{"id":7673,"date":"2026-06-17T06:31:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=7673"},"modified":"2026-06-17T06:31:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T06:31:45","slug":"hagans-home-track-homage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=7673","title":{"rendered":"Hagan&#8217;s Home Track Homage!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In workmanlike fashion, four-time Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan grinded out the victory at his home track &#8212; winning Bristol Dragway&#8217;s 25th edition SuperGrip Thunder Valley Nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Sunday&#8217;s final round of Hagan denied Daniel Wilkerson his first career victory thanks to a run of 4.125 at 310.91 in the TSR\/Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage Dodge Funny Car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is Hagan\u2019s second win of the season and the 57th in his career. This one wasn\u2019t the most spectacular when it came to performance, but Hagan was on point when he needed to be, defeating Jon Capps and reigning two-time world champion Austin Prock to reach the final round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Funny-Car-Winner-Matt-Hagen-1-e1781676789577.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Funny-Car-Winner-Matt-Hagen-1-e1781676789577.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7670\"\/><\/a><figcaption><strong>Matt Hagan <\/strong>upped his NHRA career win total to 57 &#8212; winning at this designated &#8220;Home Track&#8221;. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>He didn\u2019t go quicker than 4.079 on Sunday, but Hagan took advantage of the opportunity for Tony Stewart Racing, reaching his 100th career final round. Wilkerson went up in smoke almost immediately in the championship round, handing Hagan his first victory in Thunder Valley since 2015. After Bristol, Hagan is now second in points and feeling good about the rest of his summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI always call myself an old plow horse. Hook me up to the plow and I\u2019ll just go out there and get the job done,\u201d Hagan said. \u201cFor Leah (Pruett) to finish off the New England win here on Friday and for us to come back and win on Sunday, it was a special weekend for TSR.<br>\u00a0<br>\u201cBristol is a special place for me. I\u2019ve got a lot of home tracks, but this one has always felt like home. The last time I won here was Father\u2019s Day weekend, and I was crying like a kid. That one was emotional, and this one means a lot, too. This weekend was challenging. Daniel Wilkerson was driving his butt off. His day is coming.\u201d<br>\u00a0<br>Wilkerson defeated J.R. Todd, Jack Beckman and points leader Ron Capps en route to his third career final round. Capps remains the points leader, sitting 24 points ahead of Hagan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Funny-Car-Runner-Up-Dan-Wilkerson-e1781676771962.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Funny-Car-Runner-Up-Dan-Wilkerson-e1781676771962.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7671\"\/><\/a><figcaption><strong>Dan Wilkerson<\/strong> came close again to winning for the first time &#8211; but tire smoke denied him in the final round.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The racing schedule at Bristol did include some phenomenal stuff for Jack Beckman &#8212; who won both the rain delayed Funny Car title (from the New England Nationals) and also the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race. Jack drove his JFR\/Peak sponsored Camaro to final round win lights over Jordan Vandergriff both times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Epping-FC-Winner-Jack-Beckman-e1781676744441.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"279\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Epping-FC-Winner-Jack-Beckman-e1781676744441.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7669\"\/><\/a><figcaption><strong>Jack Beckman<\/strong> enjoyed two event victories during the Thunder Valley Nationals.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals \u2013 Funny Car Class Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-10-at-7.04.59\u202fam-e1781476799195.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-10-at-7.04.59\u202fam-e1781476799195.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7658\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">WIN: Matt Hagan \u2013 4.125 secs 310.91 mph (Career win #57)<br>R\/UP: Daniel Wilkerson \u2013 6.317 secs 128.89 mph<br>Low ET: Ron Capps \u2013 3.980 secs<br>Top MPH: Ron Capps \u2013 327.48 mph<br>Bump: N\/A<br>Entries: 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Ron-Capps-1-e1781676802853.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Ron-Capps-1-e1781676802853.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7672\"\/><\/a><figcaption><strong>Ron Capps <\/strong>&#8211; qualified #1 and set both low ET and top speed &#8211; before bowing out in the semi final round.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Posted with files by NHRA Communications &amp; Bruce Biegler<br>Photos by David Ostaszewski<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Link to more Funny Car photos from <strong>Thunder Valley Nationals<\/strong> event: HERE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2026-01-23-at-11.09.00-am.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"376\" height=\"117\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2026-01-23-at-11.09.00-am.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2026-01-23-at-11.09.00-am.png 376w, https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screen-Shot-2026-01-23-at-11.09.00-am-259x81.png 259w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In workmanlike fashion, four-time Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan grinded out the victory at his home track &#8212; winning Bristol Dragway&#8217;s 25th edition SuperGrip Thunder Valley Nationals. In Sunday&#8217;s final round of Hagan denied Daniel Wilkerson his first career victory thanks to a run of 4.125 at 310.91 in the TSR\/Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage Dodge [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[20,210,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7674,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions\/7674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}