Auburn Hills, MI – While their first season competing in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World Drag Racing Series draws to a close at the upcoming 57th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) and driver Matt Hagan aren’t easing up on the throttle as the Dodge Power Brokers Funny Car remains in contention for the world championship heading into the final event of the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Hagan began the year by driving his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the winner’s circle in three of the first eight national events of TSR’s inaugural season, including his first career Gatornationals victory, and led the Funny Car points standings until the halfway point of the season. His playoff performance through five of six NHRA Countdown to the Championship events included three semifinals followed by back-to-back final rounds appearances to stay in the hunt.

His win at the penultimate race of the season, the Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, kept the team’s Funny Car title hopes alive by putting Hagan within 63 points of the category leader Robert Hight and just two points behind reigning world champ Ron Capps heading into this weekend’s points-and-a-half NHRA Finals at the legendary Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.

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Las Vegas, NV – From the No. 2 position on the eliminations ladder at the Nevada Nationals, Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) driver Matt Hagan muscled his Dodge Power Brokers Funny Car to the winner’s circle at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to earn a fourth win this season and his first of the playoffs to keep his first-year team in the hunt for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) World Championship.

“Congratulations to Matt Hagan for capturing an important win at the Nevada Nationals,” said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge Brand Chief Executive Officer – Stellantis. “It was another outstanding effort by Matt and his Tony Stewart Racing crew to get the most performance out of their Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and take home their fourth victory this season. What a great representation of what performance enthusiasts can expect from the Dodge lineup of vehicles and Direct Connection performance parts.”

Hagan started his race day from second place spot on the eliminations ladder and with a little Vegas luck on his side against No. 15 seed Steven Densham. After his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat had the advantage on the start, it dropped some cylinders early but Hagan kept on the throttle until he lost power and coasted across the finish line with a slim 0.0032-second margin of victory to move on to the quarterfinals.

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Las Vegas, NV – Just two race days remain in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) “Countdown to the Championship” and Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) driver Matt Hagan showed he is determined to stay in the heat of the battle for the Funny Car crown by qualifying his Dodge Power Brokers charger SRT Hellcat No. 2 for the 22nd annual Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the penultimate event of the six-race playoff series.

The three-time world champion sits third in the Funny Car standings going into Sunday’s elimination rounds after finishing runner-up to Ron Capps (second in points) at the previous race in Texas to put himself within 78 markers of the category leader Robert HIght heading into the weekend.

Following a pair of qualifying passes on Friday, the Dodge Power Brokers Funny Car was provisionally fifth after setting the third-best run of the first session with a 3.898-second lap at 333.25 mph to earn a bonus point. But Hagan, who has three wins (2017, 2019 and 2020) in the last five fall editions of the Las Vegas event, pressed even harder on Saturday to record a strong 3.862 sec./330.23 mph final qualifying run and earn three additional  bonus points for the quickest pass of Q4. More importantly, that also put his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in the No. 2 spot on the eliminations ladder behind Hight who leads Hagan by 83 points heading into race day. Hagan’s opening round opponent will be No. 15 seed Steven Densham.

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Ennis, TX – Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Funny Car driver Matt Hagan qualified his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat No. 1 then drove it to an important first final round appearance in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) “Countdown to the Championship” at the 37th annual Texas FallNationals at Texas Motorplex, the fourth of six playoff series events.

Hagan earned the top spot on the eliminations ladder and his sixth top qualifier honor of the season with an impressive second pass on Friday under the lights to set the Texas track record with a 3.825-second lap at 334.85 mph, the second-quickest Funny Car run of the 2022 season. The three-time Funny Car world champion entered the weekend 103 markers behind the category leader Robert Hight, but added nine valuable bonus points by registering all four of his runs among the top-three quickest of each session.

Hagan and his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat headed into eliminations having cut the deficit to 98 points and disposed of No. 16 seed Terry Haddock and No. 8 Tim Wilkerson to advance to a fourth consecutive semifinal appearance in the Countdown and face-off against No. 4 seed Bob Tasca III.

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Madison, IL – It was a third consecutive semifinal result for Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) driver Matt Hagan and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) “Countdown to the Championship” at the 11th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway, the third of six playoff series events.

Hagan, last year’s Funny Car event winner at the St. Louis area dragstrip, collected three bonus points in qualifying by recording the third best time on Friday, and then was second quickest in the final session with a best lap of 3.867 seconds at 335.48 mph to put the Baja Vida Snacks Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat fourth on the eliminations ladder.

An opening round win over No. 13 seed Jim Campbell set up a quarterfinal matchup with No. 5 qualifier Bob Tasca III, against whom Hagan earned his 20th round win at the NHRA Midwest Nationals, the most for any Funny Car at this event.

Hagan’s opponent for the important semifinal showdown was Funny Car points leader Robert Hight, against whom the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat had the advantage on the tree and maintained the lead to the halfway point, but while the two had a good side-by-side battle, Hagan (3.945/330.31) saw his opponent (3.913/327.59) slip past him to reach the stripe first.

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Concord, NC – Funny Car driver Matt Hagan drove his Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat from the No. 2 qualifier position to his second straight semifinal performance in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) “Countdown to the Championship” at the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway, the second of six playoff series events.

Sporting the colors of Shelor Motor Mile, his family-owned car dealership, Hagan, a two-time winner (2011,2014) at the Carolina Nationals, earned the second spot on the eliminations ladder with a 3.861-second elapsed time run at 329.99 mph and earned two valuable bonus points for his efforts. He drove his HEMI®-powered Dodge to a first round win against No. 13 seed John Smith and then had a second round bye-run to advance to a semifinal match-up against No. 9 seed Alexis DeJoria.

Hagan had the quicker launch with a 0.068-second reaction time to DeJoria’s 0.072-second start and the lead past the 330-foot mark before seeing his opponent next to him at the 600-foot marker. While Hagan drove his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a solid 3.893 sec./334.07 mph run, DeJoria was able to edge him at the stripe recording a 3.887/332.02 pass to steal the round win with a margin of victory of 0.0028 seconds.

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Reading, PA – The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) “Countdown to the Championship” six-event playoff series opened with the 37th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania, and three Dodge//SRT supported entries ready to vie for the Camping World Drag Racing Series’ top honors in two nitro categories.

Following the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Tony Stewart Racing’s Funny Car driver Matt Hagan closed out the regular season with three wins, three runner-up finishes, five No. 1 qualifier awards, and with the points reset for the playoffs, the three-time world champ officially began the Countdown ranked third in the Funny Car standings behind Robert Hight and Ron Capps.

Hagan got things started at Maple Grove Raceway by qualifying his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat fifth on the eliminations ladder with a solid 3.906-second elapsed time run at 326.32 mph. On race day he drove his way through to the semifinals by recording round wins over No. 12 seed Jim Campbell and No. 4 qualifier Bob Tasca to face No. 1 qualifier Hight. The two semifinal competitors launched and battled closely until a loss of traction slowed Hagan’s progress and dashed any hope of advancing further.

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Indianapolis, IN – After finishing runner-up in an exciting National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) All-Star Callout specialty race final during qualifying at the 68th annual Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals, Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Matt Hagan found himself in another tremendous battle in the quarterfinals of the world’s biggest and best known drag race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Hagan, whose quicker 3.900-second elapsed time run in Sunday’s Callout race-within-a race was just 0.004-seconds short of beating Ron Capps’ holeshot effort, had another tremendous drag race in the elimination rounds of the “Big Go” against points leader Robert Hight.

Prior to facing Hight, the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat set the tone by recording the top speed of the event (at that point) with Hagan’s 3.881-second winning run at 334.07 mph against No. 10 seed Alexis DeJoria in the opening round. Once staged for the quarterfinal showdown, Hagan hit the throttle just 0.004-seconds behind Hight as the two adversaries battled side-by-side the entire length of the legendary dragstrip. While Hagan took his HEMI-powered ride for his quickest run of the weekend at 3.867 sec./ 334.65 mph it was 0.006-seconds short of turning on the win lights ahead of Hight’s 3.861 sec./ 331.77 mph lap.

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Dodge Entries Qualified and Ready for 68th Annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals

Indianapolis, IN – Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) driver Matt Hagan drove his Dodge Power Brokers Funny Car to a final round appearance in the Pep Boys National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) All-Star Callout specialty race that took place during Sunday qualifying ahead of Monday’s main event; the 68th annual Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Hagan and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat were among eight Funny Car drivers to take part in the race-within-a-race battle for bragging rights and $80,000 cash prize. For his first pick, Hagan “called out” and defeated Alexis DeJoria as payback for defeating him in the semifinals of 2021 NHRA Finals at Pomona to end his championship bid.

Hagan moved on to the Callout semifinals, which did not count as an official qualifying run, to battle Robert Hight against whom he had the starting line advantage and turned on the win light with a 4.180-second run at 255.73 mph while his opponent (10.119/82.57) lost traction at the hit of the throttle.

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Indianapolis, IN – Steve Comella and his vintage 1968 Plymouth Barracuda dominated the Dodge HEMI® Challenge by once again powering from the No. 1 qualifier position through eliminations to repeat as winner at the fan-favorite specialty race that showcases classic Super Stock 1968 Mopar “package” cars in head-to-head battles at the 68th annual Dodge Power Brokers National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) U.S. Nationals.

Comella’s drive to the winner’s circle at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park began by edging out Wednesday’s provisional pole sitter Jim Pancake’s ‘68 Dodge Dart with his final qualifying run of 8.421-second at 158.80 mph on the quarter mile track, beating his rival’s (8.491 sec./157.89 mph) quickest lap, to earn his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier position in the 21st year of the longest-running, continuous, specialty race in NHRA history.

After round wins over Tony DePillo, Richard Locker, Jim Daniels Jr., Comella was paired with No. 8 seed Eldon Baum Jr. in the final eliminations. Baum advanced to his first appearance in a Dodge HEMI Challenge final by turning on winlights against Doug Fazzolore, Benjamin Kimberly, and Gary Wolkwitz.

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