News

Hagan qualifies 11th in Topeka

May 21

Matt Hagan, driving the DieHard Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, qualified 11th for Sunday’s 23rd annual NHRA Summer Nationals here at Heartland Park Topeka.

Hagan’s best run came in the first qualifying session Friday – a 4.102-second elapsed time at 306.95 miles per hour.

“I know we’re better than 11th, we just had some things happen to us which are not typical,” said Hagan. “I know that Tommy (DeLago, crew chief) will work his magic with our DieHard Dodge Charger.”

Hagan’s first-round opponent will be No. 6 qualifier Tim Wilkerson, who qualified with a 4.081 at 305.15.

“We know that Tim (Wilkerson) will be tough and we need to be ready for him,” added Hagan. “We didn’t qualify where we thought we would, but hopefully we can change things around tomorrow.”

The top-five Funny Car qualifiers in order were: Jack Beckman (4.054), Johnny Gray (4.058), Robert Hight (4.067), Mike Neff (4.070) and Cruz Pedregon (4.072).

ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of eliminations coverage Sunday beginning at 7 p.m. ET.