Motorsports legend Tony Stewart came close to auto racing history at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in his Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster by placing runner-up on Sunday, with teammate Matt Hagan driving to a solid semifinals run in the TSR Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car.
Stewart, the many-time Hall of Fame driver, was seeking to become the first auto racer to win races in four different professional motorsports disciplines (with previous victories in NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC) when he advanced to the final round of the Top Fuel class against Clay Millican. Unfortunately, Stewart’s TSR Rinnai Dodge//SRT dragster smoked the tires at the 200-foot mark, and Millican drove to victory despite a fiery engine explosion at the finish line.
Sunday’s path to the final round was not an easy one for Stewart, who took down three former NHRA World Champions in succession before facing multi-race winner Millican in the final. In the first round, Stewart defeated reigning World Champion Antron Brown with an elapsed time of 3.713 seconds, followed by wins over 2023 World titleholder Doug Kalitta with a 3.702 and current point leader and former World Champion Shaun Langdon with a 3.723.
It was Stewart’s third Top Fuel final round performance since he took over the driving chores in 2024 from his wife, Leah Pruett, who removed herself from the Top Fuel car to start a family with Stewart. Their son, Dominic James, was born on Nov. 17, 2024, the same weekend as the NHRA World Finals.
“The day I get upset with losing is the day I retire from racing,” said Stewart. “But the team is upset because they want to win. These TSR crew guys have done an awesome job and have been very consistent. Especially this weekend, having three runs on Friday and four today, these guys busted their butts. There were no mistakes. We just want to take this car to victory lane very badly.
“My lights were better, and the car’s performance was better. We just didn’t get the last little bit. We took down three big guys in a row, all former Top Fuel champions (Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and Shawn Langdon). To be the best, you have to beat the best. I’m very proud of the whole team and it just wasn’t our time yet. Everyone comes here to win, and one driver leaves as the winner, and we raced that guy in the final. We just got a little too aggressive in the final. We have good data heading to Las Vegas now too.”
Stewart’s TSR Dodge//SRT teammate, Matt Hagan, looked to be on a run to the final round as well with two impressive early-round victories in his nitro-burning TSR Johnson Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car. Hagan, who qualified eighth, was looking for his fifth NHRA Winternationals victory and scored wins over Alexis DeJoria and young Blake Alexander in the first two rounds of elimination at the In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip.
Hagan was magnificent off the starting line with spectacular reaction times in the 0.040s and proved it again against Jack Beckman in the semifinals. Off the line, the Virginia racer clocked 0.041 to lead at the green light, but Hagan’s 3.915 run wasn’t enough to best Beckman’s 3.860. Beckman went on to take the NHRA Winternationals Funny Car title.
Despite the semifinals finish, Hagan moves to third in the current NHRA Mission Funny Car points standings as the NHRA tour heads to Las Vegas for the popular Four-Wide Nationals at the Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“Our TSR crew did a great job this weekend with some of the guys swapping positions,” said Hagan. “Thomas (Brown) lost his mother yesterday and he’s right back at it today. I’m sure it’s an emotional battle for him right now and we are thinking about him and his family in this tough time. We are making great progress with this TSR Dodge//SRT Hellcat team. We are steadily making good runs at each event.
“That was a big ‘boomer’ at the top end against Jack (Beckman). It looks like the engine broke a rod there. I’m glad there wasn’t a big fire, and I could see things in front of me. I had no warning about the ‘boomer, ’ and it was big enough that it stung my hands pretty good. You’ll have those things in big-time drag racing. Tony Stewart Racing gives us plenty of parts and pieces. We’ll go to the Four Wide in Las Vegas looking to win that one again.”
Ida Zetterström, the former European Top Fuel champion from Sweden, lost to Langdon in the first round in the JCM/Dodge//SRT dragster with a solid 3.806 to Langdon’s 3.668.
“We want to find some more momentum to qualify higher and also be able to have that consistency going rounds,” Zetterström said. “I think that will build my confidence, too, and that will make me a better driver, so it’s all just a combination of things. I’ve ended up racing against world champions like Kalitta or Langdon, or Justin Ashley, who’s the best leaver in the class, every race day. That makes it tough.”
The next NHRA Mission event, the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at the Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is set for April 10-12, with nitro qualifying scheduled to begin on Friday, April 10, at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. PDT. Saturday’s qualifying rounds start at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. PDT, with final eliminations getting underway at 12 p.m. PDT, Sunday, April 12.
The NHRA Winternationals finals will be televised on Fox Sports 1 on Sunday, April 12, at 6:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. PDT.
This story was originally published on March 31, 2025. 
