Leah Pruett and Tony Stewart at the New England Nationals – NHRA Photo
LEAH PRUETT
Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster
Finals: Not completed due to weather; will be contested in Bristol,
Tennessee on Friday, June 12th
“It’s going to be a week of anticipation trying to wrap up the final
round for Epping. but we kicked off this race weekend in great fashion.
We missed the No. 1 qualifier by just a little bit. It’s more
important than ever this year with the low car count to get that number
one spot with a bye in the first round.
Anything can happen on Sunday, first round we needed to make sure that
we got down the track. Moving on to E2, I was clearly, really hoping to
run Tony today [in the second round] based on the ladder. It was a super
bummer to see him go out of eliminations in front of me. When that
happens for me, it makes me want it more. We have to carry the flag,
carry the torch.
Running Maddi in second round, we went up there to run a mid-3.70, and
it surprised us all smoking the tires, and I pedaled it and knew very
quickly that I didn’t let it settle enough as it started to fishtail so
I got out of it. I don’t see her. I said, literally in my mind,
‘Breathe, let it settle.’ So, I felt like I spent an entire day in
the middle of the track, letting the car settle down. And then I got a
little bit of traction. I couldn’t hear her so I knew that she wasn’t
right there with me so that was a great win.
It did cause a lot of confusion for us though, because we had a fuel
nozzle break on that run. We weren’t sure if we had smoked the tires
because we were over-tuned and missed the tune-up, or did we smoke the
tires because we had fuel on the tire causing a situation. We had to
make the call going into the semis. So, we rolled the dice, and
collectively, it was decided we would run the semis with what we had in
second round. It did slow down a little bit to a 3.77.
For me, my journey that I’m on, consistently being the best,
lightest-staged driver that I can every single round, is my goal. That’s
what’s gotten us to the point we’re at. We did not have lane choice all
day except for first round and we don’t have lane choice going into the
final at Bristol. The motto of our team is ‘One Team, All Team,’ and
consistency is key. That’s how we got to the final today.
Watching the weather, tuning towards this final round, for the crew
chiefs was a little bit exhausting. The fronts coming in and out. So, we
get to refresh our brains. We all joke; we should run this final off the
trailer, Q1 at Bristol. So obviously we’re pumped.”
MATT HAGAN
Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
Qualifying: No. 7
3.954 seconds at 328.46 mph
Q1: 6.135 at 114.39
Q2: 3.954 at 328.46
Q3: 4.061 at 262.64
Q4: 3.977 at 324.90
Race Results:
E1: 9.501 at 44.74 def. Del Worsham, -.171 red
E2: 4.020 at 323.04 lost to Jack Beckman 3.943 at 324.75
“I’ve never seen so much pollen in one place. It was unreal on the
racetrack. You could see the layer of it. Kind of made you scratch your
head a bit and think, is it going to be slick or sandy or something
else. We went up there first round and just had a little bit more Hemi
horsepower than we expected. Luckily, we got a gift from Del Worsham
when he went red. He’s a great driver, a champion and I have a lot of
respect to him. It was definitely wild to see him red light and then hit
cones as well. He wasn’t alone that first round, I think eight or nine
cones got hit.
Second round, we went up there and we just got beat. It was a good drag
race, and we were just on the backside of it. Those John Force Racing
cars are really running well over there, but like [crew chief] Phil
Shuler has said, ‘We have to sweep our own porch and focus on what we
have, and not what everybody else is doing.’ I think we are just fine.
So, we move on to Bristol and try to get it done close to home.”