(Photo: Tony Stewart Racing)
Tony Stewart, Driver of the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel Dragster
“It’s disappointing to go out in the second round. We smoked the tires twice today, but we had eight or nine runs between Gainesville and here where the car didn’t smoke the tires and made it down the track.
Looking at the big picture, I’m excited and grateful that we have a car that’s going down the racetrack now. Today was just one of those days where it’s unique conditions. We won’t have these conditions at Pomona next weekend. We have to looks at the positives and the gains our Dodge Direct Connection team has made since Bradenton. We’re grateful to have a car under us that we feel is somewhat competitive now.
We are somewhat behind on performance, but it’s going down the track. Before you can worry about picking up performance, you at least have to be consistent. I’m optimistic and grateful we’ve made huge strides in a short amount of time to get where we are at right now. We have a lot to look forward to.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
“It was a tough weekend to go out second round when we’re used to going some more rounds than that. We qualified tenth, so we want to work on our qualifying position as a group.
The loss fell on the driver today. We got beat on a little baby holeshot and it is what it is. I’m sure (Austin) Prock had a hole out and we did too. We got to the stripe before he did as far as the ET (elapsed time) says. He had a .070 light to my .078 light, so I didn’t get it done and it falls on me. I have to dig deeper. The kid is really good over there (John Force Racing), but we’re just as good and just as competitive.
Jason Johnson and the whole group from JHG (Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage) is here this weekend, so I hate to let them down. They’ll be on the car again in Pomona, so we get to go have some fun with them and try to get them the win.
I’m really proud of Mike Knudsen (crew chief), Phil Shuler (co-crew chief), Alex Conaway and all the guys making the calls necessary to be a good racer on Sunday. Everything is coming together and we have a great car.”
Next Up
The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals March 27-30 at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
Tony Stewart Racing | Photos: Tony Stewart Racing
