The American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals delivered a weekend of drama and determination for Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), as Top Fuel driver Tony Stewart advanced to the semifinals for the seventh time this season, while Matt Hagan qualified strong in Funny Car competition at Virginia Motorsports Park.
For Stewart, who entered the weekend as the Top Fuel points leader, qualifying proved to be a challenge. After a tough outing in all three sessions, Stewart landed in the No. 14 position with a best run of 10.187 seconds at 67.80 mph in Q1. In Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, Stewart faced Steve Torrence in the opening round but was defeated by Torrence’s 3.888-second, 321.96 mph pass.
Despite the difficulties in qualifying, Stewart rebounded on race day. He defeated Brittany Force in the opening round with a stout 3.872-second pass at 318.99 mph, which marked the low elapsed time of the round. He received a bye run in Round 2, before facing Shawn Langdon in the semifinals. Stewart left early on the tree, red lighting with an 8.267-second pass at 84.72 mph, ending his day and advancing Langdon to the final.
“I was in a hurry during the semifinals,” said Stewart. “It (red light) is a compliment to Shawn (Langdon). He is in the top two of guys leaving in this category right now, so you can’t give him anything. We couldn’t leave anything on the table, and his team is a great team, also. I just let my team down today. It was a tough weekend overall. Qualifying was tough for us, and I had my struggles today, so we’ll just rebound. I’m proud that our American Rebel Light team made it to the semifinals again, and we still have our round one streak going, but it’s hard to take when I’m the one that took us out.”
Stewart maintains the Top Fuel points lead by 32 points over Langdon and remains the only driver in the category to advance past the first round of eliminations at every event this season. His semifinal performance also qualified him for the upcoming Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, where he will once again face Langdon.
In Funny Car, Hagan opened qualifying with a strong 4.039-second pass at 319.07 mph, placing him provisionally in the No. 5 spot. He would finish qualifying No. 6 after running a 4.096 at 317.87 mph in Q3. Hagan’s weekend came to an early end in Round 1, where his 4.088-second run at 321.12 mph wasn’t enough to overcome Hunter Green’s 4.064-second pass.
“One of the positive takeaways from this weekend is that we qualified in the top-half of the field,” said Hagan. “We were focused on that coming into the weekend. We brought a new chassis out because we’ve been trying a couple different cars out that we’ve won with in the past. The car is running good, we’ve just been on the back side of some good drag races. I know I keep saying that, but it is what it is. Sometimes, we get caught up with who we’re racing, instead of just racing the racetrack. We talked as a team about pushing as hard as the track will hold and see if we can get on the other side of this thing. I’m very proud of (Mike) Knudsen (crew chief), Phil (Shuler – co-crew chief), Alex (Conaway – car chief), and all the guys that are working on the car. They are doing a phenomenal job and the car is running good, it’s just not good enough. It would be great if I could also leave on somebody. That always helps. It’s a combination of everything. If I had cut a .060-second light today, we’d be going some rounds. The burden doesn’t just fall on one person. We win as a team and lose as a team. We need to just put our best foot forward with Dodge coming up in Norwalk.”
Hagan, a native of Christiansburg, Virginia, and the track record holder at Virginia Motorsports Park, currently sits fifth in the Funny Car standings, 195 points behind leader Austin Prock.
The event marked a special occasion for both TSR drivers, as American Rebel Beer served as the primary sponsor of the race and Stewart and Hagan’s Dodge//SRT entries. Founded in April 2024 by American Rebel CEO Andy Ross, American Rebel Beer is currently available in 12 states and continues to expand across the country.
This story was originally published on June 23, 2025. 
