{"id":70799,"date":"2023-06-12T07:11:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T11:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=70799"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:19:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:19:48","slug":"pruett-hagan-finish-nhra-bristol-epping-doubleheader-early-after-tough-weather-conditions-with-rain-delays-in-both-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2023\/06\/pruett-hagan-finish-nhra-bristol-epping-doubleheader-early-after-tough-weather-conditions-with-rain-delays-in-both-events.html","title":{"rendered":"Pruett, Hagan Finish NHRA Bristol\/Epping Doubleheader Early After Tough Weather Conditions with Rain Delays in Both Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nTSR Nitro squad recorded the No. 1 Top Fuel qualifying position for the first\ntime in the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series at Bristol Dragway when\nLeah Pruett topped the 16-driver starting lineup with her TSR Rush Truck\nServices\/Dodge\/\/SRT\u00ae<\/sup> dragster for Sunday\u2019s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nNHRA weekend at Bristol was unique as it served as a doubleheader event with\nthe rained-out Epping, NH, eliminations being contested as well as the Thunder\nValley Nationals. The Bristol eliminations were also delayed Sunday due to\nrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pruett,\nranked in the top-four in the NHRA Top Fuel points entering the Bristol event,\nadvanced to the second round in the Epping eliminations with the weekend\u2019s best\nrun of 3.745 at 322.42 miles per hour. Leah defeated Doug Kalitta in the\nopening before losing to Mike Salinas in round two with a 3.894 to Salinas\u2019s 3.848.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe Bristol elimination rounds, Pruett lost a close race in the first round to\nSpencer Massey with a 3.824 to Massey\u2019s 3.781. Despite the Bristol loss, Leah\nremains in the top-five in the Top Fuel standings entering the next event,\nSummit Racing Equipment Nationals, at Norwalk, OH. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis No. 1 (qualifying position) is just a\ntestament to the consistency that this team has had all season long,\u201d said\nPruett. \u201cIt\u2019s the culmination of our performance that has led up to this spot.\nThere is nothing like racing on Sunday and racing in Thunder Valley. We got the\nhighs and the lows and the emotions of racing in qualifying. You get the echo\nof the cars here in Thunder Valley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\nunfortunate we weren\u2019t able to take our Rush Truck Centers\/Dodge\/\/SRT dragster\nfurther into eliminations. Sometimes you\u2019re the window, sometimes you\u2019re the\nbug and we\u2019ve been the bug lately. Every round is pretty much a UFC match,\nwhether the people we race are full-time or part-time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt Hagan, the three-time 2023 national event winner,\nadvanced to the second round in the Epping eliminations with his TSR Operation\nHealing Forces Dodge\/\/SRT Hellcat Funny Car after an opening round win over\nTerry Haddock. Hagan lost to J.R. Todd in the second-round Saturday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, Hagan, from nearby Christiansburg, VA,\ntook the victory in Bristol eliminations round one with a victory over Mike\nMcIntire Jr., at 4.021. In the second round, Hagan lost a close battle with\nrival Robert Hight with a 3.952 to Hight\u2019s 3.913. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\nlooks like we\u2019re struggling a little bit right now, but we\u2019re actually making\nreally good progress in preparation for the summer months and once we get into\nthe countdown,\u201d said Hagan, who now sits second in NHRA Funny Car points. \u201cWe\nhave gathered a lot of great data this season and continue to do so in the\nheat. We just have to keep working at it, but we\u2019re moving in the right\ndirection. I have full confidence in Dickie (Venables \u2013 Crew Chief), Mike\n(Knudsen \u2013 Co-Crew Chief), Alex (Conaway \u2013 Car Chief) and all of my guys. They\u2019re\nworking extremely hard, and I know we will get back after it in Norwalk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nNHRA Camping World Drag Racing tour moves to Norwalk, OH, on June 23-25 in the\npopular Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk Motorsports Park. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The TSR Nitro squad recorded the No. 1 Top Fuel qualifying position for the first time in the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series at Bristol Dragway when Leah Pruett topped the 16-driver starting lineup with her TSR Rush Truck Services\/Dodge\/\/SRT\u00ae dragster for Sunday\u2019s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The NHRA weekend at Bristol was unique as it served as a doubleheader event with the rained-out Epping, NH, eliminations being contested as well as the Thunder Valley Nationals. The Bristol eliminations were also delayed Sunday due to rain. Pruett, ranked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":70802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[528,615,2992],"class_list":["post-70799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-drag-racing","tag-nhra","tag-tony-stewart-racing"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/HaganBristol_Feature.jpg","social_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/HaganBristol_Social.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70799"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70805,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70799\/revisions\/70805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}