Pruett and Hagan exit NHRA Four-Wide Nationals With Promising Results

Las Vegas – NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Event Recap

Leah Pruett, driver of the Code 3 Associates Top Fuel Dragster:

• Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.772 ET at 328.06 mph).
• Scored one bonus point for third-quickest run of the session.
• Earned No. 1 qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.741 ET at 326.79 mph).
• Scored three bonus points for quickest run of the session.
• Earned No. 2 qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.752 ET at 326.32 mph).
• Scored two bonus points for second-quickest run of the session.
• Secured No. 3 qualifying position based off Q2 run on Friday. In Q4 on Saturday, Pruett ran a 3.766 ET at 321.27 mph.

Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:

• Round 1: 3.740 ET at 327.27 mph, defeated Doug Kalitta (4.100 ET at 227.80 mph) and Rob Passey (13.101 ET at 63.28 mph). Shawn Langdon also advanced to Round 2 (3.853 ET at 316.01 mph).
• Round 2: 3.745 ET at 325.69 mph, lost to Brittany Force (3.725 ET at 329.58 mph) and Steve Torrence (3.744 ET at 328.46 mph). Shawn Langdon (3.884 ET, 294.31 mph) was also defeated by Force and Torrence.

Currently 14th in the championship standings, 167 points behind Top Fuel leader Steve Torrence.

Matt Hagan, driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car:

• Earned No. 9 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.045 ET at 322.34 mph).
• Earned No. 3 qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.920 ET at 332.92 mph).
• Scored one bonus point for the third-quickest run of the session.
• Smoked tires during Q3 on Saturday (6.905 ET at 96.45 mph), yet maintained No. 3 qualifying position based off Friday’s Q2 run (3.920 ET at 332.92 mph).
• Secured No. 4 qualifying position based off Q2 run on Friday. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 3.969 ET at 326.56 mph.
• Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 3.929 ET at 323.35 mph, defeated Chad Green (3.937 ET at 312.35 mph) and Jeff Diehl (4.136 ET at 291.07 mph). Bob Tasca III also advanced to Round 2 (3.929 ET at 326.32 mph).
• Round 2: 3.919 ET at 320.43 mph, defeated J.R. Todd (3.936 ET at 326.08 mph) and Bob Tasca III (3.949 ET at 323.12 mph). Ron Capps also advanced to the Finals (3.902 ET at 329.91 mph).
• Final: 3.924 ET at 324.44 mph, finished runner-up to Ron Capps (3.914 ET at 331.20). Robert Hight ran third (3.943 ET at 328.94 mph) and Alexis DeJoria finished fourth (3.954 ET at 321.35 mph).
• Currently leads the Funny Car championship standings with a nine-point advantage over Robert Hight.

Notes of Interest

• By running a 3.741 ET at 326.79 mph during Friday’s Q1 session, Pruett drove her Code 3 Associates Top Fuel Dragster to the provisional No. 1 qualifier spot for the first time in 2022.
• Pruett had her quickest reaction time of the season during Round 1 of eliminations on Sunday (.042).
• Hagan has advanced to the finals in three out of the first four NHRA events in 2022.
• The NHRA Four-Wide Nationals marked Hagan’s 26th overall start at Las Vegas and his fourth in the Four-Wide Nationals. He advanced to the Finals for the fifth time at The Strip.
• Hagan’s runner-up finish put him atop the Funny Car point standings in just his fourth start with Tony Stewart Racing. Hagan is a three-time Funny Car champion (2011, 2014 and 2020) and finished second in last year’s title chase.

Leah Pruett, Driver of the Code 3 Associates Top Fuel Dragster

“What a monumental weekend for the Code 3 Associates Dodge//SRT Mopar-powered Top Fuel dragster. The points at the end of the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals may not represent that, but anybody that was here, or watched the FS1 broadcast or looked at the times and saw that we made six full, clean, healthy, passes that were fast and qualified us No. 3, knows that we are coming. We just needed a little bit of momentum and we’ve found it. We’re extremely happy with the way our car is running. The attitude of these team members is great. We knew in the off-season that we had the potential. We were the only ones that really knew and believed in our performance. This past weekend, our competition now knows that we’re coming and that’s exciting.

“I’ve really worked hard on finding my love and passion again for drag racing, being eager to be at the line to cut down the Christmas tree, and actually race and enjoy racing. It’s been a long time since I really enjoyed that. I attribute it to the positive-minded people that I have around me, including Nan Stuart from Code 3 Associates, Kevin Rudeen (Race Rudeen Foundation), and Tony Stewart leading this group and charging hard. We’re coming. Our competition knows that. I’m more excited at this moment than I have been all season because our potential is showing itself. We’ve got one foot out that opening door right now and we’re going to take that other step and people will know that we’re coming.

“There was tough competition today. Four-wides are always interesting and require maximum focus on all parts. NHRA did a fantastic job of keeping all four lanes equal and prepped and primed for us to lay it down. We were within just a couple, one to two hundredths of the top competitors in our field, and for the pace of our progress, which has been very fast, it’s inspiring. It’s encouraging. It’s what makes me more excited than I’ve ever been to get back in the car and race at Houston coming up.”

Matt Hagan, Driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car

“What a crazy race. Anytime we go four-wide it’s always crazy, but we had a really solid weekend, finished second, and took over the points lead. The Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car is running really good. It was a little tough as we’re up here on a hill a little bit with the altitude and trying to make power, but Dickie Venables (crew chief) is the man and we had a great racecar this weekend and had three good rounds on Sunday after qualifying number four. I’m really proud of my guys.

“We’re going to test tomorrow here and try to make some more power up here on the hill because we’ll be back here in Vegas for the Dodge//SRT Nationals in October around Halloween time. I can’t wait to get back here. Congratulations to Ron Capps who’s doing really good over there with his first win of the season as an owner and driver. We’ve got a lot more racing to go.”Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is the NHRA SpringNationals April 22-24 at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.