Tony Stewart Makes Top Fuel “Rookie” Debut at NHRA Gatornationals

In a weekend filled with adrenaline-pumping action at the 55th NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, the event marked a new era as the first event with Mission Foods as the new series sponsor of the NHRA. For the Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Nitro team, the event marked a significant event with team owner/driver Tony Stewart making his Top Fuel rookie debut and current Funny Car champion Matt Hagan en route to defending his title.

Despite being a rookie in the class, Stewart secured the No. 11 provisional qualifying position on Friday, gradually improving to ultimately clinch the No. 9 qualifying spot. In the first round on Sunday, Stewart showed promise on the light with an impressive .021 reaction time; however, it wasn’t enough to beat seasoned competitor Justin Ashley. Stewart ran a 4.453 sec. @ 267.80 mph pass against Ashley’s 4.414 sec. @ 297.94 mph run.

Currently, Stewart is tied for ninth with Brittany Force and Clay Millican in the championship standings, 93 points behind Top Fuel leader Shawn Langdon.

“I’m extremely pleased with my first Top Fuel weekend even with the first-round loss today,” stated Stewart. “I cut an .021 light against the best leaver in the Top Fuel division, Justin Ashley, and beat him off the line. We were the first pair of cars down the track on Sunday morning, so you really don’t know what to expect. I felt the tires start to shake and I pedaled the throttle. I got back into the pedal as quickly as I could. But Justin just nipped me at the line. We had a lot of things against us in the first round, being the first pair and going against Justin.“

In the Funny Car category, Matt Hagan, the driver of the Direct Connection Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT, faced both triumph and challenge during the NHRA Gatornationals.

Securing the No. 4 qualifying position, Hagan faced a tough second round on Sunday. While he advanced from the first round with a time of 3.869 ET @ 329.58 mph, Hagan lost to Chad Green in the second round with a 9.794 ET @ 123.26 mph.

Hagan holds onto the sixth position in the Funny Car championship standings, 59 points behind the leader, J.R. Todd.

“That is obviously not the way we want to start the season and the Gatornationals, as the defending event winner the last two years,” Hagan explained. “But that is drag racing, and the sport will humble you. We have to keep things in perspective. No one in the trailer was expecting the car to knock the tires off at the hit like that. Sometimes these things happen, and you go back to the drawing board. We were trying to be aggressive and I think it was too much for what the track was going to handle. We were pushing, and it’s hard for me to be upset with anyone when we’re trying to run hard and be aggressive and fast. As bad as it is, you just move onto Pomona.“

The next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the NHRA Winternationals March 22-24 at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. Nitro qualifying gets underway on Friday, March 22, at 5 p.m. PDT with two more qualifying rounds scheduled for Saturday, March 23, at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. PDT with Sunday’s final eliminations set for 11 a.m. PDT.