Hagan, Aaron's Dream Machine team plan to turn the corner while cruising down The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

October 24

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Oct. 24, 2012) - Matt Hagan and the Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar Funny Car team hope to take a giant step forward this weekend during the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

With two weeks off since the last NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, crew chief Tommy DeLago and the team have been hard at work at the Don Schumacher Racing headquarters outside of Indianapolis.

DeLago made the decision to take a new chassis to the final two races of the season. With the new pipe from the DSR fabrication shop, the team has been preparing for what they hope to be the turnaround in their 2012 season.

"We're going to bring a brand new chassis out that I've never sat in before and shake it down this weekend," Hagan said. "That's just Tommy DeLago's thoughts as far as moving forward and looking into the future.

"We're just trying to come out here and take these last couple of races and bring a new variable versus coming into the beginning of next year and trying to work out a testing situation and not getting enough runs in a new car and not knowing how the car is going to react in different conditions."

If all goes well, the team will leave Vegas a step ahead on the 2013 season.

"I think it's smart on Tommy's part and hopefully we'll have two cars that go down the race track at the end of this weekend. I feel like Tommy is confident in what he's doing and I'm confident in our team and hopefully we can get this win."

There's nothing more the cattle rancher from Virginia would like to bring back to his farm than a NHRA Wally before the season ends in two weeks at Pomona, Calif. with the Auto Club Finals.

"It's always great to get back to Vegas," he said. "But most importantly, we need to pull a win out this year before we finish up the season. I'd love to finish strong and I know our team is capable of doing that. We've been to four finals now and we just come up short a little bit.

"It's just around the corner for us. We need nothing more for the morale of our team and moving forward to next year to finish strong these final two events."

MATT HAGAN, Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T
Career at Las Vegas: Wins 0, Runner-ups 2 (2009-Apr., 2010-Oct.), Poles 1 (2009-Oct.)
2012 April at Las Vegas: Qualified No. 10, lost to Bob Tasca in second round
2011 October at Las Vegas: Qualified No. 5, lost to Cruz Pedregon in second round

2012 Pts Races Titles Rup Poles DNQ Win/Loss
11th 21 0 4 0 1 23-20
Career Races Titles Rup Poles DNQ Win/Loss
94 5 10 10 4 109- 85

NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship standings
FUNNY CAR Points Points Behind
1. JACK BECKMAN 2,437 --
2. RON CAPPS 2,414 -23
3. Mike Neff 2,383 -54
4. JOHNNY GRAY 2,246 -191
5. Cruz Pedregon 2,244 -193
6. John Force 2,217 -220
7. Courtney Force 2,216 -221
8. Robert Hight 2,211 -226
9. Tim Wilkerson 2,207 -230
10. Jeff Arend 2,180 -257
11. MATT HAGAN 1,129

SCHEDULE:
Friday: 1, 4 p.m., qualifying
Saturday: 12, 3 p.m., qualifying
Sunday: 11 a.m., eliminations

WEATHER:
Friday: High 72, 0 percent chance of rain
Saturday: High 77, 0 percent chance of rain
Sunday: High 79, 0 percent chance of rain

ESPN2 SCHEDULE:
Sunday: 4-5 p.m. ET, qualifying
Sunday: 8-11 p.m. ET, eliminations

About Aaron's, Inc.
Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation's leader in the sale and lease ownership of residential furniture, computers, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories. Aaron's Inc., which celebrates its 57th anniversary this year, has 2,000 company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur and current Chairman R. Charles Loudermilk Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron's has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aarons.com.

About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of seven professional NHRA teams: in Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the FRAM/Prestone dragster of Spencer Massey and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown; and in Funny Car, 2011 NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan in the Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, Valvoline NextGen Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Service Central Dodge of Johnny Gray. DSR has won 195 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.

Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.

- DSR -