Fresh from his first Funny Car victory in Houston last Sunday, Matt Hagan is still riding high, qualifying the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car in No. 3 for Sunday’s eliminations at the 11th annual NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He stayed in the top half of the field through four qualifying rounds, recording his best, a 4.217-second lap at 297.16 during the cooler Friday evening session. His other passes included a 4.510/206.35 (No. 5), and 4.332/257.97 (No. 2) and 4.268/288.58 in today’s final runs. He earned six bonus points for his efforts as the second quickest in three rounds.
“We have a really good race car,” said Hagan. “We were hoping for a little bit more in that last run; it felt pretty good. It’s going down the race track and that’s all we can hope for in these hot conditions. It’s definitely going to lead into another race like Houston, I think (which he won in a pedalfest on a hot track). It’s going to be hot out there, it’s going to be greasy.”
“First round might have the best conditions you’re going to see and then we’ll probably have to start pedaling these cars again as it gets hotter and hotter.”
“I’m going to bed knowing that we have the potential to go out there and do well. We’ve been running good, we’ve got a great car, the DieHard team’s doing great, and I can’t wait to be on RaceDay on ESPN2 in the morning (at 10 a.m. ET).”
Hagan faces Jeff Arend (his final-round opponent in Houston) in first round of Sunday’s eliminations.
| 
|