Racing legend Tony Stewart continues to make motorsports history with his second 2025 NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series victory Sunday at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals at the wheel of the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Rinnai Dodge/SRT Top Fuel dragster, while TSR teammate Matt Hagan drove to the semifinals in his TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car.
Last month at Las Vegas, Stewart, the NASCAR Hall of Famer, became the first driver to win pro events in four different professional racing disciplines, and the Indiana racer made his fourth consecutive Top Fuel final appearance Sunday at Route 66 Dragway by going up against veteran Justin Ashley in the NHRA Top Fuel finale.
Stewart’s crew, led by Neal Strausbaugh and Mike Domagala, gave “Smoke” the car to beat all weekend at Route 66 Dragway in Joliet, Ill., with a career-best 3.679 in qualifying and an impressive 3.777 in the final round against Ashley’s 3.818. Stewart’s second win vaulted him into the NHRA Mission Top Fuel points standings lead by three points over Shawn Langdon.
Stewart, a series champion in NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC competition, took wins over Terry Totten in round one, Shawn Reed in round two and four-time World Champion Steve Torrence in the semifinals before facing Ashley in the final.
“I said at Vegas that I was extremely impressed and pleased with the progress our team has been making,” said Stewart. “There were tricky track conditions on Friday, so I was excited about getting number one qualifier in Q1. When the track cooled off and we ran a 3.67 Saturday, we got really excited. We had talked amongst our group about how tough it is to race for a championship at the end of the season when we haven’t raced in cooler conditions like we will have in the fall. Now we have data that we can go back and look at. We had a mixture of warm and cool conditions today for eliminations. I talked with Leah (Pruett, Stewart’s wife) before the final about what I had to do to beat Justin (Ashley). We concluded I had to just keep doing what I’ve been doing and get up on the wheel.
“You know when you race Justin, you have to bring your ‘A game’ and rise to the occasion. His reaction times are the best out here, and he does that both in qualifying and eliminations. That makes today’s win for our Rinnai Dodge//SRT crew that much more special. They have a great team and program. When you can beat them, it is a feather in your cap because you’re beating one of the best teams in the business.”
Stewart’s TSR Dodge//SRT teammate, four-time NHRA Funny Car World Champion Matt Hagan, also had a strong weekend in the Funny Car division with his 11,000-horsepower TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat machine, seeking back-to-back Route 66 Nationals wins.
Hagan, who qualified third, took the Mission 2Fast 2Tasty Challenge on Saturday with a 3.880 win over Ron Capps and the Mike Knudsen-led TSR crew was producing solid clockings for Hagan in qualifying and eliminations with the nitro-burning HEMI engine.
The Virginia driver advanced out of round one with a 3.916 over young Blake Alexander and then a 3.919 over three-time World Champion Ron Capps in round two. In the semifinals, Hagan took on reigning World Champion Austin Prock and left the starting line first. However, Prock nipped Hagan at the finish line by inches with 3.931 over Matt’s 3.942.
“We had a great qualifying session, qualifying in the top half of the field this weekend,” said Hagan. “Our Dodge Direct Connection Funny Car has been running really strong. We made it down the track six out of seven runs, and the run we didn’t make it down the track was because we had a clutch line that was off. We have a racecar that is going down the racetrack, whether it’s hot or cold. We were just on the back side of a good drag race. If you talk to (Ron) Capps, I think he’d be saying the same thing I am from Round 2. We just have to keep digging and working hard. Everything is moving in the right direction. I was really rooting on Tony to win the race this weekend.”
The NHRA New England Nationals at Epping, N.H., has nitro qualifying set for Friday, May 30, at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT. Saturday’s nitro qualifying rounds start at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. EDT with final eliminations beginning at 11 a.m. EDT on Sunday, June 1.
The NHRA New England final eliminations telecast on the FOX Network will begin on Sunday, June 1, at 6 p.m. EDT.
This story was originally published on May 19, 2025. 
