Pruett Takes Tony Stewart Racing Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster to No. 1 Qualifier and Quarterfinal Appearance at Sonoma Raceway

July 24, 2022 , Sonoma, California -  Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett followed up last weekend’s win at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals near Denver by rolling into the 34th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Sonoma Nationals and immediately taking the Rayce Rudeen Foundation Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster to her first No. 1 qualifier position of the season and then driving to a quarterfinal appearance in eliminations.

Pruett took the top spot on the eliminations ladder by recording a 3.689-second elapsed time pass at 327.59 mph on the first of three qualifying laps to earn TSR’s first Top Fuel pole position and the 12th of her career. After advancing to the final round at Sonoma Raceway last year, Pruett was looking to repeat that journey and kicked off eliminations with a great 0.047-second reaction time and strong 3.729 sec./328.86 mph pass against No. 16 seed Jim Maroney. 

In the quarterfinals against No. 9 seed Shawn Langdon, Pruett had another solid 3.758 sec./323.97 mph run, but it wasn’t quite enough to defeat her opponent’s 3.734 sec./330.96 mph pass. Despite the shortened day, Pruett remains sixth in the Top Fuel championship standings tied with Langdon at 601 points.

With three wins this season and sitting second in the Funny Car points coming into the second of three consecutive western-swing events, TSR driver Matt Hagan started off the weekend by taking the DieHard Batteries Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for a 4.018-sec./314.02 mph pass to sit in the provisional eighth spot on Friday. In Q2, he recorded the second quickest run of the session with a 4.023 sec./315.12 mph pass but ended up 11th on the eliminations ladder after hazing the tires and saving the engine on the final run.

That set up an opening round match against fellow Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver and No. 6 seed Cruz Pedregon. Pedregon had a slight advantage at the hit of the throttle as they raced side-by-side down the lane, and despite Hagan recording his quickest pass of the weekend, it wasn’t enough to catch the Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Even with the early exit, Hagan retains his second place position in the Funny Car standings behind rival Robert Hight.

Pedregon continued on to the quarterfinals and lined up against No. 3 qualifier Alexis DeJoria against whom he had a stellar light with a 0.033-second reaction time, but soon lost traction and had to shut it down. The Cruz Pedregon Racing HEMI®-powered entry remains sixth in the Funny Car standings as the regular season begins to wind down with four events remaining before the “Countdown to the Championship” playoffs series begins.

The NHRA will close out the three-event western swing next weekend with the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle, Washington, July 29-31.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES:
 
Leah Pruett, Rayce Rudeen Foundation Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster  
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.689 seconds at 327.59 mph)  
Round 1: (0.047-second reaction time, 3.729 seconds at  328.86 mph) defeats No. 16 Jim Maroney (0.066/4.443/187.42) 
Round 2: (0.079/3.758/323.97) loss to No. 9 Shawn Langdon (0.049/3.734/330.96)

“I think our takeaway this weekend was that we were able to continue the momentum from Denver. We have a thorough understanding of our power level, and that started Friday night. We went up with a semi-conservative setup that actually ended up locking us into the No. 1 spot, so it shows we have more power, like we thought. As we moved into race day, you can’t take anyone lightly. I used to race Jim Maroney 10 to 15 years ago and I know how great of a racer he is. We put down a solid .72 and had a nice, clean run. Ultimately, we missed it for the second round. We went up to do the same thing. We were the first cars on track that session and the cars behind us were able to run a .66. We went up to run a .74 or .75 and it ran a .75, but it wasn’t good enough to get around Langdon’s .73. What that does for us is it gives us the confidence to start turning the wick back up. We’ve been racing on the shy side of power and we’ve been doing pretty well, but now we can turn back the knobs, and that’s something we haven’t been able to do. Our momentum will continue as our baseline grows and, most importantly, we were able to make a lot of connections with people about sharing the Rayce Rudeen Foundation’s mission of fighting the stigma of addiction and the support of the communities they’re building.”
 
Matt Hagan, DieHard Batteries Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car  
(No. 11 Qualifier – 4.018 seconds at 314.02 mph)
Round 1: (0.095-second reaction time, 4.913 seconds at 210.97 mph) loss to No. 6 Cruz Pedregon (0.076/3.939/330.23)

“It was great to be able to run the DieHard Batteries car again this weekend and bring the scheme back. We struggled a bit this weekend and got behind the eight ball. I think (Crew Chief) Dickie (Venables) really got a handle on the car in Round 1, but we had a tough run against Cruz (Pedregon). They’re a strong team over there and they qualified well. It was two good drag races but, unfortunately, it didn’t turn out in our favor. Sonoma is one of the only tracks I haven’t won at. I look forward to checking it off the list next year. It doesn’t mean we’ll keep our head down. For now, we’ll focus on Seattle and what we have coming up next week. We’ll take the information we learned here and transfer it over. The [Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat] is driving good and responding well, so we just have to be a bit more aggressive with it and we’ll be fine.”

Cruz Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 6 Qualifier – 3.900 seconds at 323.58 mph)
Round 1: (0.037-second reaction time, 3.911 seconds at 328.70 mph) defeats No. 11 Matt Hagan (0.076/3.939/330.23)
Round 2: (0.033/4.747/169.83) loss to No. 3 Alexis DeJoria (0.119/3.905/330.80)                    

“After qualifying with a great 3.90 seconds at over 323 miles per hour, we went up against none other than Matt Hagan who's second in points and one of the great drivers and great teams of our time. It was a tough contest at 3.91 for our car to 3.93. Matt was right there in the hunt all the way down the track, but it was great to get that first round win against them. Unfortunately, we lost to Alexis DeJoria in the next round after we lost traction about 300 feet out. So that was the end of our weekend but overall a good points race for us. I think we're going to maintain the number six spot in to Seattle, a race that I’ve been looking forward to winning for several years, even going back to the late eighties. Through the years we brought some good cars up there but haven’t been able to punch it through so we're going to look forward to getting it into the winner’s circle up there.”
 
NHRA CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS:
Following the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway 

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.   Robert Hight 1133 (5)
2.  Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 989 (3)
3.  Ron Capps: 923 (2)
4.  John Force: 827
5.  Bob Tasca III: 733 (1)
6. Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 647
7.  J.R. Todd: 615
8.  Alexis DeJoria: 600
9.  Tim Wilkerson: 522
10. Chad Green: 440
 
TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)
1.  Brittany Force: 982 (4)
2.  Mike Salinas: 976 (3) 
3.  Justin Ashley: 842 (2) 
4.  Steve Torrence: 804
5.  Josh Hart: 636
6.  Leah Pruett (Dodge Power Brokers): 601
6.  Shawn Langdon: 601
8.  Austin Prock: 570
9.  Doug Kalitta: 566
10. Clay Millican: 551
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The next-generation Dodge Charger electrifies a legend, with the Charger retaining its title as the world’s quickest and most powerful muscle car led by the all-new, all-electric 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack. The all-new Dodge Charger will also offer performance choices via multi-energy powertrain options including the 550-horsepower Dodge Charger SIXPACK H.O., powered by the 3.0L Twin Turbo Hurricane High Output engine.
 
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Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Later, Mopar expanded to include technical service and customer support, and today integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.

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