Pawuk Takes First-ever Win for New Charger Hustle Stuff Drag Pak in Factory Stock Showdown
- Dodge Funny Car racer Matt Hagan increased his points lead with a final-round placing in the Texas NHRA FallNationals in his Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge//SRT Hellcat
- In Factory Stock Showdown, two-time series champ Mark Pawuk drove his all-new Dodge Charger Hustle Stuff Drag Pak by Direct Connection to victory over Lee Hartman’s Dodge, scoring the first win for the next-generation Charger Drag Pak
- Hagan, the four-time NHRA world champion, advanced to the final round against J.R. Todd and just missed his fifth 2026 national event win in a close contest at the famed Texas Motorplex
- Despite the Sunday final round loss, Hagan extended his current NHRA Mission points lead to 98 markers with two events remaining in the 20-race NHRA tour as he vies for a fifth world crown
- In early eliminations, Hagan was consistent with 3.918, 3.948 and 3.931 runs in wins over Hunter Green, Paul Lee and championship rival Jordan Vandergriff before losing to Todd in the final
- Hagan made his eighth final-round appearance in the Texas NHRA FallNationals as he now prepares for the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge on Oct. 30–Nov. 1
- Hagan’s TSR Dodge teammate, Leah Pruett, set low Elapsed Time (ET) of the first round of Top Fuel eliminations in her Mobil 1 Dodge dragster with a 3.684 win over Billy Torrence
- Taking on four-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown in the quarters, Pruett was lightning quick off the starting with an impressive 0.032-second reaction
- Despite the great starting line jump, Pruett’s 3.735 wasn’t quick enough to better Brown’s 3.696 run as the former champion eliminated the Dodge driver and went on to take the FallNationals title
- Tony Stewart, Pruett’s husband and TSR team owner, qualified second in the tough 16-car Top Fuel field and piloted his R+L Carries/Elite Motorsports Top Fueler to a quarterfinals finish Sunday
- Stewart, who set a track record at 343.70 mph, beat Spencer Massey in the first round of action at Texas with a 3.69 before his car lost traction in the matchup with Justin Ashley in round two
In Factory Stock Showdown action, two-time and reigning series champion Mark Pawuk of Akron, Ohio, returned to the winner’s circle in his Barton Racing Engines-powered 2026 Dodge Charger Hustle Stuff Drag Pak by Direct Connection with a final-round victory over Lee Hartman’s Dodge Challenger Drag Pak for his first 2026 win. The triumph was also the first ever for the next-generation Charger Drag Pak, the Dodge brand’s newest purpose-built race car that unites SRT race HEMI® engine power with a drag-race-ready version of the new Dodge Charger.
The veteran Pawuk, who defeated Rouven Dawson, Dave Davies II and Doug Duell in early rounds, has been developing the all-new Drag Pak through the 2026 season, and the car set low Elapsed Time (ET) of the class in the all-Dodge final with a strong 7.522 to Hartman’s 7.542.
Hagan, in his 19th season driving a nitro-burning Dodge Funny Car, continued his march toward another world championship that would have the Virginia driver surpass legends Don “the Snake” Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein, who are tied with four Funny Car crowns. Hagan’s margin in the current NHRA Mission Funny Car standings is 98 points with two races remaining in the 20-event NHRA national campaign.
Led by Mike Knudsen (crew chief), Phil Shuler (co-crew chief) and Alex Conaway (car chief), just in their second year leading the TSR Funny Car program, Hagan’s team has been collecting points consistently in the six-race
“Countdown to the Championship” with a win (Rockingham), two runners-up (Michigan and Texas) and a semifinal finish (St. Louis) in the first four events. Hagan, the regular season Funny Car champion, will defend his 2025 victory in two weeks at the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge on Oct. 30–Nov. 1 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
On Sunday at the famed Texas Motorplex, Hagan, who qualified second in the 16-car lineup, defeated Hunter Green, Paul Lee and chief championship rival Jordan Vandergriff with runs of 3.918, 3.948 and 3.93 in his trek to the final round against former world champion J.R. Todd. In the final, Hagan took the starting line advantage, but Todd edged out Hagan in a close battle with a 3.931 to a 4.050. Hagan leads Vandergriff by 98 points heading to the Las Vegas weekend.
“When you come out here, you want to win every race,” said Hagan. “All in all, big picture-wise, it was a great race day. We did what we needed to do. Put some distance between us and Jordan Vandergriff with that semifinal win and there were a lot of heavy hitters that lined up in the second round and kind of hurt themselves. I’m just proud of my guys (the crew). They’re putting a great race car underneath me. We haven’t had a hole (cylinder) out at the step like that final round in like two years. That’s not normal and there was no reason for it. But it happened and so a win wasn’t meant to be.
“Each Countdown race we’ve continued to build our points lead and that’s just what you have to do to win a championship. Two more races to go, points and a half in Pomona, so that throws a little wild card in there. But if we continue the way we’re going, things should work out the way they’re supposed to.”
Hagan’s TSR Dodge teammate, Leah Pruett, looked impressive in the first round of Top Fuel eliminations Sunday in the TSR Mobil1 Dodge dragster, as the Arizona racer clocked the quickest time of the round with a 3.684 in her win over veteran Texas competitor Billy Torrence. Pruett, in her first year back in the 12,000-horsepower Top Fueler after giving birth to her and Stewart’s son, Dominic, has turned in numerous spectacular performances in 2026 and currently ranks fifth in the 2026 NHRA Mission Top Fuel standings.
In the quarterfinal competition against four-time world champion Antron Brown, Pruett produced a sensational 0.034-second starting line reaction time to hold the lead past the halfway point. However, Brown’s 3.696 was just too quick for Pruett’s 3.735, edging out the Dodge dragster at the finish line.
“The way we raced today was smart,” Pruett said. “With Tony Stewart third in points smoking the tires in the right lane, Doug Kalitta losing second round smoking the tires in the right lane, we made a couple small adjustments to make sure that we didn’t beat ourselves and that we would get down against Antron. I most definitely rose to the occasion. I knew when I hit the tree I had a killer .034 light. Felt like we were doing well and trucking. I was surprised the win light didn’t come on. Such a close race under .002 margin of victory.
“Points-wise, we’re sitting the lowest we’ve been all year and that is not a true representation of the status of this team,” Pruett said. “My favorite thing about this team is that we uncover weaknesses. If we find them, we don’t brush over them, don’t wipe them under a rug hoping they never happen again. We dig deep, and we do it altogether as a team. It’s why I continue to love this sport and love working with my team because of the way that we work together. Performing to this team’s expectations is our ultimate goal.”
Stewart, Pruett’s husband and TSR team owner, set a new track speed record in qualifying with a blistering 343.70 mph and qualified second in the R+L Carriers/Elite Motorsports Top Fuel dragster. He then posted a 3.696 in defeating Spencer Massey in the first round of eliminations. However, in the quarterfinal against Justin Ashley, Stewart’s mount lost traction at halftrack and Ashley advanced to the semifinals.
Stewart, the former NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC driving champion, sits fourth in the current NHRA Mission Top Fuel points, just one position ahead of his wife as the NHRA series moves to Las Vegas and Pomona for the final two events of the 2026 national trail.
The next NHRA national event, the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge, will have Hagan, Pruett and Stewart back in competition beginning on Friday, Oct. 30, with two rounds of qualifying at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. PDT. Saturday’s qualifying rounds are set for noon and 2:30 p.m. PDT. Final eliminations are set for Sunday, Nov. 1, at 11 a.m. PST. The final eliminations will be televised Sunday on Fox Sports 1 at 5 p.m. EST / 2 p.m. PST.
For more information on NHRA, visit NHRA.com.Dodge
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