Matt Hagan, Leah Pruett Look To Strike At NHRA Nationals At The Rock

The opening three races of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship are a grind. There’s no time to dwell on what happened the previous weekend because another race is already waiting. For Tony Stewart Racing, that means packing up after the inaugural Great Lakes Nationals and heading straight for another unfamiliar stop on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule.

This time, it’s Rockingham Dragway.

The iconic North Carolina facility will host an NHRA national event for the first time when the NHRA Nationals at The Rock becomes the second stop of the six-race Countdown. Matt Hagan arrives as the Funny Car points leader after a runner-up finish in Michigan, while Leah Pruett is looking to rebound after an early exit knocked her down the Top Fuel standings.

Hagan didn’t leave Michigan with the trophy he wanted, but he did leave with the Funny Car points lead. The four-time world champion reached the final round at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, continuing the consistency that has kept his Dodge near the front of the pack throughout the season.

With five races remaining, Hagan now gets an opportunity to return to a facility where he already knows what it feels like to turn on the final win light.

“We’re rolling into Rockingham with the points lead, feels good. We haven’t lost our consistency, going rounds, would have liked to seal the deal at the Dodge race in Michigan but three-in-a-row means we get another chance right away,” Hagan said. “Rockingham is a big race for me with friends and family, I think it’s my third or fourth home race on the schedule, kind of nice. I won there the last time I was there in an IHRA race way back in 2008; Paul Lee had to remind me, it was the two of us in the final. I was the last fuel Funny Car to win down that track. So, I’m anxious to get there. We hope we can do that again this weekend. We want to put this Dodge in the winner’s circle, and I think we will.”

Hagan has another impressive streak he’ll be looking to continue over the final five races, he has won at least one Countdown event in each of the previous six seasons. A victory at Rockingham would extend that streak to seven consecutive years while simultaneously strengthening his position at the top of the Funny Car standings. More importantly, Hagan and the TSR Funny Car team haven’t had to search for consistency entering the playoffs. They went rounds at the opener and reached the final.

Pruett’s Countdown opener was considerably different.

The 13-time Top Fuel winner and 2026 NHRA New England Nationals champion suffered an early-round exit in Michigan, costing her ground in the championship standings, and there isn’t much time to worry about it. That’s one of the advantages of opening the Countdown with three races on consecutive weekends. A bad result doesn’t have to sit with a team for long before it gets another opportunity.

Pruett is treating the Michigan result as motivation rather than something to dwell on.

“All of my memories and experience with Rockingham have been awesome, and it starts with Dan,” Pruett said. “I worked with him on the Hemi Shootouts and was able to race some real fast Dodge cars of different varieties. I love the facility and love Dan as a promoter and the man that he is. Really, that’s all I have to go off of heading into those gates. I always do like when you have some comfort level to a degree. What we’ve learned at the last race in Martin, we’ll be bringing to Rockingham, and we’ll be back again with the Dodge Top Fuel dragster. We need to climb our way back up these points after being knocked down a couple spots. The moment we were out in Martin, I knew we were just winding up like a slingshot. Our team is arriving in Rockingham with the mindset we’re winding up big to slingshot our way back into the top of the points and in a serious hunt of this Countdown for the Championship.”

The first race of the Countdown demonstrated how quickly the championship standings can move. Now the NHRA heads to another track that brings a new set of variables for most of the field. That creates an interesting opportunity for Tony Stewart Racing. The back-to-back-to-back stretch that opens the Countdown can punish a team when things go wrong, but it can also provide a quick path to redemption.