Traction issues for Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) nitro drivers Matt Hagan and Tony Stewart made for early exits Sunday in their Direct Connection Dodge//SRT nitro machines in the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle, the eleventh stop in the 20-race NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series.
Hagan, the reigning NHRA Mission Funny Car World Champion, won his opening round of competition with a strong 3.891 at 327.43 miles per hour run in the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat against Dave Richards and was seeking a quarterfinal victory against Paul Lee when his 11,000-horsepower Funny Car lost traction. Hagan held the starting line advantage with an excellent .059 reaction time, but his mount spun the tires early and Lee moved on to the second round.
Despite the short day for Hagan, the four-time Funny Car World Champion remains in the top three in the NHRA Mission points standings as the national tour heads to Sonoma Raceway on July 26-28 for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.
“We’ve been trying some different things in the heat,” said Hagan. “It’s obviously not the weekend that we wanted. Sometimes you have to try other things. If they don’t work, you go back to what you know. You always have to try and grow and adapt and evolve. I feel good moving into Sonoma because we have a good baseline there. We can go back to a combination that we’ve used there for years. We’re still where we need to be because we’re keeping it on all eight cylinders. We’ll keep digging now.”
Stewart, the former NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC driving champion, made his first racing appearance in the Northwest this weekend when he qualified with a 3.778 run in the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster in his eleventh Top Fuel race in first NHRA professional season.
The Indiana driver went up against another rookie racer, Jasmine Salinas, in the first round of eliminations Sunday. Stewart left the starting line first, but his nitro-burning dragster lost traction, leaving Salinas to advance to the quarterfinals.
Stewart, the leading rookie in the Top Fuel division, continues to hold down the ninth position in the NHRA Mission Top Fuel points standings entering this weekend’s Sonoma Nationals.
“Today obviously didn’t go according to plan,” said Stewart. “We’ve been working on our hot weather combinations and the car wasn’t happy today. We are going to re-group and look ahead to Sonoma. That’s one of my favorite tracks, so hoping we can conquer both the road course and the drag strip.”
Stewart drove to victory at Sonoma Raceway in the three NASCAR Cup Series road course events in 2001, 2005 and 2016 (his last Sonoma Raceway racing appearance and last NASCAR Cup win) and the Sonoma Nationals will be his NHRA professional debut at the Northern California track.
The NHRA Sonoma Nationals nitro action this week at Sonoma Raceway is scheduled for Friday, July 26, with two rounds of qualifying set for 5:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. PDT. The two qualifying sessions will take place on Saturday, July 27, at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. PDT. Sunday’s (July 28) final eliminations will begin at 10:30 a.m. PDT.
This story was originally published on July 22, 2024. 
