Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan
Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
NHRA New England Nationals
May 30-June 1 | Epping, New Hampshire
Event Overview
Friday, May 30 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Nitro qualifying session (Q1): 5:30 p.m. EDT
• Nitro qualifying session (Q2): 8 p.m. EDT
Saturday, May 31 (Nitro Qualifying & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Round 1: 12:30 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Round 1: 1:05 p.m. EDT
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Finals: 3 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Finals: 3:35 p.m. EDT
Sunday, June 1 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Round 1: 11 a.m. EDT
• Round 2: 1:15 p.m. EDT
• Semi-Finals: 2:55 p.m. EDT
• Finals: 4:20 p.m. EDT
TV coverage
• Friday, May 30: Qualifying show on FS1 (7 p.m. EDT)
• Saturday, May 31: Qualifying show on FS1 (7 p.m. EDT)
• Sunday, June 1: Finals show on FOX (6 p.m. EDT)
Notes of Interest
• The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, located just southeast of the state capital in Concord, hosts the seventh event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ 20-race calendar in 2025. Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) brings its two full-time entries – one in Top Fuel for Tony Stewart and one in Funny Car for 52-time Funny Car winner and four-time champion Matt Hagan. Stewart earned his second Top Fuel win at the prior event, the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. He has advanced to four consecutive Finals.
• Coming into Epping, Stewart is leading the Top Fuel standings, three points ahead of Shawn Langdon. Hagan is currently third in the Funny Car standings, 83 points behind leader Austin Prock.
• Direct Connection is the primary partner of Stewart and Hagan this weekend in Epping. With muscle car enthusiasts looking for “ready to run” parts, Direct Connection serves as the source for high-performance parts and technical expertise straight from the factory.
• The NHRA New England Nationals will mark Stewart’s 27th career Top Fuel start and his second at Epping. For Hagan, the NHRA New England Nationals will be his 359th career Funny Car start and his 12th at Epping.
• Stewart is looking for his first victory at the New England Nationals and his first No. 1 qualifier at the event. In 2024, Stewart secured the No. 8 qualifying position and advanced to Round 2 on Sunday, where his 3.848 ET at 323.58 mph lost to Doug Kalitta’s 3.841 ET at 329.67 mph. During Stewart’s NASCAR Cup Series career, he won three times at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 1-mile oval located 45 miles away in Loudon, New Hampshire (2000, 2005, 2011).
• In the first six events, Stewart has compiled a 12-2 record. He has checked “final round,” “win” and “points leader” off his drag racing “to do” list. All that remains is a No. 1 start. He’s qualified No. 2 three times, most recently at Chicago. His wife, Leah Pruett, was the No. 1 qualifier at the New England Nationals in both 2017 and 2018.
• Hagan comes into New Hampshire with four career New England National wins in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. In 2017, he defeated Courtney Force with a 3.897 ET at 332.59 mph (compared to Force’s 3.927 ET at 332.34 mph). In 2018, Hagan’s 4.156 ET at 292.01 mph defeated Tim Wilkerson (4.181 ET at 287.35 mph). In 2019, Hagan defeated Shawn Langdon with a 4.014 ET at 322.81 mph run (compared to Langdon’s 4.046 ET at 317.49 mph). In 2022, he defeated Robert Hight with a 3.922 ET at 327.98 mph (compared to Hight’s 6.232 ET at 110.15 mph). Hagan has three No. 1 qualifiers at the event, which came in 2018 (3.932 ET at 322.03 mph), 2021 (3.891 ET at 331.53 mph) and 2022 (3.878 ET at 332.51 mph).
• Hagan is the all-time leader in New England Nationals victories, having won four of the last seven events. He has won 74.1 percent of his two-car heats at New England Dragway (20-7). The only other track on which he has a higher winning percentage is the Texas Motorplex (where he is 36-11, a winning percentage of 76.6).
• By advancing to the Semifinals at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, Hagan and Stewart qualified to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. 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 face off against Steve Torrence. There is a bonus purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship on the line. Hagan earned the win in the previous #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Chicago, defeating Ron Capps in the Final.
• Hagan and Stewart will participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty autograph session on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. EDT. The session will take place at the Mission Foods Display.
• Hagan, Pruett and Stewart will participate in a Dodge autograph session on Friday from 4:15-4:45 p.m. ET and on Saturday from 10:15-10:45 a.m. ET. Both sessions will take place in the pits at the Dodge display.
• The Mopar CAP (Career Automotive Program) will be partnering with TSR on Friday for the second of eight events this season. CAP consists of strategic alliances between Stellantis and over 100 colleges and trade schools teaching technical curriculum integrated into the school’s general automotive program, so that students can become certified Stellantis technicians.
• DYK? Organized drag racing in the New England area began in 1950 at various public and military airports in the region. In the mid-1960s, a group of shareholders purchased land in Epping and New England Dragway opened for racing on Sept. 11, 1966. The drag strip began hosting the NHRA New England Nationals in 2013.
Tony Stewart, Driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster
You’re coming off of your second Top Fuel win in Chicago. You’ve advanced to four Finals in the first six races and are now in the points lead. What’s your mindset heading into Epping to maintain that momentum?
“I’m proud of what we’ve done up until this part of the year, especially compared to where we were a year ago. We still have a lot of work to do compared to all the teams that are in the top ten in points. They’re all working hard to try to get where we’re at, so even though we’re at the top of the points lead right, we still have a lot of work to do as a race team to get different aspects of our program exactly where it needs to be. Even after the win at Chicago, we talked in our team meeting before we all left for the day about the importance of continuing to push hard and stay focused. We realize that it’s great to win the race and it’s great to have the points lead, but at the same time, we know that we still have work to do and we still have areas that we need to improve on. Our focus going into Epping is to just continue to try to improve our program to try to stay where we’re at and make ourselves even better. We’re just going to keep pushing forward and keep putting in the hard work.”
You spent Memorial Day weekend as one of the INDYCAR on FOX commentators for the Indianapolis 500. Talk about how special the weekend was.
“It was great to be back at the Indianapolis 500. Obviously, I would love nothing more than to be one of the 33 drivers behind the steering wheel and participating in the race. But, to have the opportunity to participate on the broadcast team with FOX and really be inside of it and see what’s going on was a true honor. I literally had a blast on Sunday. I thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone and a lot of people on the FOX team were people that I’ve seen and known for a long time and worked with for a long time. I even got to work with former teammate Danica Patrick and I really enjoyed working together with her again. It was a great experience and hopefully we’ll have an opportunity down the road to do it again.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
You earned your first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the season at Chicago. You’re part of the challenge again in Epping. How valuable are those bonus points and money for your team?
“The Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge is extremely important because all those points add up in the championship hunt. It’s kind of wild that you can win all the races up until the countdown and everything resets. It pulls everyone back into the striking position, then you get these Mission points added. They are so valuable. I know we shouldn’t pedal the car to try and win $10,000, but those points add up a lot. I’ve seen championships come down to two points before. It’s nail-biting stuff and usually comes down to one round at the end of the year. To get the win at Chicago was really cool and it was nice to get some extra bonus money for the guys to reward all their hard work. Thank you to Mission Foods for putting that program together. We’re looking forward to being in the next challenge in Epping.”
You’re third in the Funny Car point standings after six races. How much confidence does that give you as you continue to get into a routine and gather more data with your new crew chiefs Mike Knudsen and Phil Shuler?
“Third in points is great, but they all get reset at the end of the season. The biggest thing right now is we are going rounds and making good decisions on the racetrack. We’re not smoking the tires a lot and we’re giving ourselves the opportunity to win a lot of the time. I think the confidence is growing with Mike Knudsen (crew chief), Phil Shuler (co-crew chief) and Alex Conaway (car chief). As a group, they’re making great decisions and there’s a lot of good chemistry. It’s exciting that Tony is coming off a win in Chicago, so that brings a lot of momentum to the table. We’re all there in striking distance. We just have to figure out these (John) Force cars. They are tough to beat. They were tough last year and they’re going to continue to be tough. I’m excited about our momentum. We just need to pull down a win and get that monkey off our back. It’s coming soon.”
-TSR-
Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]
Continue reading...
Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
NHRA New England Nationals
May 30-June 1 | Epping, New Hampshire
Event Overview
Friday, May 30 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Nitro qualifying session (Q1): 5:30 p.m. EDT
• Nitro qualifying session (Q2): 8 p.m. EDT
Saturday, May 31 (Nitro Qualifying & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Round 1: 12:30 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Round 1: 1:05 p.m. EDT
• Top Fuel qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Finals: 3 p.m. EDT
• Funny Car qualifying session (Q4) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Finals: 3:35 p.m. EDT
Sunday, June 1 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
• Round 1: 11 a.m. EDT
• Round 2: 1:15 p.m. EDT
• Semi-Finals: 2:55 p.m. EDT
• Finals: 4:20 p.m. EDT
TV coverage
• Friday, May 30: Qualifying show on FS1 (7 p.m. EDT)
• Saturday, May 31: Qualifying show on FS1 (7 p.m. EDT)
• Sunday, June 1: Finals show on FOX (6 p.m. EDT)
Notes of Interest
• The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, located just southeast of the state capital in Concord, hosts the seventh event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ 20-race calendar in 2025. Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) brings its two full-time entries – one in Top Fuel for Tony Stewart and one in Funny Car for 52-time Funny Car winner and four-time champion Matt Hagan. Stewart earned his second Top Fuel win at the prior event, the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. He has advanced to four consecutive Finals.
• Coming into Epping, Stewart is leading the Top Fuel standings, three points ahead of Shawn Langdon. Hagan is currently third in the Funny Car standings, 83 points behind leader Austin Prock.
• Direct Connection is the primary partner of Stewart and Hagan this weekend in Epping. With muscle car enthusiasts looking for “ready to run” parts, Direct Connection serves as the source for high-performance parts and technical expertise straight from the factory.
• The NHRA New England Nationals will mark Stewart’s 27th career Top Fuel start and his second at Epping. For Hagan, the NHRA New England Nationals will be his 359th career Funny Car start and his 12th at Epping.
• Stewart is looking for his first victory at the New England Nationals and his first No. 1 qualifier at the event. In 2024, Stewart secured the No. 8 qualifying position and advanced to Round 2 on Sunday, where his 3.848 ET at 323.58 mph lost to Doug Kalitta’s 3.841 ET at 329.67 mph. During Stewart’s NASCAR Cup Series career, he won three times at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 1-mile oval located 45 miles away in Loudon, New Hampshire (2000, 2005, 2011).
• In the first six events, Stewart has compiled a 12-2 record. He has checked “final round,” “win” and “points leader” off his drag racing “to do” list. All that remains is a No. 1 start. He’s qualified No. 2 three times, most recently at Chicago. His wife, Leah Pruett, was the No. 1 qualifier at the New England Nationals in both 2017 and 2018.
• Hagan comes into New Hampshire with four career New England National wins in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. In 2017, he defeated Courtney Force with a 3.897 ET at 332.59 mph (compared to Force’s 3.927 ET at 332.34 mph). In 2018, Hagan’s 4.156 ET at 292.01 mph defeated Tim Wilkerson (4.181 ET at 287.35 mph). In 2019, Hagan defeated Shawn Langdon with a 4.014 ET at 322.81 mph run (compared to Langdon’s 4.046 ET at 317.49 mph). In 2022, he defeated Robert Hight with a 3.922 ET at 327.98 mph (compared to Hight’s 6.232 ET at 110.15 mph). Hagan has three No. 1 qualifiers at the event, which came in 2018 (3.932 ET at 322.03 mph), 2021 (3.891 ET at 331.53 mph) and 2022 (3.878 ET at 332.51 mph).
• Hagan is the all-time leader in New England Nationals victories, having won four of the last seven events. He has won 74.1 percent of his two-car heats at New England Dragway (20-7). The only other track on which he has a higher winning percentage is the Texas Motorplex (where he is 36-11, a winning percentage of 76.6).
• By advancing to the Semifinals at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, Hagan and Stewart qualified to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. 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 face off against Steve Torrence. There is a bonus purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship on the line. Hagan earned the win in the previous #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Chicago, defeating Ron Capps in the Final.
• Hagan and Stewart will participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty autograph session on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. EDT. The session will take place at the Mission Foods Display.
• Hagan, Pruett and Stewart will participate in a Dodge autograph session on Friday from 4:15-4:45 p.m. ET and on Saturday from 10:15-10:45 a.m. ET. Both sessions will take place in the pits at the Dodge display.
• The Mopar CAP (Career Automotive Program) will be partnering with TSR on Friday for the second of eight events this season. CAP consists of strategic alliances between Stellantis and over 100 colleges and trade schools teaching technical curriculum integrated into the school’s general automotive program, so that students can become certified Stellantis technicians.
• DYK? Organized drag racing in the New England area began in 1950 at various public and military airports in the region. In the mid-1960s, a group of shareholders purchased land in Epping and New England Dragway opened for racing on Sept. 11, 1966. The drag strip began hosting the NHRA New England Nationals in 2013.
Tony Stewart, Driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster
You’re coming off of your second Top Fuel win in Chicago. You’ve advanced to four Finals in the first six races and are now in the points lead. What’s your mindset heading into Epping to maintain that momentum?
“I’m proud of what we’ve done up until this part of the year, especially compared to where we were a year ago. We still have a lot of work to do compared to all the teams that are in the top ten in points. They’re all working hard to try to get where we’re at, so even though we’re at the top of the points lead right, we still have a lot of work to do as a race team to get different aspects of our program exactly where it needs to be. Even after the win at Chicago, we talked in our team meeting before we all left for the day about the importance of continuing to push hard and stay focused. We realize that it’s great to win the race and it’s great to have the points lead, but at the same time, we know that we still have work to do and we still have areas that we need to improve on. Our focus going into Epping is to just continue to try to improve our program to try to stay where we’re at and make ourselves even better. We’re just going to keep pushing forward and keep putting in the hard work.”
You spent Memorial Day weekend as one of the INDYCAR on FOX commentators for the Indianapolis 500. Talk about how special the weekend was.
“It was great to be back at the Indianapolis 500. Obviously, I would love nothing more than to be one of the 33 drivers behind the steering wheel and participating in the race. But, to have the opportunity to participate on the broadcast team with FOX and really be inside of it and see what’s going on was a true honor. I literally had a blast on Sunday. I thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone and a lot of people on the FOX team were people that I’ve seen and known for a long time and worked with for a long time. I even got to work with former teammate Danica Patrick and I really enjoyed working together with her again. It was a great experience and hopefully we’ll have an opportunity down the road to do it again.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
You earned your first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the season at Chicago. You’re part of the challenge again in Epping. How valuable are those bonus points and money for your team?
“The Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge is extremely important because all those points add up in the championship hunt. It’s kind of wild that you can win all the races up until the countdown and everything resets. It pulls everyone back into the striking position, then you get these Mission points added. They are so valuable. I know we shouldn’t pedal the car to try and win $10,000, but those points add up a lot. I’ve seen championships come down to two points before. It’s nail-biting stuff and usually comes down to one round at the end of the year. To get the win at Chicago was really cool and it was nice to get some extra bonus money for the guys to reward all their hard work. Thank you to Mission Foods for putting that program together. We’re looking forward to being in the next challenge in Epping.”
You’re third in the Funny Car point standings after six races. How much confidence does that give you as you continue to get into a routine and gather more data with your new crew chiefs Mike Knudsen and Phil Shuler?
“Third in points is great, but they all get reset at the end of the season. The biggest thing right now is we are going rounds and making good decisions on the racetrack. We’re not smoking the tires a lot and we’re giving ourselves the opportunity to win a lot of the time. I think the confidence is growing with Mike Knudsen (crew chief), Phil Shuler (co-crew chief) and Alex Conaway (car chief). As a group, they’re making great decisions and there’s a lot of good chemistry. It’s exciting that Tony is coming off a win in Chicago, so that brings a lot of momentum to the table. We’re all there in striking distance. We just have to figure out these (John) Force cars. They are tough to beat. They were tough last year and they’re going to continue to be tough. I’m excited about our momentum. We just need to pull down a win and get that monkey off our back. It’s coming soon.”
-TSR-
Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]
Continue reading...
