Matt Hagan, driver of the Dodge Direct Connection Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car, is ready to conquer the second stop on the Western Swing with his winning momentum from Denver. Hagan is currently leading the Funny Car standings, 45 points ahead of Ron Capps.
Hagan claimed his second Wally at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals, and he also scored the No. 1 qualifying position, the 50th of his career, for the fourth time at Thunder Mountain. Furthermore, Hagan won his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.
“After winning in Denver, the momentum coming into Seattle is huge,” said Hagan. “We’re down a crew guy and my guys stepped up and really made it happen. Even though we had a lot of adversity in Denver with Josh (Munoz) out, everyone did what they needed to do to turn four win lights on. Denver is one of the most challenging places there are to race at, so it just shows what our group is capable of.”
In 2013, Hagain picked up the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals. He raced to a 4.171-pass at 294.75 mph, leaving his opponent, Bob Tasca III, behind with a 5.324 ET at 164.81 mph.
“It’s crazy to think there are only five races remaining before we hit the Countdown,” he continued. “This is probably the best I’ve felt about our car and everything else moving forward. Our short-term goals are to win these next two races to sweep the swing because it’s something I’ve never done before.
“Long-term, we need to be ready for the Countdown. You have to win at least two or three of those races to be in the hunt for the Championship. We’re capable of doing that. I’m excited and pumped up. We’re on a high right now. We did everything we needed to do in Denver. I earned my 50th career number one qualifier. We won the race on my mom’s birthday weekend. It was a great weekend for Dodge, so we couldn’t have asked for more. We’ll carry that to the next couple races coming up and see what we can do.”
