challenge brings competitive racing to the qualifying schedule at 13 regular-season events during the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series campaign, pitting semifinalists from the previous race against each other in a pair of rematches, with the two winners then matching up in the final qualifying session. Hagan earned a rematch against Austin Prock in Round 1 and Stewart will race Steve Torrence.
- Stewart will be joining the INDYCAR on FOX team next Sunday, May 25 for the 109th Indianapolis 500. Stewart will participate in the pre-race show alongside Danica Patrick and Chris Myers. Pre-race coverage begins at 10 a.m. ET, and the green flag drops at 12:45 p.m. ET.
“We had a great qualifying session, qualifying in the top half of the field this weekend. Our Dodge Direct Connection Funny Car has been running really strong. We made it down the track six out of seven runs and the run we didn’t make it down the track was because we had a clutch line that was off. We have a race car that is going down the race track, whether it’s hot or cold. I was really rooting on Tony to win the race this weekend. We were just on the back side of a good drag race. If you talk to (Ron) Capps, I think he’d be saying the same thing I am from Round 2. We just have to keep digging and working hard. Everything is moving in the right direction.”
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