Matt Hagan’s quest for a fourth NHRA nitro Funny Car world championship is alive and well.

Hagan kept his hopes alive by winning the Nevada Nationals Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In the finals, Hagan clocked a 3.878-second elapsed time at 330.23 mph to defeat points leader Robert Hight, who slowed to 6.157 seconds after smoking the tires.

Hagan, who is in his first season driving for Tony Stewart Racing, is now third in the points standings – 63 points behind Hight and two points behind reigning world champ Ron Capps.

“Obviously I think anything's possible,” Hagan said. “Dickie Venables and those guys are making some real power with this Dodge Power Broker car. And it's running strong. They put a great Hot Rod underneath me. It's cool though, come out here on Sunday and win on two holeshots today and give my team that little extra bump of what we needed to keep going in those rounds. It is hard to get those holeshot wins like that sometimes. But it's just one of those things where sometimes you got to be a little lucky and sometimes you got to be a little good and you never can count Dickie out. Even last year, the year before we won and last year Alexis (DeJoria) spoiled our deal, but we took (Ron) Capps out second round and just needed to get around Alexis.
“It's one of those things where it's always to the end, it's always to the last race, you just never know how it's going to happen. I think that's so exciting for us as drivers and crew chiefs and sponsors and exciting for the fans. So, I think we put on a great show for these fans out here. It was amazing to do a burnout and see everybody just packed in here. NHRA is doing a good job of promoting and filling up the grandstands. These are big stands here to fill up. And like I said out there, it is really cool when you have a bunch of people behind your pit rooting you on in the finals. I was like, ‘Damn, people actually like me.’ But it's just awesome, just to be able to drive a car like that.”

This was Hagan’s 43rd career national event win and fourth of the season but first since the New England Nationals on June 5 in Epping, N.H.

“Tony Stewart, he came out here and he's always got so many balls in the air, man, you know what? And it's just like he decided he was going to have his debut here in competition,” Hagan said Stewart who advanced to the finals in the Top Alcohol Dragster class before losing in the finals. “He's got so much going on and it was just so good to see that dude smile. He just had one of those grins from ear to ear pretty much all weekend. You could just tell that he just really enjoyed himself and to go to the final like that, that's pretty impressive. Who comes out here their first time ever, really, I think he's only tested in that car twice, and then go to a final. The guy is about competition and about winning and whatever it takes to put trophies on the shelf.
“That's what that guy's all about. I don't think it's so much the paychecks as it is, it's the trophies that he wants. It's just one of those things where I was glad, we had a good solid weekend. He had a solid weekend and Leah as well. They're working, they're building, they're trying new things and working towards next year. I think we have a good unit here. We just have to keep digging and working hard. And Robert's a tough customer, man. I walked over to him late yesterday in qualifying and I said, ‘I don't know how this stuff ends up man, but I tip your cap to you, dude. Anybody that wins eight or nine races in a Fuel Funny car, you've done something." And I said, ‘I got a lot of respect for you, man.’

Hagan sees similarities between he and Stewart especially behind the wheel.

“He's the type of driver that I am,” Hagan said. “There are no games up there, it's just stage your car and let's race these things and I have a lot of respect for that. So, we're going to go out of here swinging, man. We're going to give it all we've got. We've had two good races here from Dallas, going to the final and then win this one. We actually have a new combo that we're working with that they threw it in there last night for the last run. And I was like, ‘Damn, I don't want to be a crew chief right now, decide whether we stick with our combo that we've had all season or go with this new combo.’ And they're were like, ‘No, we're going to the new combo.’ So, to come out first round and still try to figure out everything that's changed and these things, you change one thing, you change six things. So, there's just so much that those guys had to overcome today to turn four win lights on. So, super proud of them and I'm excited about what we found and how the car is running and what we're doing.”

On Sunday, Hagan defeated Steven Densham, Chad Green, Bob Tasca III and Hight. The final race of the season is Nov. 10-13 in Pomona, Calif.

“Well, I don't know what it is about these later races, man, but we just always do well in Pomona as well,” Hagan said. “I think Dallas, I went to five finals or six finals now or whatever it is. But those are Dickie Venables type of conditions. We get the cooler weather, the tighter tracks where you make big power and lay it down. And I think obviously in my wish list, I think I would like to go work on some hot weather tune up next year. We got a racetrack right there beside of us, Indy, and it's greasy and it's nasty and it's 110 degrees.

“I would love to go out here and find a tune-up where we could go from 3.95 to 4.05, just maybe go down a dirt road. And so, I think when we do well, when it's cool in the beginning of the season and do well at the end of the season, we just got to make that point where during the middle of the season, we're running well too. And it seems like it always kind of bites us a little bit at the Western swing. So, I think there's some stuff that we as a team can work on and do better. Robert (Hight) seemed to have just been steady all year long. They've found that hot weather combo along with the cool weather combo.”

Hagan knows his TSR team needs to keep rolling into and through Pomona and he was thrilled with how things unfolded Sunday.

“Well, our guys are jazzed right now,” Hagan said. “Obviously coming off this win, that kind of carries through itself, but the fans are really where it's at, man. That's really what I think as a sport as a whole that we have to focus on not just drivers, but just everybody, crew chiefs. I think we need to have more autograph sessions we need to have more fan interaction and that's the selling point of what we do. That's what makes us different from so many other motorsports. That's the same reason that Dodge is going to be in drag racing and probably not in NASCAR. Because the interaction and engagement and having Tony over here and him saying that he's had more fun over here than he is had in anything that's got fenders on it.

“It's pretty incredible. So, I think that for us, for me anyway, it gets me up. When you have a bunch of people back there who are rooting you on, you don't want to disappoint them, man. You don't want to come back to the pit, and they're all gone and being like, ‘Well, that wasn't good.’ But it's great when they're back behind your pit after you won and they're celebrating with you, and they care about you. Just as a driver, as a guy that's been in a sport that who can remember when I couldn't give an autograph away and nobody wanted one, I was like, ‘Please take one. People are watching, just take one.’ So, you remember that side of it. So, when people are lined up to get your autograph it's pretty cool.”

With a world championship at stake in Pomona, Hagan is confident in Venables.

“I just think Dickie's going to go out there and run as hard as he can,” Hagan said. “I think that's most crew chiefs MO, not so much to kind of play games or stage this or do that. It's just show up, run as hard as you can and see where the cards fall. And like I said, if it wasn't for this Countdown, he (Hight) would probably 300 points ahead of everybody. So, you give respect to where it's due. Those guys have done an amazing job all year long. And I think we just got to go out there with the same attitude we've had the last two races of, we don't have anything to lose. We have to throw down and we have to scoop up as many points as we can, and we have to be aggressive.

“I think sometimes when you're in that points lead/chase and you're real close, sometimes you're a little too conservative. And you hold it too close to your chest, and that mentality is tough to come off sometimes. I've been there, I've been like, ‘Man, don't smoke the tires. We got to go down the racetrack.’ But now when you get in that mindset of, we ain't got nothing to lose, and you can see what the car's capable of and you go out there and you run those low numbers, and we went 82 the other night. And won that 15 grand. It's like, we can do this, we just have to swing hard every lap. But there's such a mix with it as far as even when you're swinging hard, and maybe the track's too good and eats up a lot of clutch, and there's just so many variables that you know have to get right. So, God bless those crew chiefs, man, because you couldn't double my pay and ask me to be a crew chief.”

Hagan’s day almost ended in the first round against Densham, which he discussed in his winner’s interview.

“That's called just lucky,” Hagan said. “It could have been all over within a blink of an eye. And you go up there first round and I wouldn't say you're super aggressive. Or even on a tree, you're trying to cut a good light, leave on time, keep it in the groove, but it shows you how important that you have to go after every run. It put a cylinder out early. And like I said, we're working with a new combination and it's one of those things where the car cutoff and I was like, ‘That ain't good.’

“Then, I could hear him beside me and then we were just coasting. And then you're like, ‘Oh my God, I thought he beat me because I'm slowing down and he's coming so fast." And I was looking at the stripe and I was like, ‘Well, we just lost this one. This is pretty sad.’ But then my win light came on over there and I think it was a couple thou or something like that, and so you're just like, ‘That was a lucky one.’ Sometimes you just have to be lucky than good. And trying that new combination, the motor wasn't happy. It just was one of those things where we just still had some learning to do. And thank God we were able to get through that round and it didn't bite us, but we could definitely not be holding a trophy today because of the first round.”

Then, Hagan just went with the flow.

“So, I guess I'll go buy a lottery ticket today too,” he said. “So, we'll just see how it rolls. That's drag racing, man. It's so humbling, so you can do it all right and have a great light and all this other stuff and then something happens and it's not your day, you go home. But today was our day when we got that round win, and we were able to progress and get into the final and beat Robert. And like I said, I would like to see Robert earlier rounds than in the finals, but that's a good car over there. It's a tough customer and we just got to keep doing work.”