AUBURN
HILLS, Mich. , March 4,
2024 /PRNewswire/ --
- Tony Stewart makes his highly
anticipated Top Fuel start this weekend in the Tony Stewart Racing
(TSR) Dodge//SRT Direct Connection dragster at the NHRA
Gatornationals
- Stewart's first Top Fuel season in the NHRA Mission Drag Racing
Series marks his fourth different motorsports discipline after
winning titles in NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC
- Reigning NHRA World Funny Car champion Matt Hagan returns to the Gatornationals,
seeking his third consecutive event title in Gainesville in the TSR
Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat
- In 2023, Hagan tied legends Don "Snake" Prudhomme and
Kenny Bernstein as four-time NHRA
Funny Car World Champions as he scored six NHRA national event wins
toward the title
- Teammates Hagan and Stewart will debut new TSR Dodge//SRT
Direct Connection red-and-black race car liveries at the
Gatornationals
- Stewart takes over the primary driving chores from his wife,
Leah Pruett, who placed third in the
2023 NHRA Top Fuel point standings and now plans to start a family
with Stewart this year
- Pruett will serve as a strategist and driving coach for the TSR
operation
- Follow Dodge in NHRA action at DodgeGarage
The most anticipated debut of a Top Fuel driver in over a decade
takes place on March 8-10 in the 55th
annual NHRA Amalie Gatornationals when NASCAR Hall of Fame racer
Tony Stewart competes in the Tony
Stewart Racing (TSR) Dodge//SRT Direct Connection dragster in the
opening event of the 21-race NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series.
Stewart, a former series champion in NASCAR, IndyCar and
USAC competition, enters his fourth motorsports discipline at the
highest level with the Top Fuel division in NHRA, as the
Indiana driver makes his Top Fuel
"rookie" showing in an 11,000-horsepower Dodge dragster at
Gainesville Raceway.
"I'm trying to get through this learning curve right now with
the Top Fuel dragster," said Stewart, who takes the wheel of
the TSR Dodge//SRT Direct Connection dragster after his wife
Leah Pruett made the decision to sit
out the 2024 campaign to start a family. Pruett will serve as
strategist and driving coach for the TSR team. "This is probably
one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced in my racing
career. I've been through so many divisions and types of racecars
that I have had to learn in my career, and this might be the
toughest of all of them. Now just trying to figure these cars will
be the most exciting part of it for me.
"I think it's a huge advantage for a rookie in my situation. I
have confidence in the team, and I know that they are way stronger
at this point of the season than I am. It gives me a big confidence
boost. It allows me to literally just work on all the little
nuances in learning how to drive a new car. This is way different
than anything I've ever done in motorsports in my life. It's
not like a NASCAR or IndyCar track where I can go and make 100 laps
in a day easily. This is a situation where on a great day, you're
going to have four maybe five runs in testing, so every lap that we
get is super important right now."
While Stewart makes his initial Top Fuel appearance at
Gainesville, his TSR teammate, veteran Matt Hagan, seeks his third consecutive
Gatornationals Funny Car win in the nitro-burning TSR Direct
Connection Dodge//SRT Hellcat when qualifying begins on
Friday, March 8.
Hagan matched legends Don "Snake" Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein last year by scoring a fourth
NHRA World Funny Car Championship and the first world title for
Tony Stewart Racing. Hagan recorded a season-high six NHRA national
event victories in 2023 and now is just one win away from a coveted
50 career triumphs entering the 2024 NHRA Mission Drag Racing
Series.
"It would be really unbelievable to win Gainesville a third
time," said Hagan. "It's so hard to win any of these races and
anything can happen. We're going to work really hard to kick the
season off well again. Gainesville has been a better track to me
the last few years. We have a lot of data to work with from the
last two years.
"We have a group that is well-oiled with a lot of chemistry,
synergy and energy as we have proven with last year's championship.
I'm super confident in everything that my guys do. Tony is going to
be learning to drive the dragster this season, so it'll give us an
opportunity to help those guys also if they need it. I have
confidence in Tony and his TSR dragster team just like my
Funny Car squad. I'd love to win Gainesville for a third time."
Hagan and Stewart have tested their respective new TSR Direct
Connection Dodge//SRT racecars in recent weeks in preparing for the
NHRA Amalie Gatornationals, and will debut brand new 2024 TSR
Dodge//SRT Direct Connection red-and-black race car liveries when
the pair hit the strip at Gainesville.
Nitro qualifying is scheduled for Friday,
March 8, at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
EST. Saturday qualifying takes place at 1:20 p.m. and 4 p.m.
EST with Sunday's final eliminations set for 10:30 a.m. EDT.
@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share
content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can
see action from the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and NHRA
Sportsman grassroots racers, competing in classes such as Factory
Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional
motorsports series.
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit
of brothers John and Horace Dodge.
Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with
a lineup that delivers unrivaled performance in each of the
segments where they compete.
Dodge drives forward as a pure performance brand,
offering SRT Hellcat versions of the Dodge Challenger, Dodge
Charger and Dodge Durango, as well as an R/T plug-in hybrid
electric vehicle (PHEV) version of the all-new 2023 Dodge Hornet,
representing the brand's first-ever electrified performance
vehicle. Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower
Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock; the 797-horsepower Dodge Charger
SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in
the world; and the 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the
most powerful SUV ever; and best-in-class standard performance in
the compact utility vehicle segment with the Dodge Hornet.
Combined, these four muscle vehicles make Dodge the industry's most
powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American
brand across its entire lineup.
In 2022, the Dodge brand ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power
APEAL Study (mass market), making it the only domestic brand ever
to do so three years in a row. In 2020, Dodge was named the "#1
Brand in Initial Quality," making it the first domestic brand ever
to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study
(IQS).
Fans can follow all the NHRA action this season at
DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar
drag-racing news, including daily updates and access to an online
racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and
merchandise. Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by
leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis (NYSE:
STLA).
Mopar
Mopar is the global name for Stellantis genuine parts and authentic
accessories.
A simple combination of the words MOtor and PARts, Mopar
offers exceptional service, parts and customer-care. Born in 1937
as the name of a line of antifreeze products, Mopar has evolved
over more than 85 years to represent both complete vehicle care and
authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.
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.
Complete information on Mopar is available at www.mopar.com
and the newly redesigned Mopar blog at
www.blog.mopar.com.
Follow Dodge, Mopar and Stellantis news and video
on:
Company blog: blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Media website: media.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Dodge brand: www.dodge.com
DodgeGarage: www.dodgegarage.com
Mopar brand: www.mopar.com
Mopar blog: blog.mopar.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dodge and www.facebook.com/mopar
Instagram: @DodgeMoparMotorsports, @DodgeOfficial and
@OfficialMopar
Twitter: @Dodge, @OfficialMopar and @StellantisNA
YouTube: www.youtube.com/dodge, www.youtube.com/c/mopar and
www.youtube.com/StellantisNA
For more information, please visit the Stellantis media site for
North America at
https://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com.
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SOURCE Stellantis