Matt Hagan is running out of ways to lose. Four times in 2026 he has reached an NHRA Funny Car final round, and four times he has won. Sunday at Rockingham Dragway, he beat veteran Paul Lee with a 3.922 pass to take his 59th career national event victory and push his Mission points lead to 84 over a field with four races left to close the gap.
The win came on familiar ground. Hagan took his first Rockingham Funny Car title here in 2008, also against Lee, and the track has suited him ever since. He qualified eighth on Friday and Saturday, which made Sunday’s consistency all the more striking: a 3.916 over Dave Richards in the first round, a 3.941 against three-time world champion Ron Capps in the second, a 3.916 against former champion J.R. Todd in the semis, and then the 3.922 in the final. Crew chief Mike Knudsen, roughly 18 months into his tenure at Tony Stewart Racing, has now guided Hagan to wins at Pomona, Bristol, Brainerd, and Rockingham.
That Brainerd win was Hagan’s 58th career victory and the race that first moved him to the top of the Funny Car standings. He has not given that spot up. He clinched the regular season title at Indianapolis, worth $150,000, even after a final-round loss to Jack Beckman at the U.S. Nationals. The Countdown to the Championship has only widened his lead.
Hagan is chasing his fifth Funny Car world title, which would move him past Don Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein, both four-time champions. He currently ranks third all-time in career Funny Car wins, behind John Force and Capps. The number he cares about most right now is 84: his points cushion with Rockingham now in the books.
On the Top Fuel side of the TSR hauler, Leah Pruett had a Sunday of inches and milliseconds. Her first-round matchup with eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher produced a 3.775 to 3.776 finish, Pruett’s reaction time off the line giving her the margin. The quarterfinal against newcomer Will Smith was tighter still: both cars ran 3.772, identical to the thousandth of a second, and Smith’s quicker leave won the race.
The circumstances around the Schumacher matchup carry a specific weight. Stellantis confirmed earlier this year that Schumacher will take over Pruett’s TSR dragster seat in 2027 as Pruett and her husband, team owner Tony Stewart, plan to expand their family. Racing him head-to-head for the first time this season, Pruett won on reaction time and moved to fourth in the Top Fuel standings. She needs a points spot every race from here to have a realistic shot at the title she just missed in 2023.
Dodge Funny Car team celebrate at the SuperGrep NHRA Nationals winner’s circle at Rockingham.” />Stewart had a harder afternoon. His R+L Carriers/Elite Motorsports dragster smoked the tires against Clay Millican in the first round, costing him a chance to extend a weekend that had looked promising. He stays third in Top Fuel points. If the standings hold through St. Louis, Pruett would need to pass her own husband to reach the podium position she’s targeting.
TSR will run all three cars this weekend at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway outside St. Louis, with nitro qualifying beginning Friday, Oct. 2. Eliminations are set for Sunday, Oct. 4, and will air in two segments on Fox: 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. EDT.
Hagan has won four times in 16 races. The remaining four are the only thing standing between him and championship number five.
