TSR Dodge Top Fuel Driver Pruett’s Consistent Performance Results in Strong Semifinals Finish at NHRA Potomac Nationals, Hagan Exits Early
Auburn Hills, MI – Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge driver Leah Pruett’s return to this year’s NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series has been spectacular as she ranks third in the Top Fuel points standings after seven races. Her sensational consistency Sunday at the NHRA Potomac Nationals continued with a close semifinals finish, while her TSR Dodge teammate Matt Hagan experienced a rare early exit.
Pruett, who nearly won the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel world championship, jumped out of her 12,000-horsepower TSR Dodge dragster to start a family with her husband, Tony Stewart, in 2024 and 2025, as Tony took over the driving chores of the nitro dragster and captured the 2025 NHRA Top Fuel regular season title.
The Arizona driver decided to return to NHRA competition after serving as a mother (with son Dominic), wife and chief consultant for the TSR two-car operation the past two seasons, and her racing return was questioned throughout the pit area. But there is little doubt about that decision now.
After qualifying third with strong runs of 3.771, 3.799 and 3.811 at the inaugural NHRA national race at Maryland International Raceway, Pruett and her TSR Rinnai Dodge team, led by Neal Strausbaugh and Mike Domagala, gave the Top Fuel field all they could handle with incredibly consistent times over Spencer Massey at 3.786 and Will Smith also at 3.786. The 12-time NHRA Top Fuel race winner had to then take on reigning world champion Doug Kalitta in the semifinals.
Kalitta, who defeated Pruett for that coveted 2023 NHRA Top Fuel crown, needed a strong pass against Pruett’s consistency and the Michigan racer was able to nip Pruett at the finish line with a 3.772 to Leah’s 3.787. Despite the semifinals defeat, Pruett sits third in the current NHRA Mission Top Fuel standings as the NHRA national series heads to Epping, N.H., this weekend (June 5-7) for the popular New England Nationals presented by bproauto®.
“Talk about top-tier performance of a race car and team,” said Pruett. “Putting down solid laps from the time the trailer door came down on Friday to when we put it up on Sunday after the semifinals. Very proud of this Rinnai Dodge team. The crew chiefs are definitely having a really good time because the car is reacting to changes with the new package. We actually ran our old package and our new package throughout this weekend. That’s how much confidence and big steps we’re taking.
“Reaction times in qualifying were off for everyone so knowing that across the board, you can feel good. There are changes that I’m making to find improvements, and I’m excited about that. I couldn’t ask for a better team or a better car. Up until this weekend, Kalitta Motorsports was really skyrocketing away from the field. This race proved that we have the racecar to run with them. The inaugural Potomac Nationals at Maryland International Raceway was a success. They did a fantastic job for the teams and for the fans. Managing high horsepower and being at sea level with what we thought would be a marginal track turned out to be better than we all expected.”
Pruett’s TSR Dodge teammate Matt Hagan and his crew had his TSR American Rebel Light Dodge//SRT Hellcat primed for a second 2026 NHRA event win Sunday after qualifying sixth in the initial NHRA national race in the “Old Line State.” But Hagan’s trek to the winner’s circle was halted early Sunday when his nitro-burning SRT Hellcat suffered a parts failure in the first round of elimination against eventual race winner Austin Prock.
Despite the first-round loss, Hagan, a four-time NHRA world champion, remains in the top five in the current NHRA Mission Funny Car standings with three more events in the next four weekends, including this week (June 5-7) at the New England Nationals presented by bproauto. Hagan is no stranger to victory lane at New England Dragway with four previous NHRA victories.
“That first round loss cost Tony (Stewart) a lot of money,” Hagan said. “At the end of the day, that’s drag racing. We were having a tough weekend, but I have some of the hardest working guys out here on this Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car so I know Mike Knudsen, Phil Shuler, Alex Conaway and everyone will go back and try to learn from what went wrong. The Potomac Nationals are just the start to three races in a row, so we’ll have a chance to come back out, put this weekend behind us and give it another go in just
a few days in New Hampshire.”
TSR team owner Tony Stewart, driving for the R+L Carriers Elite Motorsports team, qualified fourth in the Top Fuel field at the Potomac Nationals, but the NASCAR Hall of Famer had his dragster lose traction at mid-track in the first round of eliminations against friend and Top Fuel rival Shawn Reed. After the first seven races in the 20-event NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series, Stewart ranks fourth in Top Fuel points behind Shawn Langdon, Kalitta and Pruett.
The nitro action at the New England Nationals presented by bproauto begins this Friday, June 5, with qualifying rounds at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT, with Saturday’s qualifying sessions scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. EDT. Final eliminations are set for 11 a.m. EDT on Sunday, June 7. The Fox Network broadcast will be telecast Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT/12 p.m. PDT.
For more information on NHRA, visit NHRA.com.
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