Defending Three-Time Event Champ Matt Hagan Earns Epping Pole
DSR NHRA New England Nationals Qualifying Highlights
EPPING, NH – Three-time defending event champion Matt Hagan earned his 41st No. 1 qualifier and first of the 2021 season on Saturday at 
the NHRA New England Nationals. Hagan, the 2020 NHRA Camping World Series champion, is vying for his first win of the year in pursuit of his title defense. The driver of the DSR Performance Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car has come close, finishing as the event runner-up in Vegas and a semifinalist at Atlanta, but has yet to seal the deal and hoist a Wally trophy this year.
Hagan has been tremendously successful at New England Dragway, having finished his day in the winner’s circle the last three times the NHRA tour has visited the Epping, N.H. facility. He’s hoping for more of that same New England luck on Sunday as he attempts to capture his first triumph of the season and extend his Epping streak to four-in-a-row.
Hagan secured the No. 1 spot when he powered the DSR Performance Dodge to a blistering 3.891-second pass at 331.53-mph on Friday night. While the majority of the Funny Car field improved upon their Q1 runs during Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, no one was able to successfully outrun Hagan and knock him from his spot at the top of the ladder.
“Epping has always been very kind to us,” said Hagan, a 36-time Funny Car winner. “Dickie Venables has a great setup for this track and these conditions. The car is responding well to what he’s asking it to do. We’ve got DSR Performance and the DSR.parts website on the car and when you combine those pieces with Dickie’s knowledge, it’s a tough combination. The car just handles so well. Kudos to our DSR fab shop. It goes straight down the race track. I’m excited. We have a Bye and that’s maybe the first time I’ve had a first-round Bye. I’ll try hard not to screw that up. Like anything, you go out and work hard and when you do, it pays dividends and we hope to go rounds tomorrow. We’re excited and let’s get it done.”
Starting from the pole position, Hagan will take on the winner of the Blake Alexander/Tim Wilkerson match-up in round two after his E1 Bye.
Qualified: No. 1 (lane choice)
The Competition: Bye
Bonus Points: Three
The Results:
Q1: 3.891 E.T. at 331.53 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q2: 4.251 E.T. at 220.73 MPH
Q3: 3.994 E.T. at 324.12 MPH
Driver Information:
Top Fuel:
ANTRON BROWN
Driver of the Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 6 (lane choice)
The Competition: No. 7 Brittany Force
Bonus Points: One
The Results:
Q1: 6.610 E.T. at 88.28 MPH
Q2: 3.794 E.T. at 321.58 MPH (One bonus point for third-quickest run of the session)
Q3: 3.792 E.T. at 323.89 MPH
Quotable:
“We got two good qualifying runs in today for this Matco Tools team here at Epping. We know we can push a little harder with our TRD technology, but the thing is we know it’s going to be hotter tomorrow, so we need to be consistent. We want to stay quick, but we’re in the top half of the field and we have to take it one round at a time and I like our chances here in New England.”
LEAH PRUETT
Driver of the DSM Precision Manufacturing Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 10
The Competition: No. 3 Justin Ashley
The Results:
Q1: 16.497 E.T. at 37.37 MPH
Q2: 11.089 E.T. at 67.95 MPH
Q3: 3.927 E.T. at 278.92 MPH
Quotable:
“There are a couple of things ‘silver’ about this weekend, and this race marks my 25th year in NHRA and I’m very proud of that. The second silver portion is that we do have a silver lining in our qualifying. Silver lining outside of clouds. Clouds have to do with the weather, and the weather has to do with why we did not get down the race track Q1 or Q2. We had inadequate data that didn’t give us a fair shot at getting down the track. We rely on parts and pieces which have done great from DSM. Unfortunately, our weather data was in a different solar system when it came to tune-up. Another silver lining is that we figured it out and we were able to nip that in the bud for Q3 and figure out the issues. We were able to recalibrate and go down the race track for Q3. Starting behind the eight ball, but we’ve had good qualifying and not great Sundays, so we’re totally fine with our challenges and we’re ready for a golden Sunday.”
Funny Car:
RON CAPPS
Driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
Qualified: No. 2 (lane choice)
The Competition: No. 13 Terry Haddock
Bonus Points: Four
The Results:
Q1: 7.303 E.T. at 93.34 MPH
Q2: 3.969 E.T. at 321.65 MPH (One bonus point for third-quickest run of the session)
Q3: 3.927 E.T. at 324.59 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Quotable:
“It’s been a tricky weekend. Friday night was very tricky for these crew chiefs and to come out Saturday after not making it down the track and bounce back with two great runs, you obviously feel a lot more comfortable going into race day. To go 3.92, the quickest of the session, and gain those small qualifying bonus points and confidence on the setup for this track is huge. It’s a demanding race track and it’s going to take a lot of teamwork to get through the day. I’m having a blast with these NAPA AutoCare guys with Guido (Dean Antonelli) and (John) Medlen. I try to do my job and I’m hopeful we can leave with the big Wally.”
