Tony Stewart Racing team steals show at NHRA at LVMS
Some may like it hot. But at the end of a sun-drenched Sunday of drag racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Matt Hagan, Antron Brown and Dallas Glenn were more than happy with pleasant and warm.
Temperatures in the mid-80s following two cooler days of qualifying produced a slick track and tricky conditions for drivers and engine tuners. They didn’t preclude Hagan (Funny Car), Brown (Top Fuel) and Glenn (Pro Stock) from speeding to victories in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in front of a near-capacity crowd.
It was the biggest day yet for the second-year Tony Stewart Racing team. Hagan charged to his third victory of the season, fifth at LVMS and 46th of his career on the same day that Stewart, his car owner and a three-time former NASCAR champion, won for the first time in the Top Alcohol class.
“I’m not going to get drunk tonight because I have to test tomorrow,” said Hagan, who defeated Tim Wilkerson, John Force and Chad Green in the final quartet and has made it to the final round in each of his three LVMS starts since joining Stewart’s team. “But I’m going to make sure Tony Stewart gets drunk tonight.”
Hagan’s car owner edged Todd Bruce by .0003 of a second to earn a victory in just his fourth outing in the sportsman dragster class.
Stewart, who started an NHRA Nitro team in 2022 after joining forces with Hagan and Stewart’s wife, Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, became the first competitor to win at the LVMS superspeedway, drag strip, dirt track and Bullring.
“I know it’s not a pro series win … but I told Leah that I’m not just happy to be in the finals today, I want this,” said Stewart, who was edged at the finish line in his drag racing driving debut last fall at LVMS. “Real racers always want to win. Nobody likes losing.”
While Hagan and Stewart basked in the sun, it was a short afternoon for last year’s LVMS four-wide winner, Ron Capps, and fellow three-time Funny Car champion Robert Hight. Both were eliminated in the same first-round quad.
Brown earned his first win of the season, sixth in Las Vegas and 72nd of his career by outlasting former champions Steve Torrence, Brittany Force and upstart Josh Hart in an exhilarating Top Fuel final.
“When you’re in a four-wide, everything’s crazy,” said Brown, a three-time class champion. “It’s kind of a battle royal, and we showed it there in that final. Every round was a tough matchup. Then we get in the final — all four cars right there with each other.”
Green, whose parents live in Las Vegas, earned his second consecutive victory of 2023 by holding off Troy Coughlin Jr. in the Pro Stock final by virtue of a holeshot off the starting line.
“I was definitely not the best today. But I was just barely good enough to get it done, and that’s all that matters in four-wide,” Green said after earning his sixth career win and second at LVMS. “You don’t have to win the first two (rounds), you just have to win the last one.”