Top Fuel | Funny Car
64th NHRA Winternationals
March 22-24 | Pomona, California
Courtesy Tony Stewart Racing (Photos Courtesy TSR)
Event Recap
Tony Stewart, driver of the Mobil 1 Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster:
- Earned No. 9 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.839 ET at148.95 mph)
- Secured No. 13 qualifying position in Q2 on Saturday (the run was ruled invalid due to a timing system malfunction)
- Q3 on Saturday was canceled due to a shortened day with weather
- Ran a 8.841 ET at 76.15 mph in Round 1 of eliminations on Sunday, lost to Steve Torrence (3.695 ET at 336.65 mph)
- Point standings to be updated following the final round of eliminations in Phoenix
Matt Hagan, driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
- Earned No. 5 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.454 ET at 195.59 mph)
- Secured No. 1 qualifying position in Q2 on Saturday (3.893 ET at 330.15 mph)
- Q3 on Saturday was canceled due to a shortened day with weather
- Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
- Round 1: 3.909 ET at 329.67 mph, defeated Buddy Hull (4.700 ET at 178.90 mph)
- Round 2: 3.899 ET at 332.34 mph, defeated Jeff Diehl (11.605 ET at 68.83 mph)
- Semi-Finals: 3.939 ET at 325.37 mph, defeated J.R. Todd (6.147 ET at 121.72 mph)
- Finals: Unable to run due to weather. The Finals will be contested at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.
- Point standings to be updated following the final round of eliminations in Phoenix
Notes of Interest
- Hagan’s No. 1 qualifier marked the 51st of his career and his fourth at the Winternationals. His previous. No. 1 starts came in 2017 (3.822 ET at 335.57 mph), 2018 (3.822 ET at 336.32 mph) and 2020 (3.841 ET at 333.25 mph).
- By advancing to the Semifinals, Hagan has secured his position in the NHRA’s #2Fast2Tasty Mission NHRA Challenge, where he will face off against J.R. Todd at Phoenix. The semifinalists from Pomona will rematch during qualifying on Saturday, with bonus money and points on the line.
- The Winternationals served as Mobil 1’s first race as primary sponsor in 2024 with Stewart. They debuted a special black and gold scheme to commemorate Mobil 1’s 50th anniversary. Stewart will run the same scheme at the Texas NHRA FallNationals October 11-13 at Texas Motorplex outside Dallas.
- Hagan needs just one win to become the 17th pro driver with 50 tour victories. John Force, Robert Hight and Ron Capps currently are the only Funny Car drivers to have reached that plateau. Hagan has won at least three tour events for 11 consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
Tony Stewart, Driver of the Mobil 1 Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
“This was one of those weekends where anything that could go wrong, went wrong. We had some track issues on Friday. It was really hard to get down the racetrack. A lot of cars struggled and we were one of them. We had to abort the run, but still got a time in. Without a full field, we were in the race no matter what. Yesterday’s qualifying session was really the elephant in the room for us. We had a solid pass. It probably wasn’t a top-three pass, but it would have gotten us into the upper-half of the field. There was some kind of a glitch in the timing and scoring system, so NHRA had to unfortunately throw our run out. Because of that, we had to revert back to our qualifying run from Friday. The way that lined us up in the bracket, that put us up against Steve Torrence on race day. Steve is a strong competitor and that CAPCO team is one that has proven performance. They are multi-time world champions and you know if you have to line up against those guys, you have to be on your game. I feel really good from the driving side. Steve had a .061 reaction time and I cut a .068, so we were right in the ballpark there. Unfortunately, we smoked the tires about 100 feet out. I think we’re experiencing growing pains right now. As easy as it is to look at our team and all they accomplished last year and say ‘They should be right back where they left off,’ unfortunately it’s a different car. I’m 50 to 55 pounds heavier than my wife (Leah Pruett) and there are a couple other variables that are different with this chassis. It’s a tough challenge for Neal (Strausbaugh – crew chief) and Mike (Domagala – co-crew chief) right now to figure out what the car needs with me driving it. As far as the driving side goes, I’m getting more and more comfortable and gaining more confidence. I talked to Steve Torrence a lot before our first round. I feel like I’m respected in this class now and have been accepted by my other drivers and peers, so that’s important to me as a driver. From the performance side, it’s constantly a moving target. It’s part of what happens in motorsports. Neal and Mike are really smart guys, so I know they’ll figure it out. I love working with them and this whole team. It was awesome to be able to fly the black and gold colors for Mobil 1 and their 50th anniversary. I wish I could have taken them further through the day on Sunday.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
“We didn’t leave here a loser today, so that’s a good thing. It’s always challenging to take your car to a race track that you don’t have very many runs at, in order to finish a race. But that’s what we’re going to do. The weather made things difficult to finish in Pomona, so I understand the NHRA’s decision. We will go to Phoenix and hopefully get a few runs under our belt and put forth our best effort to win the race there and do well in qualifying. We’ll get to participate in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, so we get to do three races in one weekend. It’ll be a lot going on for the team, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Next Up
The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the NHRA Arizona Nationals April 5-7 at Firebird Motorsports Park.
