(Graphic: TSR)
The NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip is the third event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ 20-race calendar in 2025.
Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) brings its two full-time entries – one in Top Fuel for Tony Stewart and one in Funny Car for 52-time Funny Car winner and four-time champion Matt Hagan.
Coming into Pomona, Stewart is sixth in the Top Fuel standings, 112 points behind leader Shawn Langdon. Hagan is seventh in the Funny Car standings, 27 points behind leader Paul Lee.
Tony Stewart, Driver of the Rinnai Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
You’ll be representing Rinnai for their first primary race this season. You’ll also be making a distributor appearance with their clients. Talk about how valuable their partnership is.
“Rinnai has been a great partner of ours both in my NASCAR days and now in the NHRA. The NHRA program works for Rinnai because they’re able to do a lot of BTB (business-to-business) at the racetrack in a neutral setting. We’re able to have meetings with customers in the hospitality tent and then show them a great time at the racetrack and show them what 11,000 plus horsepower looks like so it’s a great partnership. We’re very proud to represent them and for us to have the opportunity to go to one of the distribution facilities and sign autographs for them before the event is something we always enjoy doing. They always do a great job with it and it makes for a very fun weekend for us.”
The NHRA Winternationals marks the second of three races on the Spring Western Swing. How special are the Phoenix, Pomona and Las Vegas events with Lake Havasu City, Arizona being your second home with wife Leah Pruett?
“I always enjoy the Spring West Coast Swing and the Fall one as well to finish the season. In the Spring, we have the opportunity to race in Phoenix, Pomona and Vegas. Phoenix and Vegas are within three hours of our home in Lake Havasu City, so we kind of consider those two races home races so to speak. A lot of our friends from Lake Havasu get to come to Phoenix and Vegas and watch us and support us. It’s something that’s been awesome about moving out to Arizona. The community in Lake Havasu City really got behind Leah and I and TSR. We have friends like Shawn Reed who we compete against in Top Fuel that also has a house in Lake Havasu, so it’s a big motorsports and car-centric town. To be close enough to two of the races in the Spring for our community to be able to come to the track is pretty cool for us, so we enjoy it.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge//SRT Hellcat Funny Car
You’ve won more races (7) and more rounds (56) at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip than any other venue in the series. How special is it returning to a track that has shown you so much success?
“We’ve had a lot of success in Pomona. It’s one of the racetracks that has shown us a lot of love and I’m very excited to get back there. We want to qualify better there, but the weather conditions will be a little cooler, so it won’t be pulling the car back as much. I think we can turn the knobs open and run a little harder and stronger. If we can qualify well, hopefully we can set ourselves up for a little better-looking ladder. But, it’s drag racing and you never know what you’re going to get. There are so many qualified drivers, especially when we saw Chad Green and Paul Lee as the first two winners of the season. Funny Car is so competitive and anything can happen. We’re excited to get there.”
You earned the No. 1 qualifier at last year’s NHRA Winternationals (fourth total at the event). How valuable are those bonus points as the season progresses?
“Bonus points will always add up. Even though points reset for the Countdown, the #2Fast2Tasty points also really add up and it usually comes down to a couple points at the end of the championship. Any championship I’ve won has always come down to the last day, so it’s a nail biter. We need every point we can get. You can’t look at it as being too early in the season to worry about it because they all matter.”
Tony Stewart Racing | Photos: Tony Stewart Racing
