Hagan, Brown, Glenn Race To Wins At NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

Tony Stewart Racing recorded an historic double-up on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as Hall of Fame racer Tony Stewart and Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan both claimed victories in front of a capacity crowd at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the fourth of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

Stewart, who made his NHRA debut last season in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, won in just his fourth career start, going 5.324-seconds at 269.62 mph in the Four-Wide Nationals final round in his Mobil 1 dragster. The legendary racer was the runner-up in his NHRA debut at the fall race in Las Vegas last year, picking up a memorable first win on Sunday, now giving Stewart wins in NHRA, NASCAR and IndyCar, as well as victories on every track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“When we raced here last fall, I was just ecstatic to make the finals, but today I told Leah (Pruett, wife and Top Fuel racer), ‘I’m not happy to just be in the finals today. I said I want this,’” Stewart said. “I thoroughly enjoyed four-wide racing. I’ll be honest, to me, it feels like it kind of brings that short track feel, like the first few rounds it felt like heat races. It’s hard not to like it when you win, but I think it’s a cool deal.”

Hagan strengthened his points leads with his third win in the first four races in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, going 3.943 at 326.79 in the final round in his 11,000-horsepower Haas Automation Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT. It gives Hagan his 46th career win in what’s been a dominant start to his 2023 season, plus a memorable moment to share in the winner’s circle with Stewart.

“I went up there, and I was like, ‘Tony’s won, no pressure,’ you know? And then he comes and crawls under the body and says, ‘I just won, you better win. Let’s go.’ But it’s great to share this winner’s circle with Tony Stewart, it’s a huge highlight of my career,” Hagan said.

Hagan finished first in all three rounds, building a 105-point already in the loaded Funny Car ranks. The four-wide events have generally been a struggle for the multi-time champ, but he solved it in impressive fashion on Sunday.

“I’ve done everything in the four-wide from not staging the car on time to red lighting to not knowing which lane I’m in, so…