Hagan Advances to Semifinals with TSR Dodge//SRT Hellcat at NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Stewart Loses in First Round for First Time

Auburn Hills, MI – Dodge racer Matt Hagan continued to produce impressive results in his Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals before losing a close race in the semifinals Sunday, while TSR Dodge//SRT teammate Tony Stewart took his first 2025 first-round loss in Top Fuel.

Hagan, winner of last week’s NHRA Northwest Nationals for his 53rd career NHRA Funny Car victory, came to the popular Sonoma Raceway looking for his first NHRA win at the Northern California racing facility and immediately made his presence felt by qualifying in the No. 1 position with a strong 3.861. Hagan had entered the Sonoma Nationals third in the NHRA Mission Funny Car points standings as he seeks a fifth World title this year.

The Virginia driver started off Sunday in final eliminations with a solid 3.884 in defeating veteran Jeff Diehl in round one, followed by a “holeshot” win over Bob Tasca III in the second round with a 3.937 to Tasca’s 3.936. The quarterfinal triumph then matched up Hagan in the semifinals against reigning World Champion Austin Prock, who nipped Matt in the Summit Nationals final last month.

In another sensational race, Prock, the eventual race winner, edged Hagan with a 3.927 to Matt’s 3.937. Despite the semifinal loss, Hagan advanced to second in the current NHRA Mission Funny Car points with the tour moving to the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn, on Aug. 15-17.

“We had a great weekend overall,” said Hagan. “We obviously would have liked to have been able to pull the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car in the winner’s circle. We were on another back side of a good drag race by a hundredth out there. Those races are tough, but they have to fall our way eventually. I don’t know what we have to do to win a round against those guys (Austin Prock), but it’ll come. It’ll fall in our favor very soon.

“I’ll probably get to shave the mustache now, so I’m kind of excited about that. We’ll flip a coin and see whether I’ll keep it or not. I loved all the media getting behind it and JHG got behind it too. We’ll look ahead to Brainerd and plan on doing some testing there too. We’re getting closer to Indianapolis and the Countdown and then chasing another championship.”

Hagan’s TSR team owner and running mate, NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, entered the Sonoma Nationals with 11 consecutive first-round victories this year in his TSR Mobil 1 Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster as he was the only driver to accomplish that feat in 2025.

After qualifying fifth in the Top Fuel field at Sonoma, Stewart was seeking to regain the NHRA Mission Top Fuel points lead, but his dragster lost traction immediately against veteran Josh Hart, snapping his first-round winning streak. Despite the loss, the former NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC champion remains second in the current NHRA Top Fuel standings, just 48 points behind leader Shawn Langdon after 12 events in the 20-race national tour.

“We definitely didn’t want to lose first round, but to go this far into the season and have a streak of first-round wins like we had is something to be proud of for our organization,” said Stewart. “I’m really proud of our guys and Neal (Strausbaugh – crew chief) and Mike (Domagala – co-crew chief). It’s always tough when you’re the first pair of the day out on the racetrack. You don’t get a read off of the cars in front of you. We just stubbed our toe in the first round.

“It’s a hiccup, but I feel like our team still had a lot of gains internally. Even though the results didn’t show this weekend, there’s still a lot of confidence for the crew chiefs moving forward. I feel like we’ve addressed some big issues that have been plaguing us in the last couple events. We’ll go to one of my favorite tracks in Brainerd and then head to the U.S. Nationals. I’m excited about the next couple races.”

Former FIA Top Fuel champion Ida Zetterström of Sweden continued to make progress with her JCM/Dodge//SRT dragster with solid qualifying passes and a good run in eliminations. Unfortunately, Zetterström faced defending Sonoma Nationals champion Antron Brown in the opening round of action Sunday. Despite running a 3.739 with a mechanical issue, Ida lost a close race to Brown’s 3.718 in round one.

“We want to turn on win lights on Sunday, so when we lose first round, it’s hard to say we’re happy with that run,” said Zetterström. “You saw a lot of teams struggling to get down in qualifying, so the fact that we were able to put together two good runs was good. It’s a testament to our team and makes us feel like we’re moving in the right direction. In the first round today, we had a parts malfunction that caused us to slow. We ran what would have been a good tight race, but that issue slowed us down. But if the part had held up, there’s a good chance we could’ve beat the (race) champion.”

Hagan, Stewart and Zetterström return to nitro competition in three weeks with the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals as qualifying gets underway on Friday, August 15, at 4:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. CDT, followed by Saturday’s qualifying rounds at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. CDT. The final eliminations will begin on Sunday, August 17, at 10:30 a.m. CDT.

The NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals telecast is scheduled for Sunday, August 17, at 3 p.m. EDT on the Fox Network.