{"id":60844,"date":"2022-04-04T08:06:57","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T12:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=60844"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:20:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:20:39","slug":"runner-up-finish-for-dodge-power-brokers-funny-car-at-nhra-four-wide-nationals-at-las-vegas-puts-hagan-in-championship-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2022\/04\/runner-up-finish-for-dodge-power-brokers-funny-car-at-nhra-four-wide-nationals-at-las-vegas-puts-hagan-in-championship-lead.html","title":{"rendered":"Runner-up Finish for Dodge Power Brokers Funny Car at NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Las Vegas Puts Hagan in Championship Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just four\nraces into the 2022 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World\nDrag Racing Series\u2019 season,\nMatt Hagan has put the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) team into the Funny Car\nchampionship points lead by driving his Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat to a\nrunner-up finish at the Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas\nMotor Speedway. After earning the team\u2019s first nitro win and his first career\nGatornationals victory last month, Hagan followed-up that performance this\nweekend by advancing to TSR\u2019s third consecutive final round appearance in its\nfirst season of competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NHRA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This weekend\u2019s uniquely formatted competition, the first of\ntwo four-wide events this season, saw racers battle one another in four lanes\ninstead of the usual two, and as such, they also had four qualifying sessions to\nmake a pass in each lane. Hagan put his Dodge Power Brokers Direct Connection\nFunny Car in the No. 4 qualifying position for eliminations with the second\nquickest lap of the second session by posting a 3.920-second elapsed time run\nat 332.92 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NHRA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In eliminations, Hagan turned on the win light in the first\nof three rounds to beat No. 5 Bob Tasca III, No. 12 Chad Green, and No. 13 Jeff\nDiehl and advanced to the next round, along with Tasca, to face No. 1 qualifier\nRon Capps and No. 9 seed J.R. Todd. In the second stanza, Hagan finished second\nto fellow Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver and defending Funny Car champ Capps,\nwith both moving on to the final quad to join No. 6\nRobert Hight and No. 10 Alexis DeJoria and battle for the Four-Wide\nNationals Wally trophy at Las Vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NHRA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The final round saw Hagan come off the start line with the\nCapps and Hight and in a close race from start to finish. The Dodge Power\nBroker Funny Car charged to the runner-up finish just behind the HEMI\u00ae<\/sup>-powered\nmachine of Capps, who earned his first national event win as an owner and\ndriver. Hagan takes over the points lead by nine points over Hight, with Capps\nand Cruz Pedregon also among the top contenders in the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TSR Top Fuel\npilot Leah Pruett swapped her dragster\u2019s usual Dodge Power Brokers paint scheme\nfor a Code 3 Associates wrap for Las Vegas to bring attention to the non-profit\norganization that goes into disaster areas to rescue animals and help reunite\nthem with their owners. She kicked off the weekend with two solid pulls on\nFriday to earn the provisional No. 1 qualifier position with a best run of\n3.741 seconds at 326.79 mph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Leah<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

She consistently\nposted qualifying lap times that kept her and her Dodge\/\/SRT performance\nmachine among the top-five in each of the four sessions, collected a total of\nfive bonus points for her efforts, and earned the No. 3 spot on the\neliminations ladder for Sunday\u2019s four-wide battles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NHRA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pruett powered\nher dragster straight down the lane to turn on her first win light of the\nseason with quick 0.042-second reaction time and solid 3.740-second elapsed\ntime run at 327.27 mph ahead of No. 11 Shawn Langdon (0.069\/3.853\/316.01), No.\n10 Doug Kalitta (0.065\/4.100\/227.80) and No. 14 Rob Passey\n(0.098\/13.101\/63.28). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NHRA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pruett and\nLangdon both advanced to the second quad to face No. 2 qualifier Brittany Force\nand No. 7 Steve Torrence. Pruett launched and battled hard against her\ncompetition to cross the finish with a 3.745 sec.\/325.69 mph run, just a hair\nbehind Torrence\u2019s 3.744 sec.\/328.46 mph lap and Force\u2019s round winning effort of\n3.725 sec.\/329.58 mph, and ahead of Langdon\u2019s 3.884 sec.\/294.32 mph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NHRA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Funny Car driver and team owner Cruz Pedregon took his Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for a 3.926-second elapsed time run at 321.9 mph to record the quickest run of the third qualifying session, earn three bonus points, and put himself in the No. 7 position on the eliminations ladder for Sunday\u2019s main event. Pedregon staged his HEMI-powered ride alongside No. 2 qualifier John Force, No. 10 Alexis DeJoria, and No. 15 Jim Campbell for the opening stanza and powered off the start to battle Force to the halfway mark until a loss of traction dropped him out of contention for advancement to the next round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NHRA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Dodge\/\/SRT Mopar\u00ae<\/sub>-powered contingent will be back on track on April 2-24 at Houston Raceway Park in Texas for the 35th<\/sup> edition of the NHRA SpringNationals, the fifth of 22 NHRA national events this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n