“We’re trying to get to where we need to be, where we should be coming off a championship run last year,” said Hagan. “You kind of expect to come out here and set the world on fire. We just haven’t been able to do that but Dickie Venables, you give that guy enough shots at the racetrack and he’s a bad man.”
“I just want to do my job up there,” Hagan said. “I really pride myself on leaving the starting line really well. I think most of our competitors understand that well but it’s just going to have to take these tough packages. You’re going to have to leave well, and you’re going to have to race well, and right now we’re doing that with this Mopar car.”
RPM Round By Round:
Matt Hagen faced Dale Creasy Jr in round 1 and holds a 2-1 advantage in previous matchups. While Creasy Jr had his fastest pass of the weekend, it wasn't enough to upset Matt Hagan who ran a 3.911 ET at 328.30 MPH.
In the second round, Paul Lee was the competition but he has never beet Hagan in the 9 times that they have faced each other. This time was no different although Lee had a heck of a run. Hagan's 3.928 ET at 323.27 MPH was enough to make it to the line first although only by about 4 feet.
Bob Tasca lined up against Hagan in the semifinals. With an 18-13 record over Tasca, Hagan looked confident and felt good about making it to the finals again. Hagan never trailed in the win with a 3.932 ET at 328.30 MPH.
In the final, an extremely confident Cruz Pedregon was ready to win his second Wally of the season. Hagan who was also looking for his second of the season was standing in his way. With a 20-10 record over Pedregon, Hagan took the starting line advantage and didn't look back running a 3.923 ET at 378.98 MPH.
This was the 38th win for Hagan and the performance boosted him to 4th in the standings.
Off to Indy!
See the recap by Kevin McKenna, NHRA National Dragster Senior Editor: