NHRA

Atlanta: Matt Hagan Saturday notes

HAGAN NETS NO. 11 IN ATLANTA QUALIFYING COMMERCE, Ga. (May 15, 2010) - Matt Hagan and the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car team qualified No. 11 for the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals. Despite not landing in the top-half of the field under ...

Published: May 16, 2010, 7:50 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

HAGAN NETS NO. 11 IN ATLANTA QUALIFYING

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 15, 2010) - Matt Hagan and the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car team qualified No. 11 for the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals.

Despite not landing in the top-half of the field under extremely hot conditions during both days of qualifying, Hagan and the DieHard team were pumped about their progress. Hagan's quickest pass of 4.248 seconds at 291.51 mph came in today's third session, during one of the hottest parts of the day, which eventually saw 85-plus-degree ambient temperatures and a race track reaching nearly 130 degrees.

Hagan's other laps included a 4.258/293.03 (No. 6) and a 7.169/89.12 (No. 10) on Friday. In today's final try, the 27-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va., came up with a 4.301/285.71, the fourth-quickest pass of that session.

"We went down three out of the four laps, which is a huge improvement from where we have been the last two races," said Hagan, Houston winner this year, "and I think we're making headway in the right direction. Tommy and John (crew chiefs DeLago and Medlen) are working well together.”

What he's not excited about is having to face his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the opening round of eliminations. "We have Beckman the first round, so that's kind of a bummer," he said. "At least one DSR car is going to advance and we sure do hope it's us.

"We were fourth quickest that last session, so that was great. That just shows that, to be able to go down the track like that when it's blistering hot out there, is huge. It's a bit of a comfort factor for me as a driver going into the first round tomorrow, knowing it's going to get hotter and hotter every lap. We'll just go out there and hope for the best.

"We're glad to have UCoat It on the side of the car this weekend and also at the next race. Hopefully we can go a couple of rounds and get some good TV time for them."

-source: dsr

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Atlanta: Series Saturday qualifying report

Next article Atlanta: Toyota Motorsports Saturday report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Why McLaren gave team order to Oscar Piastri in F1 US GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

3 min

Why McLaren gave team order to Oscar Piastri in F1 US GP

Winners and losers from a frantic NASCAR Cup race at Talladega

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

37 min

Winners and losers from a frantic NASCAR Cup race at Talladega

Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance

Why Chase Elliott has removed his name from NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Ballot

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

1 h

Why Chase Elliott has removed his name from NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Ballot

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts