Countdown to the Championship Ranking: No. 3
Las Vegas II Event Highlights:
- Four-time event champion (2001, 2005, 2011, 2012)
- 2011 No. 1 qualifier
2017 Las Vegas II Recap:
Qualified sixth; First round exit (defeated by John Force in E1)
Last event (Charlotte II):
Qualified second; Event champion (defeated Dale Creasy Jr. in E1, Robert Hight in E2, Tim Wilkerson in E3, J.R. Todd in E4)
2018 Season Statistics:
33 round wins; ranked third in points
Career Statistics:
529 races; 61 wins (one Top Fuel); 21 No. 1 qualifiers
Noteworthy:
- Enters Las Vegas as the most recent Funny Car winner on the NHRA tour (Charlotte II)
Quotable:
“This is the time of year when everything you’ve worked for all season comes to this. Thankfully for me, our NAPA team is always in the hunt for a championship, and nothing is better than to go into the Las Vegas race and be in that conversation. A lot of great stories have been written in the past at this Fall Las Vegas event. It’s where championships have been won and lost. We go to Vegas this year with some great momentum after winning the Carolina Nationals two weeks ago. While we’re not as close as we would like to be, that win put us into third and in a position to have a run at the championship.
“One of the coolest things about this coming weekend in Las Vegas is that we get to run our Pennzoil/NAPA Funny Car paint scheme that we won the Seattle race with back in August. As soon as we brought that car out, our fans loved it, and we would love nothing better than to put it right back in the winner’s circle in Vegas.
“We’re also doing a lot of fun things around and leading up to the race. I have a special appearance on Thursday where I will change somebody’s oil for free with our Pennzoil brand and NAPA AutoCare Centers. We have the NHRA Fan Fest down on Fremont Street on Thursday night, which is always a great event to hang with our NHRA fans. Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like it’s going to be a great weekend for drag racing. You combine good weather with a great track like we have in Vegas, and that means great side by side racing.”
MATT HAGAN
Driver of the Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
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