Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan
Top Fuel | Funny Car
NHRA Arizona Nationals
March 21-23 | Chandler, Arizona
Event Recap
Tony Stewart, driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster:
● Earned No. 5 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.857 ET at 315.86 mph)
● Fell to No. 7 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.755 ET at 319.98 mph)
● Maintained No. 7 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 3.779 ET at 325.22 mph. Stewart faced Antron Brown in Round 1 of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Stewart defeated Brown’s 4.288 ET at 199.46 mph.
● Secured No. 7 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 3.884 ET at 323.19 mph. Stewart faced Shawn Langdon in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Final, where he was defeated by Langdon’s 3.805 ET at 315.19 mph.
● Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
● Round 1: 4.940 ET at 189.84 mph, defeated Shawn Reed (7.961 ET at 64.16 mph)
● Round 2: 5.328 ET at 135.00 mph, lost to Brittany Force (3.793 ET at 328.38 mph)
● Currently sixth in the championship standings, 112 points behind Top Fuel leader Shawn Langdon
Matt Hagan, driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
● Earned No. 7 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.042 ET at 318.32 mph)
● Fell to No.10 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Saturday (3.952 ET at 323.66 mph)
● Maintained No.10 provisional qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 3.994 ET at 319.37 mph. Hagan faced Chad Green in Round 1 of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Hagan defeated Green’s 3.982 ET at 323.97 mph on a holeshot.
● Secured No. 10 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 6.249 ET at 108.69 mph. Hagan faced Ron Capps in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Final, where his run was defeated by Capps’ 3.989 ET, 318.24 mph run.
● Advanced to Round 2 on Sunday:
● Round 1: 3.987 ET at 324.44 mph, defeated Bobby Bode (4.768 ET at 190.62 mph)
● Round 2: 4.005 ET at 316.38 mph, lost to Austin Prock (4.010 ET at 311.92 mph)
● Currently seventh in the championship standings, 27 points behind Funny Car leader Paul Lee
Notes of Interest
● Hagan and Stewart participated in the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the 2025 season, where teams can earn bonus money and points towards the Countdown to the Championship.
● Hagan’s name remains in the history books at Firebird Motorsports Park as the track record holder for time at 3.823-seconds, a mark he established in 2022.
● Hagan represented Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage (JHG) for their first race as primary sponsor this season. JHG was formed in 2021 and brings a passion and flare to the automotive world. They aim to inspire, drive and celebrate progress. JHG spans across Jason Johnson’s car collection featuring more than 200 sought after vehicles from classics, to hot rods and supercars. Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage’s mission is to preserve and showcase the automotive industry. The vehicles are driven to and displayed at events by Johnson and his team with the goal of growing interest and keeping car culture thriving. Johnson’s history in the industry began with Mather Auto Dismantler, Mather Mini Trucks and U-Pull It in Northern California. He later held an instrumental role in the growth and success of Copart, Inc., a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services. JHG also serves as a primary sponsor of Elite Motorsports in the NHRA Pro Stock series.
● Phoenix marks the first of three races on the Spring Western Swing of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule. Teams head to Pomona, California next weekend, followed by Las Vegas April 11-13.
Tony Stewart, Driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster
“It’s disappointing to go out in the second round. We smoked the tires twice today, but we had eight or nine runs between Gainesville and here where the car didn’t smoke the tires and made it down the track. Looking at the big picture, I’m excited and grateful that we have a car that’s going down the racetrack now. Today was just one of those days where it’s unique conditions. We won’t have these conditions at Pomona next weekend. We have to looks at the positives and the gains our Dodge Direct Connection team has made since Bradenton. We’re grateful to have a car under us that we feel is somewhat competitive now. We are somewhat behind on performance, but it’s going down the track. Before you can worry about picking up performance, you at least have to be consistent. I’m optimistic and grateful we’ve made huge strides in a short amount of time to get where we are at right now. We have a lot to look forward to.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
“It was a tough weekend to go out second round when we’re used to going some more rounds than that. We qualified tenth, so we want to work on our qualifying position as a group. The loss fell on the driver today. We got beat on a little baby holeshot and it is what it is. I’m sure (Austin) Prock had a hole out and we did too. We got to the stripe before he did as far as the ET (elapsed time) says. He had a .070 light to my .078 light, so I didn’t get it done and it falls on me. I have to dig deeper. The kid is really good over there (John Force Racing), but we’re just as good and just as competitive. Jason Johnson and the whole group from JHG (Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage) is here this weekend, so I hate to let them down. They’ll be on the car again in Pomona, so we get to go have some fun with them and try to get them the win. I’m really proud of Mike Knudsen (crew chief), Phil Shuler (co-crew chief), Alex Conaway and all the guys making the calls necessary to be a good racer on Sunday. Everything is coming together and we have a great car.”
Next Up
The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals March 27-30 at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
-TSR-
