The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series visited the iconic “Thunder Mountain” at Bandimere Speedway for the 43rd and final time.
Matt Hagan, Driver of the Dodge Direct Connection Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
Secured No. 1 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.511 ET at 192.82 mph. Q4 also served as the Finals in the NHRA’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, where Hagan faced Bob Tasca III. Hagan defeated Tasca III, who ran a 8.220 ET at 79.91 mph.
Advanced to the Finals on Sunday:
Round 1: 4.041 ET at 312.35 mph, defeated Chris King (no time)
Round 2: 4.280 ET at 232.39 mph in a bye
Semifinals: 4.107 ET at 303.64 mph, defeated Ron Capps (3.954 ET at 324.20 mph)
Finals: 4.135 ET at 304.25 mph, defeated Alexis DeJoria (4.217 ET at 251.34 mph)
Currently leading the Funny Car championship standings, 45 points ahead of Ron Capps
Matt Hagan:
“This was a ‘Magical’ weekend for me and very emotional. It was my mom’s birthday and she passed away six months ago, so I was thinking about that throughout the weekend. But I also knew this is the last time I’d race at Bandimere Speedway and it was a Dodge-sponsored race. I have been on fire here before and we have blown up a lot of things on the ‘Mountain.’ So, getting quick qualifying time three years in a row and winning in 2021 and now today is very special. I don’t think it will sink in for a few months. Wow, I took the final win light at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals. That’s something they can never take away from me. Dickie Venables (crew chief), Mike Knudsen (co-crew chief), Alex Conaway (car chief) and the rest of the crew were phenomenal this weekend. We were down one crew member (Josh Munoz) due to a car incident back in Indy, but everyone pitched in all weekend here. Heck, even the Bossman (Tony Stewart) was helping with fuel and preparing the equipment for the final round. It was a thrash getting everything ready. Leal’s (Pruett, Hagan’s TSR teammate) crew helped us too. I still can’t believe this is the last one at Bandimere Speedway.”
Leah Pruett, Driver of the Dodge Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster
Secured No. 7 qualifying position with a 4.040 ET at 249.49 mph.
Lost to Josh Hart in round one – 3.905 ET at 302.69 mph to 3.905 ET at 321.65 mph.
Currently third in the Top Fuel championship standings, 105 points behind Top Fuel leader Justin Ashley
Leah Pruett:
“The conclusion to our final Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway was less than ideal with the first-round exit, but there is still a lot of value in it for us as a unit. You can’t curb the heartbreak. One of the most frustrating things for our team as a whole is that we were as prepared as we could possibly be for this event from parts and programs to driving preparation. Everything was there to execute on the mountain. Unfortunately, because of our challenges in qualifying with dropping a cylinder at the step in the third and fourth qualifying sessions, we became very limited on what we learned performance-momentum wise. This made first round even more challenging. We’ve been in an aggressive mindset, so we were focusing on making sure that all eight cylinders were lit and everything was working properly and that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, our competitor Josh Hart had an insane .021 light to my .036, which were both low of the round. I knew when I hit the gas that I had a good reaction time and I thought I had him. I was surprised, as well as the fans, that the win light did not to come on our side of the track. The value is there, which means our work ethic is getting even that much stronger. Leaving the mountain tune-up wise, there is not much that we can take going into Seattle, but just like before, when our hunger from a hard loss grows, or is even peaked as it is right now, we have a positive mindset. Knowing that we have a good race car, we know we have a race car capable of winning and preparing for championship contention gives us life and excitement for the upcoming Seattle race which we are currently preparing for now. I would’ve loved more than anything to win again at Bandimere, with such an emotional connection, but you have to be okay with the way the chapters end in life. For us, the TSR team and Dodge, this is a chapter in our life that’s just beginning and I couldn’t be more proud of the progress that we had made given our challenges this weekend. I’m also proud of myself for my preparation and focus given all of the events this weekend and want to thank the fans for their continued support. We hope to see them at a travel race next year.”
Tony Stewart, Team Owner
“The Dodge Power Brokers and Direct Connection Funny Car team won the race and had a great weekend. Leah cut a .036 light, which was awesome. Unfortunately, her opponent guessed and beat her off the line, so she went out the first round. For Matt to win the last race at Bandimere Speedway, it is so special. The Funny Cars were the last pair to go down the track. It’s an epic event. It’s the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals. To be able to finish it off for our partners is a great day. I appreciate everything they do for our Funny Car and Top Fuel teams. This is the first stop on the Western Swing with us going to Seattle and Sonoma after this. You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first one. Dickie (Venables – crew chief) and the whole team are very excited. Leah and her crew are excited also. They had some challenging moments, but made big gains and learned from it. I feel like we’re in a good spot. I’m really proud of our team.”
Next Up
The next event on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals July 21-23 at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington.
Tony Stewart Racing
