Venables puts Hagan, Rocky Boots Dodge on provisional pole at Brainerd while DSR teammate Massey is No. 2 in Top Fuel

BRAINERD, MN- The comeback season continued Friday for Matt Hagan when the Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger R/T driver was the quickest in Funny Car to earn the provisional pole heading into the last day of qualifying in the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.

Hagan’s time of 4.044 seconds at 315.34 mph puts him in position to tie his career-best fourth No. 1-qualifying effort in the Rocky Boots/MTS Dodge tuned by crew chief Dickie Venables if the time holds through Saturday’s two sessions.

Hagan, who is the Funny Car points leader with four Mello Yello titles this season, continues a 180-degree turn from a year ago when he did not win a title or a pole, and did not qualify for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff.

Hagan’s DSR teammates also qualified in the top-10 with Johnny Gray fifth, Ron Capps seventh and Jack Beckman, who was the quickest of all in the first session, settling for No. 9.

In Top Fuel, DSR’s Spencer Massey with crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler nearly earned the quickest time of the day, but the dragster in the other lane edged the Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher team for the provisional pole.

Massey’s time of 3.792 seconds at 324.05 mph was topped by Clay Millican of Bob Vandergriff Racing, who tied the Brainerd elapsed-time record with a run of 3.773 (326.63). Massey’s teammate and reigning NHRA world champion Antron Brown ranks seventh and Tony Schumacher is ninth.