Matt Hagan has been anything but unpredictable in the last two NHRA national event stops.

After winning at Norwalk, Ohio, June 24, Hagan grabbed the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot Friday night at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

Hagan clocked a 3.932-second lap at 322.04 in his Don Schumacher Racing Sandvik Coromant Dodge Charger to claim the top spot. Hagan had a solid 4.012-second time in the first qualifying session.

“It really all starts off with going down the race track in Q1, setting yourself up for a good lap there and then being in the back of the pack for that last (qualifying) run,” Hagan said. “It is just Dickie (Venables, Hagan’s crew chief) building his confidence back. Obviously with the track prep and some different things it is just figuring out where we need to be with stuff. Coming off that race win in Ohio and bringing some of that confidence over here and being able to get a good feel for the car. My confidence is up, and I have been killing the tree and we’re just building on stuff.”

Hagan has won two races this season and is the defending champion in Epping as he beat Courtney Force in the finals a year ago.

“That last (qualifying run) it was loose and loose is fast,” Hagan said. “It was one of those things where you could feel the rear-end coming around a little bit and you’re just letting it settle and the clutch is coming out and you’re like man if I touch it right now it will come loose. Just a lot of feel to it. I felt like we got a lot of it early and it was a good run and something to work off. Who knows what (Saturday) brings? If we have overcast or rain things could change around still. These things are very humbling, and you take it in perspective and appreciate it for what it is today, but it changes tomorrow.”

Hagan, who won nitro Funny Car world championships in 2011 and 2014, is ready for the second half of the season.

“There are ups and downs with all this stuff,” Hagan said. “It is peaks and valleys and the thing about it is you’re just trying to hit a stride. We tested a new body (June 25 in Norwalk) and things went really well and honestly, we’re jumping up and down right now about (John) Force’s headers and Courtney’s headers and stuff like and we’re trying to get it somewhat outlawed so to speak just because they have an advantage right now. With this new body we can go out there and make those changes. It has allowed them to press and in some of these hot conditions we can’t go as hard. I think they have had a huge competitive advantage over the whole entire field where now I think that we’re going to get back onto a level playing field and as good as our car is running right now with what we have got, I think there are just more good things to come in the future.”