Highlights:
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* Hagan drives Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye to the only sub-four second run in Funny Car qualifying and earns five bonus points and a first-round bye
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* DSR Top Fuel driver
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Hagan's final qualifying run at 3.975 seconds and 321.35 mph to earn the top spot on the eliminations ladder was an improvement on an already strong 4.006 sec./ 315.64 mph initial run that had him second on the timing sheets. With this his third career No.1 qualifier position at the Gatornationals (2010-11), his third of the season and the 39th of his career, Hagan benefits from a first-round bye and five extra bonus points for his efforts. He is also looking to hoist a third Wally trophy this season and his first at the Gatornationals.
While the
While they battle through rounds and jostle for position atop the championship standings, the Mopar Dodge//SRT Funny Car foursome are also looking to extend their team's current streak of nine-consecutive event wins.
Three-time Gatornationals winner
Qualifying didn't quite go as planned for Beckman who won at the historic
DSR Top Fuel driver
In NHRA Factory Stock Showdown (FSS) qualifying, the Mopar Drag Pak duo of
Pawuk fared a slightly better moving up a spot to a tenth place on the eliminations ladder with his second pass at 8.105 sec./ 171.99 mph. Pawuk came to
Television coverage of the NHRA elimination rounds, including LIVE finals at Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, will air on
ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES:
(No. 9 Qualifier - 4.123 seconds at 254.18 mph)
Qualifying 1: 4.123 sec./ 254.18 mph
Qualifying 2: 4.340 sec./ 211.53 mph
'I think that the Infinite Hero team is living proof that you do not have to qualify in the top half to win the race on Sunday. We've kind of been living out of the bottom half this year and a lot of that has to do with just getting two qualifying runs. I thought we had backed it up enough on the second run and we're still too aggressive. I had mentioned that we had changed two discs in our clutch package two races ago and this is the hottest track we've been on and it's still throwing us a bit of a curveball. We'll have an early start tomorrow. It'll be different conditions that will give us one more run. We'll pick away at it and hopefully we make three more after that.'
Qualifying 2: 3.975 sec./ 321.35 mph (3 bonus points for quickest run of session)
'Our race car is running great. This Dodge Hellcat Redeye Funny Car is running strong. It runs like a Hellcat, but drives like a (
Qualifying 1: 4.129 sec./ 249.44 mph
Qualifying 2: 4.969 sec. /152.35 mph
'That is not our normal qualifying position, our average took a hit here this weekend. Come race day I think we can overcome that. It's just a tricky track for everybody. It's hotter than what we've seen most of the year and a surface we haven't raced on in over a year. With two shots at qualifying, it's been hard to hit it quickly. Hopefully we have enough data for tomorrow and we can make the right changes and maybe the weather will be cooler, but we have to wait and see. It should be an interesting race and may fall in the driver's hands and it may be a pedal fest, but we'll be ready. They're all big rounds now. We control our own destiny and have to fend them all off.'
(No. 4 Qualifier -seconds at mph)
Qualifying 1: 4.025 sec./ 309.27 mph
Qualifying 2: 7.827 sec./ 8.589 mph
'Man, what a difficult day. Hot weather, humidity all the things that make you dig down deep. The NAPA guys did great Q1 and put us No. 4. I actually shut the car off around 900 feet, so it was possible that we could have gotten a few more spots in that session. We had a couple of issues on Q2 and Tobler and the guys are looking at it right now. There was something with the air system and it didn't function properly and caused us to smoke the tires. We went up there to go low ET knowing there weren't 16 cars here. That bye run is pretty important. Fortunately, we're in the show. It's going to be a tough day tomorrow and we need to make some ground up and get back in the top four.'
Qualifying 1: 4.347 sec./ 187.63 mph
Qualifying 2: 3.922 sec./315.64 mph
'It was very tricky to maneuver from the tuning calls to expecting the thing to maybe wash out a little bit, and we had to reposition the car for things we didn't have to do at the Indy races given how hot it was here today. We smoked the tires Q1, but really far out there. I was thinking it was going to make it. And oddly enough for us to go second to last pair in Q2 put us in a good spot to be able to see where the track was at during that time, which could be similar to the final round tomorrow. I'm feeling good about eliminations for Sunday. We're carrying momentum from the
Qualifying 1: 8.583 sec./ 168.51 mph
Qualifying 2: 8.105 sec./ 171.99 mph
'It looks like the
(No. 12 Qualifier - 8.160 seconds at 169.25 mph)
Qualifying 1: 8.297 sec. / 168.01 mph
Qualifying 2: 8.160 sec / 169.25 mph
'Things are a little different this weekend with one run on Friday, one on Saturday and all four rounds of racing on Sunday. We go into race day from the No. 12 position and had two good runs down the track. The strategy is to get down the track and creep up on it instead of overpowering the track and then trying to back it down. I'm very confident that we can keep finding more power with this Mopar horsepower we create and we're going to need that tomorrow morning for the first round. We look forward to a long day of racing and carrying the Mopar banner for the Dodge fans. We're excited to be back in
NHRA Championship Points Standings:
Following qualifying at Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.Jack Beckman (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) - 549 (2)
2.Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) - 525 (2)
3.Tommy Johnson Jr . (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) - 492 (1)
4.J.R. Todd - 420
5.Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) - 411 (1)
6. Bob Tasca III - 394
7.Tim Wilkerson - 388
8.Alexis DeJoria - 276
9.Cruz Pedregon - 266
10.Paul Lee - 258
TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)
1.Doug Kalitta - 526 (1)
2.Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge //SRT) - 475
3.Steve Torrance - 468 (2)
4.Justin Ashley - 402 (1)
5.Billy Torrance - 373 (1)
6.Shawn Langdon - 363 (1)
7.Antron Brown - 353
8.Terry McMillen - 337
9.Clay Millican - 317
10.Doug Foley - 196
DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for
Fans can follow all the NHRA's action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads, and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com.
@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.
Dodge is the official sponsor of the
Mopar
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) is the service, parts and customer-care brand for
Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era, with Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, and expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, the Mopar brand's global reach distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in more than 150 markets. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 25 customer-contact centers globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.
Complete information on the Mopar brand is available at www.mopar.com. Mopar is part of the portfolio of brands offered by global automaker
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and
2021 marks the year that Dodge is distilled into a pure performance brand, offering Hellcat-powered, 700+ horsepower SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2021 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the new 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful SUV ever. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry's most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.
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