[coverattach=1]ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 12, 2010) - Matt Hagan qualified the DieHard Dodge
Charger Funny Car in No. 6 for the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old
Bridge Township Raceway Park, and earned a three-point edge over Ashley
Force Hood (No. 10 qualifier) in the class point standings. The two were
tied in third place following Hagan's Chicago win last Sunday and his
setting the national elapsed-time record.
He recorded his quickest pass of 4.119 seconds during the opening session,
which was good for No. 1 at the time. His succeeding laps resulted in a
6.416/99.09 (No. 4), a 4.761/166.68 (No. 6) and a 4.266/285.05
"We started the weekend off great," said Hagan, who's won twice so far this
year. "We came right out of the box and ran an .11. I think it was a good
baseline for Sunday. We struggled after that a little bit, but we still have
a lot of confidence rolling into this race. We will have Tony Pedegon first
round again (same as in Chicago) and we're just hoping that the stars line
back up the way they did the last time we ran Tony the first round.
"I'm confident in the DieHard guys and confident in (crew chiefs) Tommy
(DeLago) and John Medlen that they'll get this thing figured out and tuned
up for tomorrow."
As for the hotter temperatures today, "We kept pulling it back out there
because of the heat," he said. "Tommy just wanted to see where we were at
with the tune-up. You can be too aggressive sometimes and then sometimes you can be not aggressive enough. We just have to find the compromise, and I know we will.
"As far as my reaction times go, I'm going to go back tonight and try to
practice on the lights a little bit and see if we can get a little bit ahead
of the competition.²
Charger Funny Car in No. 6 for the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old
Bridge Township Raceway Park, and earned a three-point edge over Ashley
Force Hood (No. 10 qualifier) in the class point standings. The two were
tied in third place following Hagan's Chicago win last Sunday and his
setting the national elapsed-time record.
He recorded his quickest pass of 4.119 seconds during the opening session,
which was good for No. 1 at the time. His succeeding laps resulted in a
6.416/99.09 (No. 4), a 4.761/166.68 (No. 6) and a 4.266/285.05
"We started the weekend off great," said Hagan, who's won twice so far this
year. "We came right out of the box and ran an .11. I think it was a good
baseline for Sunday. We struggled after that a little bit, but we still have
a lot of confidence rolling into this race. We will have Tony Pedegon first
round again (same as in Chicago) and we're just hoping that the stars line
back up the way they did the last time we ran Tony the first round.
"I'm confident in the DieHard guys and confident in (crew chiefs) Tommy
(DeLago) and John Medlen that they'll get this thing figured out and tuned
up for tomorrow."
As for the hotter temperatures today, "We kept pulling it back out there
because of the heat," he said. "Tommy just wanted to see where we were at
with the tune-up. You can be too aggressive sometimes and then sometimes you can be not aggressive enough. We just have to find the compromise, and I know we will.
"As far as my reaction times go, I'm going to go back tonight and try to
practice on the lights a little bit and see if we can get a little bit ahead
of the competition.²
