Leah Pruett & Matt Hagan
Top Fuel | Funny Car
NHRA Arizona Nationals
Feb. 25-27 | Chandler, Arizona
Event Overview
Friday, Feb. 25 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
● Nitro qualifying session (Q1): 5 p.m. MST/7 p.m. EST
Saturday, Feb. 26 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
● Nitro qualifying session (Q2): 1:30 p.m. MST/3:30 p.m. EST
● Nitro qualifying session (Q3): 4:30 p.m. MST/6:30 p.m. EST
Sunday, Feb. 27 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
● Round 1: 11 a.m. MST/1 p.m. EST
● Round 2: 1:20 p.m. MST/3:20 p.m. EST
● Semi-Finals: 2:50 p.m. MST/4:50 p.m. EST
● Finals: 4:10 p.m. MST/6:10 p.m. EST
TV coverage on FS1
● Saturday, Feb. 26: Qualifying show, recapping all of Friday’s action (9 a.m. MST/11 a.m. EST)
● Saturday, Feb. 26: Qualifying show, recapping all of Saturday’s action (5:30 p.m. MST/7:30 p.m. EST)
● Sunday, Feb. 27: Finals show, recapping all of Sunday’s final-round action (5 p.m. MST/7 p.m. EST)
Notes of Interest
● Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park is located in Chandler, Arizona, just on the outskirts of Phoenix. It is a multi-use race facility that includes four racetracks – an NHRA sanctioned drag strip, a 1.6-mile road course, a 10-turn 1.25 mile road course, and a 1.1 mile road course. The drag strip is home to this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals.
● Sparkling Ice +Caffeine is the primary partner of Leah Pruett and her Top Fuel dragster from Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) this weekend during the NHRA Arizona Nationals. It’s the first of the brand’s two primary sponsorships in 2022, with Sparkling Ice +Caffeine returning to Pruett’s 11,000-horsepower machine July 29-31 for the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent Washington. Sparkling Ice +Caffeine is a zero sugar, full-flavored sparkling water containing 70 milligrams of caffeine, along with vitamins and antioxidants. Sparkling Ice +Caffeine comes in six refreshing flavors: Black Raspberry, Blue Raspberry, Cherry Vanilla, Orange Passion Fruit, Strawberry and Citrus Twist. Pruett has served as an ambassador for Sparkling Ice since 2014 and the brand has been a part of all nine of her Top Fuel victories.
● Dodge Power Brokers and Direct Connection are the primary partners of Matt Hagan and his TSR-prepared Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car this weekend for the NHRA Arizona Nationals. The new Dodge Power Brokers program will roll out ready to serve as the exclusive source for all new Direct Connection, Dodge’s factory-backed performance parts program, and equipped with staff trained to deliver a performance-focused customer service experience.
● The Arizona Nationals will mark Pruett’s 174th career Top Fuel start and her ninth at Phoenix.
● The Arizona Nationals will mark Hagan’s 295th career Funny Car start and his 13th at Phoenix.
● Pruett earned her first and second career Top Fuel victories at Phoenix. In the 2016 Arizona Nationals, she defeated Brittany Force. And in Pruett’s return to Phoenix in 2017, she successfully defended her win by outdueling Doug Kalitta to earn her second Top Fuel triumph.
● When Pruett faced Force in the 2016 Arizona Nationals, it was the first time in NHRA history that two women faced off in the final round.
● Phoenix is Pruett’s most successful venue. In addition to her two Top Fuel victories, she has three final round appearances (2016, 2017 and 2019) and one No. 1 qualifier (2017). She also earned her career best speed at Phoenix – 334.15 mph in Q3 during the 2018 Arizona Nationals.
● Hagan has three career Funny Car wins at Phoenix (2015, defeated Del Worsham; 2017, defeated Ron Capps; and 2019, defeated J.R. Todd).
● Hagan has made four final-round appearances at Phoenix (2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019).
● Hagan has two No. 1 qualifiers at Phoenix (2015 and 2020).
Leah Pruett, Driver of the Sparkling Ice +Caffeine Top Fuel Dragster
There was a lot of newness surrounding you as you came into this season – how does it feel to have a full race weekend under your belt as you now turn your attention to Phoenix?
“The Phoenix race can’t come soon enough for us. We’re very pleased with the place we are right now, which is a position to continue to chip away at the performance. It’s very common for new teams and cars to throw tune-up darts in the dark hoping to at least land on the board. We’ve been hitting the board since day one and narrowing in on the bullseye, which is the 3.6-second zone. It’s much better to be under-aggressive and work our way up than over-aggressive and back into it. It’s an exciting time to transition so soon for just getting everything shook down, to focusing on faster performance. Many of the teams that were running in the 60s were also blowing up every run and killing blocks and superchargers. We don’t want to be doing that, hence the importance of our Sparkling Ice dragster running fast and healthy.”
You were able to test at Phoenix Feb. 9-12. How valuable were those days to you and your team and how helpful will they be for this weekend’s event at Phoenix?
“Racing on the same surface we tested on is important and will provide a valuable baseline heading into qualifying. It looks to be much cooler than when we tested there, so we can’t wait to wick it up. Phoenix is home to two of my Wally’s, and I would love to add to the Arizona Wally family. I also consider this race somewhat of a hometown race, as an Arizona resident, but also because I believe any racetrack that you can drive to in just a couple hours, as a racer or fan or family, really qualifies it as a home track to me.”
What are the characteristics of the track at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park and what challenges does it pose to make a quick run?
“The cool conditions, low altitude and low humidity in Phoenix make for a quick run. The atmospheric conditions factor into a successful run there, rather than the surface of the track.”
Between your test at Phoenix, your race last weekend at Pomona, and now your return to Phoenix for the second race of the NHRA schedule, is this stretch of West Coast racing helpful because it allows you to work in a similar climate for three weeks and hone routines because everyone is together, or is it a bit of a grind because it’s nearly a month on the road away from the team’s home base in Brownsburg, Indiana?
“This West Coast stretch at the start of the year is always challenging because there is no ‘warming up’ to the season. The parts you order and the people you put in place are fixed, and you’re committed to making that program work for those races. You’re not able to run back to the shop to build this piece or swap that part. So, this swing demands very thorough attention to detail. It also poses an immediate opportunity to have quick gratification after a never-ending couple of months of nonstop work. It’s nice for us all to immediately get a couple chances to get some feel-good win lights. By the end of Phoenix, everyone is going to be looking forward to catching our breath, but right now, we’re full steam, hammer down.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
After your debut event with Tony Stewart Racing last weekend at Pomona, how does it feel to have a full race weekend under your belt as you now turn your attention to Phoenix?
“Putting Pomona behind us and rolling into Phoenix right away helps the team get back into the groove of things – making a run, taking it apart, putting it back together and dragging it back up to the starting line and just getting back into the rhythm. That rhythm helps builds confidence in my team and lets me just focus on what I have to do on the starting line with the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat so we can turn on more win lights.”
You were able to test at Phoenix Feb. 9-12. How valuable were those days to you and your team and how helpful will they be for this weekend’s event at Phoenix?
“I love being at Phoenix. I love the atmosphere. I love the track and the scene around it. We were able to make 10 runs in testing, which got us to where we’re at now. I feel like we’ll roll in there with some really valuable data on both lanes, since we ran side-to-side. I feel really confident about it and the track will only get better since NHRA will be there prepping it and spraying it down. They’re doing a great job of putting a good racetrack underneath of us.”
What are the characteristics of the track at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park and what challenges does it pose to make a quick run?
“There aren’t a whole lot of challenges at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. It’s a good, smooth track and the shut-down is long. We don’t have a whole lot to worry about there. For us, it will be important to get the car dialed-in to run up top. I really think Dickie (Venables, crew chief) can go out there and stand on the pole in Phoenix, so I’m excited about that.”
Between your test at Phoenix, your race last weekend at Pomona, and now your return to Phoenix for the second race of the NHRA schedule, is this stretch of West Coast racing helpful because it allows you to work in a similar climate for three weeks and hone routines because everyone is together, or is it a bit of a grind because it’s nearly a month on the road away from the team’s home base in Brownsburg, Indiana?
“I think this team is used to being on the road and on the grind. For us, any time we get to tracks that are comparable with altitude or the same weather conditions, it helps crew chiefs.”
