Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) drivers Matt Hagan and Tony Stewart opened their 2025 NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series championship campaigns Sunday at the rain-delayed NHRA Amalie Gatornationals with the new red-and-blue 11,000-horsepower nitro-burning Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Funny Car and Top Fuel machines, respectively.
Despite losing two rounds of qualifying on Saturday to rain and a four-hour delay on Sunday, both TSR Dodge//SRT drivers put in strong performances during Sunday’s final eliminations with Hagan advancing to the event’s Funny Car semifinals and Stewart setting low elapsed time in the opening round in Top Fuel.
Earlier in the weekend, the Dodge brand announced a multi-year partnership extension with TSR to continue to field a Top Fuel dragster and Funny Car for the NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series, as Stewart, Hagan and Leah Pruett held a press conference to discuss the longtime Dodge alliance.
The Hagan team went through some changes during the winter with veteran Mike Knudsen taking over as the TSR Funny Car crew chief in 2025, with Phil Shuler as co-crew chief and Alex Conaway as the car chief. Recent testing had Hagan very confident entering the Gatornationals, an event he captured in 2022 and 2023.
Despite losing two rounds of qualifying, Hagan’s mount came out strong on Sunday after the rain delay with a first-round victory over former NHRA World Champion Cruz Pedregon and No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman in the second round. In the semifinals, Hagan took a starting advantage over eventual race winner Chad Green, but Green’s 3.92 run was too much for Hagan’s 3.98 run.
“It’s been a very good weekend for our Funny Car team with the TSR Dodge partnership extension, the great coordination with the new crew positions and taking on tough track conditions at Gainesville,” said Hagan, the four-time NHRA World Funny Car Champion. “We have new crew chiefs with Mike Knudsen and Phil Shuler and some guys in new positions. We were able to go rounds with the tough weather and that made qualifying tricky.
“We had to go against some heavy hitters, and Jack (Beckman) was a big one to get around. I’m really happy with my guys making the calls. It speaks volumes to having a group of guys that are trained in different positions. Alex (Conaway) really stepped up and was doing two jobs this week. Now, we move on to Phoenix in a few weeks (March 21-23), and it was a good start to the season here. We had a great drag race with Chad (Green) today.”
Stewart, named the NHRA Pro “Rookie of the Year” in 2024, also missed two rounds of qualifying due to the rain and had to go up against two-time NHRA World Top Fuel Champion Brittany Force in the first round, but the driver known as “Smoke” was not intimidated, recording the low elapsed time of the round with a stellar 3.722 pass in very difficult track conditions.
In the quarterfinals, Stewart set a strong 3.742 run in the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT dragster, but former World Champion Shawn Langdon nipped Stewart’s machine at the finish line with close a 3.739. Langdon went on to finish runner-up in Top Fuel Sunday.
“We were all thrown a curveball today with an early start time, weather and tough track conditions,” said Stewart. “I was super proud of Neal (Strausbaugh – crew chief), Mike (Domagala – co-crew chief), Ryan (McGilvry – car chief) and the whole team. We were the only car to make it down the racetrack in round one with low E.T. We lost in a good drag race to (Shawn) Langdon.
“The team went back and did a yard sale with our entire program and came here with a new approach. It’s showing a lot of promise. We have room for improvement performance-wise, but we have a car that is consistent. We’ll go to Phoenix to keep building the program. My crew chiefs are gaining confidence. We’re in a position where we can start racing, rather than just hoping the car makes it down the racetrack.”
Sweden’s Ida Zetterström, the multi-time European drag racing champion, returned to the NHRA Mission Series this weekend at the Gatornationals, driving the JCM/Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster, but lost in first-round action to former World Champion Doug Kalitta.
“Obviously, a very tough weekend with the weather,” said Zetterström. “We only got the two qualifiers. We struggled with some parts on the second run. Then today, I did the burnout and even when backing up, you could see that there was no traction on the starting line, and we couldn’t catch Doug.”
Zetterström’s JCM teammate Alexis DeJoria drove the Bandero Café Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car to the semifinals Sunday after wins over Terry Haddock and Bob Tasca III in the first two rounds of eliminations. DeJoria’s machine lost traction in the semifinals and three-time World Champion Ron Capps advanced to the final round.
The next NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series event is the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz., on March 21-23. Nitro qualifications are scheduled for Friday, March 21, at 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. PDT, and Saturday, March 22, at 11:30 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. PDT. Final eliminations are set for Sunday, March 23, at 11 a.m. PDT. The Finals will be televised on Fox Sports 1 on Sunday, March 23, at 6:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. PDT.
This story was originally published on March 10, 2025. 
