With only three of four qualifying sessions run because of a rain delay on Friday, Matt Hagan ran strong in qualifying for the 13th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals, placing the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car into No. 3.
He clocked his quickest lap, a 4.128-second run at 299.40 mph, in the final session, which also topped the charts for that round. Hagan was never out of the top three all weekend, first posting a 4.142/304.53 (No. 2) on Friday’s single run, and a 4.740/171.40 (No. 3) earlier today.
He will face Tony Pedregon in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations.
“This is the best race car the DieHard crew has put under me in three races,” said Hagan. “It’s up to me now to go up there and do my job on the starting line and I’m really excited. (Crew chief) Tommy DeLago is back, so is (co-crew chief) John Medlen. It’s good. It’s a great confidence builder for our team, and it’s a great confidence builder for me.
“Yes, we were going for No. 1,” added the 27-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va. “Tommy goes for No. 1 every lap, and John does too. They’re working well together. I’m just really glad that this race car is back running again the way it had been all year. We’re going to leave it where it is and see what happens tomorrow.
“It’s all about qualifying well, and we’ve done that today. Tony Pedregon is a good competitor, but we have a great, consistent race car right now, and we’ve put ourselves in position to do well.”
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