Matt Hagan and the American Rebel Light Beer Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car team took over the points lead with their third win of the season Sunday at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.
In the final round and their first career match-up, Hagan defeated Funny Car rookie Jordan Vandergriff when he powered his American Rebel Light Funny Car to a 3.946-second pass at 320.13. It was a close race with Vandergriff crossing the finish line in 4.038 at 266.27. It was the first time the two had faced each other.
“This is very humbling because you never know what you’re going to get in Funny Car,” said Hagan. “You think you’re going to go out and pound on your chest, and it kicks you in the ass. I’m just very grateful that we have a great group of guys at TSR. We could have dialed a 3.94 or better every round and that is awfully consistent by Mike Knudsen, Phil Shuler, Alex Conaway and the whole crew. Hat’s off to them. At the end of the day, we definitely could have ‘bracket raced’ this car.
“Tony Stewart gave Mike the opportunity to head up our operation last year, and he learned from Dickie Venables over the years, giving him the chance to really grow into the crew chief role,” Hagan added. “People don’t understand the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff with all of the day-to-day of preparing the cars, driving the big trucks, setting up the tents and pits, wrenching on the parts and everything involved with a team. And we are still going to test tomorrow (Monday). The unsung heroes are the guys wrenching on the car. You think about a track like Bristol at 140-degree track temp or Phoenix where it was blazing hot, and those guys are like working over a wood stove. And they work in black because of clutch dust and dirt. It just doesn’t happen without them.”
En route to the finals, the four-time world champion earned his 600th round win when he defeated Jim Campbell in the first round (3.897 seconds at 326.00 mph def. 9.727 at 112.27). In the quarterfinals, Hagan and the American Rebel crew advanced past Chad Green with a strong 3.944-second pass at 320.05 mph, defeating Green’s 4.191-second run at 275.00 mph.
Hagan then matched up with two-time and reigning world champion Austin Prock in the semifinals where his American Rebel machine laid down a 3.942-second pass at 319.37 mph to send Prock and his 4.764 at 237.84 home.
Hagan leads the NHRA Funny Car point standings by 12 heading into the 2026 NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series season finale, the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals taking place Sept. 4-7 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
This story was originally published on August 24, 2026. 
