MATT HAGAN – NHRA Photo
Top Fuel | Funny Car
Tony Stewart & Matt Hagan
Top Fuel | Funny Car
14th Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals
Sept. 26-28 | St. Louis
EVENT RECAP
Tony Stewart, driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster:
* Earned No. 16 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday
(10.092 ET at 68.76 mph)
* Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.690
ET at 335.15 mph)
* Scored one bonus points for third-quickest run of the session
* Maintained No. 3 provisional qualifying position based off of
Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 3.797 ET at 331.77
mph.
* Secured No. 3 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In
Q4 on Saturday, Stewart ran a 9.958 ET at 65.31 mph.
* Eliminated following Round 1 on Sunday:
* Round 1: 3.927 ET at 298.93 mph, lost to Ida Zetterstrom (3.801 ET
at 323.66 mph)
* Currently fourth in the Top Fuel championship standings, 153 points
behind leader Doug Kalitta
Matt Hagan, driver of the American Rebel Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
* Earned No. 6 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.951
ET at 327.98 mph)
* Earned No. 2 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.868
ET at 329.91 mph)
* Scored two bonus points for second-quickest run of the session
* Maintained No. 2 provisional qualifying position based off of
Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.150 ET at 245.36
mph.
* Secured No. 2 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In
Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 3.958 ET at 329.34 mph.
* Advanced to Finals on Sunday:
* Round 1: 3.964 ET at 328.54 mph, defeated Alex Laughlin (4.261 ET at
234.90 mph)
* Round 2: 3.988 ET at 321.19 mph, defeated Cruz Pedregon (10.770 ET
at 83.06 mph)
* Semifinals: 3.990 ET at 319.90 mph, defeated Dan Wilkerson (7.256 ET
at 106.33 mph)
* Finals: 3.979 ET at 329.34 mph, defeated Jack Beckman (4.032 ET at
314.83 mph)
* Currently second in the Funny Car championship standings, 20
points behind leader Austin Prock
NOTES OF INTEREST
* Hagan earned his 54th career win at the NHRA Midwest Nationals and
advanced to his 97th career final-round. It marked Hagan’s second win
of the season, with his previous victory coming at the NHRA Seattle
Nationals. Hagan brought home his third Wally at the NHRA Midwest
Nationals (previous wins came in 2021 and 2023).
* Hagan has advanced to the finals seven times at St. Louis. In
addition to his three wins, Hagan has four runner-up finishes in 2012,
2014, 2015, and 2020.
* The 14th Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals had a sold-out crowd on
Saturday, which marked the NHRA’s sixth sellout this season. The five
previous sell-out crowds were at Phoenix (two), Epping, Sonoma, and
Reading.
* The NHRA Midwest Nationals marked just the second first-round loss
of the 2025 season for Stewart. The previous first-round exit came at
the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.
* The NHRA is headed to Dallas next, where TSR earned its first and
only double-up victory in 2023 with Leah Pruett in Top Fuel and Matt
Hagan in Funny Car.
TONY STEWART, DRIVER OF THE AMERICAN REBEL BEER DODGE//SRT TOP FUEL DRAGSTER
“Today obviously didn’t go the way we were wanting it to. We needed
to capitalize on points with three races remaining after this in the
Countdown to the Championship. I’m proud of my .026-second reaction
time against Ida (Zetterstrom), but she got lucky on the tree with a
triple zero (.000) light. We had a hole out at the start of the run, so
we weren’t able to catch her. We’ll look ahead to Dallas in a couple
weeks and look to gain more points back there.”
MATT HAGAN, DRIVER OF THE AMERICAN REBEL BEER DODGE//SRT HELLCAT FUNNY CAR
“I was looking forward to shaving the mustache, but it looks like we
have to keep it now. We knew coming into this race that we were all
chasing Austin (Prock). He’s won eight races this year, but no one is
infallible. We had to be ready for when they messed up and they messed
up today. I joked Jack (Beckman) at the top end ‘Wow, the kid is
beatable.’ Mike Knudsen (crew chief), Phil Shuler (co-crew chief),
Alex Conaway (car chief), and all of my guys worked so hard all day. The
right lane was bumpy and they navigated those bumps really well. I felt
good about the race car, but my lights weren’t great today. My first
light was a .114 (seconds) and I can’t remember the last time I cut a
.114 light. What was cool was that I was able to go to my crew chief and
say ‘Hey, what help can you give me here?’ to try and cut better
lights. My lights came around and that gave me confidence going into the
next couple rounds. That’s the stuff that makes you a strong team. It
was awesome to have American Rebel Beer here with us. We won our first
race for them at St. Louis a couple years ago, then won the championship
after that. Andy Ross (American Rebel CEO) is a great sponsor. How great
is it that you have a sponsor you get to drink beer with? But, we also
have other great sponsors like Dodge and Johnson’s Horsepowered
Garage. I wake up some days and pinch myself that this is my job.
We’re back in this hunt for the championship.”
NEXT UP
The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is
the Texas NHRA FallNationals Oct. 10-12 at the Texas Motorplex near
Dallas. It is the fourth event in the Countdown to the Championship and
the third-to-last race of the season.
-TSR-