Fri, 13 Nov 2026, 07:34 AM Dodge's Matt Hagan Seeks 5th NHRA Funny Car Title this Weekend

Courtesy of Tom Blattler At the Season Finale, In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals

Redlands' Leah Pruett Makes Her Final Top Fuel Start in the Tony Stewart Racing Dodge Dragster After Successful Top Fuel Return

• Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Funny Car driver Matt Hagan goes for his 5th NHRA world championship this weekend in the TSR Dodge//SRT Hellcat at the In-N-Out NHRA Finals
• Hagan, a winner of 59 career NHRA races, recorded the historic 1000th NHRA Funny Car victory in April in the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., and leads the FC points
• Hagan posts a 39-point lead over rookie Jordan Vandergriff heading in the 20th race of the 2026 NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series with four national event wins this year with TSR
• After the Winternnationals triumph, Hagan captured races at Bristol, Brainerd and Rockingham to vault to the points lead in a quest for a 5th Funny Car crown in a Dodge
• Hagan is currently tied for second in all-time Funny Car titles with legends Don "Snake" Prudhome and Kenny Bernstein with four, trailing only John Force with 16 championships
• The Christiansburg, Virginia driver finished second in the 2025 NHRA Funny Car point standings, but the In-N-Out Finals were rained out in his attempt for a fifth title
• Leah Pruett, Hagan's TSR teammate, made her NHRA Top Fuel return after a two-year layoff in March in the TSR Dodge dragster and comes back to the LA County Fairgrounds where she started her racing career at age 8
• Pruett, a 13-time NHRA Top Fuel national event winner, grew up in Redlands and graduated from CSU San Bernardino before embarking on a professional drag racing career
• Pruett entrusted her 12,000 horsepower TSR Dodge Top Fuel dragster to her husband and team owner, Tony Stewart, for two seasons as she stepped away to welcome their son, Dominic
• Pruett came back to NHRA action with a new outlook as a racer, wife and mother but her competitive spirit remained strong this year, but she steps out of the Top Fueler again in 2027 in an effort to expand their family
• Pruett also has the opportunity to compete against her husband for the first time in 2026, as Stewart, a racing Hall of Famer, continues his career in the Elite Top Fuel dragster
• Pruett, who won the New England Nationals this year, heads to Pomona this weekend in the TSR Dodge dragster and now ranks fourth in the current NHRA Top Fuel points
• Stewart, the former NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC champion, won his third NHRA Top Fuel national event in April at the NHRA Winternationals and sits fifth in Top Fuel points

Matt Hagan

POMONA, Calif. - Veteran Funny Car driver Matt Hagan comes to the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds this weekend (Nov. 13-15) seeking to repeat his win in the historic NHRA 1000th Funny Car race in April at the NHRA Winternationals drag races when he pilots the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge//SRT Hellcat machine at annual In-N-Out NHRA World Finals.

Hagan, the four-time NHRA Funny Car world champion, goes for his fifth world title as the Virginia driver leads the current NHRA Mission Funny Car standings by 39 points with this weekend's eliminations crowning the new world champion. Hagan, a seven-time victor at the Pomona track, secured his fourth title in 2023 in the In-N-Out NHRA Finals.

In April, the four-time NHRA Funny Car world champion scored his 56th career Funny Car victory at the Pomona track on the same day that his team owner Stewart took top honors in the Top Fuel class.

Hagan pulled off the historic 1000th NHRA Funny Car victory when he defeated longtime rival and close friend Ron Capps in the final round at the In-N-Out Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif. Led by crew chiefs Mike Knudsen and Phil Shuler, Hagan's nitro-burning TSR Dodge//SRT Hellcat recorded impressive round wins with times of 3.88, 3.89, 3.90 and 3.87.

The Pomona win for the Christiansburg, Va., driver as well his wins in Bristol, Brainerd and Rockingham in 19 races in the 20-event NHRA Mission Drag racing series plus his 59 NHRA career Funny Car victories, all in Dodge cars.

Hagan, the Dodge fan-favorite, has set his sights on a fifth title this year with a new TSR Dodge//SRT Hellcat chassis and new parts for Mike Knudsen and Phil Shuler-led squad. Knudson was a first-time crew chief in 2025, and Hagan was very pleased with Mike's program throughout the season that included three victories (Seattle, St. Louis and Las Vegas) and a runner-up finish in the final NHRA Funny Car points standings.

Coming to Pomona this weekend has Hagan seeking another "Wally" trophy with an excitement to put his all-new nitro-burning Hellcat back in the winner's circle again and secure his fifth world crown after being tied for second with legends Don Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein with four.

"I'm excited to come back to Pomona for the finale," said Hagan. "Obviously, we want to win the 2026 Funny Car world championship, and we put our Dodge in the winner's circle in April with the prestigious 1000th Funny Car race. I'm tied with the 'Snake' and 'King Kenny' at four world championships, and I really want to be second to John Force with Funny Car titles.

"We have been running very well with our Dodge//SRT Hellcat in the six-race 'Countdown (to the Championship). We had a strong car at Las Vegas two weeks ago and just missed on advancing to the semifinals. Now, we know what is on the line at Pomona -- the coveted fifth title. I know our TSR Dodge crew is up for the challenge. It's time to perform and take the championship."

Hagan has become synonymous with the Dodge brand and the drag strip, representing the brand in a Dodge Funny Car for a nearly two-decade run. The Virginia racer is completing his 19th NHRA campaign piloting a Dodge//SRT Funny Car, the longest current driver/manufacturer Funny Car combination in the NHRA national tour.

Leah Pruett

After a two year hiatus, Dodge NHRA Top Fuel standout Leah Pruett has climbed back into her 12,000-horsepower TSR Dodge//SRT dragster, and Pruett seeks a second 2026 victory in the nitro-burning Top Fuel division.

Pruett, a 13-time NHRA Top Fuel national event winner from Redlands, Calif., shocked the motorsports world in 2023 when she walked away from the TSR Top Fuel car that nearly took her to the 2023 World Championship at Pomona to start a family with husband Stewart. Stewart, a NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC series champion and motorsports Hall of Famer, continued the TSR team's Top Fuel success by winning two NHRA events (Las Vegas and Joliet) as well as the 2025 NHRA Top Fuel regular-season title.

But Stewart always said he was the substitute driver in the TSR Dodge dragster until his wife was ready to return to action. After giving birth to son, Dominic, in November of 2024, and serving as a mother and team consultant in 2025, Pruett tested during the 2025 season, and she made the decision to come back as a driver.

"I wasn't sure if I was ready to jump back into a Top Fuel dragster," said Pruett, who defeated Shawn Langdon in the final for the New England Nationals in June. "Being involved with the TSR team the last two years kept me active in the sport, and watching from outside the cockpit was a different perspective. I proved that I can drive the Top Fueler again this year and I'm stepping out the car again for 2027 as Tony and I hope to expand our family next year.

"Working with team in a different capacity the past two years had me deeply involved in the team's activities, and I will continue that process with eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher taking over the driving chores of the TSR Dodge Top Fueler in 2027."

Tony Stewart

Stewart, who placed fifth in the 2026 NHRA Top Fuel points, was happy to have his wife back in the TSR Dodge dragster in 2026 after her two-year-old layoff but his Top Fuel career isn't over. The man known as "Smoke," who drives R+L Carriers/Elite Motorsports Top Fuel car in 2026. Chances are good that the husband and wife will compete against each other when action starts at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on Nov. 13-15.

"I was excited to see Leah get back in our TSR Dodge//SRT Top Fueler," said Stewart, who won his lone 2026 NHRA Top Fuel race in April at Pomona. "She's done such an amazing job of becoming a mother, going through a whole year of pregnancy and our first year with Dominic. I knew deep down inside she wanted to drive that race car really bad, so I'm just excited to see her get that opportunity again. She has been a critical part of this team's success and projects that we're working on. And I know she wanted to drive that car more than anything.

"We talked about her driving in the future, but we also talked about us expanding our family next year. So, she decided to step out of the TSR Dodge dragster for the next few years, and I'm very pleased to have Tony (Schumacher) driving our car. He is the winningest Top Fuel driver ever, and we know he can win races for our team as well as championships."

The In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals is the last round of the 20-race NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series and the sixth race in the six-event "Countdown to the Championship." Nitro qualifying rounds begin on Friday, Nov. 13, at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. PDT. Saturday's (Nov. 14) qualifying action is set for 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. PDT with Sunday's (Nov. 15) final eliminations scheduled for 11 a.m. PST. The final eliminations will be televised on Sunday on Fox Sports 1 at 5 p.m. EST / 2 p.m. PST.