Matt Hagan is dialed in right now in NHRA’s nitro Funny Car class.

Hagan, who pilots the Direct Connection Dodge for Tony Stewart Racing, won his second race in a row Sunday. He took the title at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance in Joliet, Ill.

Hagan clocked a 3.998-second elapsed time at 323.27 mph to defeat legendary John Force’s 4.096-second lap.

“I think you have to look at John, like, who knows how much longer he’s going to be out here doing this,” Hagan said. “I’m very privileged and honored to be able to race against him and battle him out for some championships. Some of these younger kids coming up through here will never get that opportunity, and I have raced against the best of the best with that guy -- and to be able to win and win championships against him back and forth. He beat me earlier this year, and you have to respect that guy.

“Even though we have had our tiffs and I have called him out and he’s called me out, there’s just deep down that feeling that, ‘Hey, brother I love you.’ He’s been great for the sport, and you enjoy racing him because every time you line up against him, you don’t know how many more seasons he has left in him or how many more times you will get to run him. You definitely want to win against him, but there’s just a respect factor there."

The win was extra special for Hagan and Top Fuel winner Antron Brown as drivers paid tribute and honored the late NHRA legendary owner Don Schumacher throughout the weekend at what was the Chicago native’s home track.

“It was such a nice tribute to Don,” Hagan said. “Antron won and we won, and it was one of those things that felt good because we were some of Don’s old cars. Chicago was always such a special race for Don and all his people and employees. He had so many people rolling in obviously with his work environment. It was something where you needed to win Chicago when you were at DSR. It was cool to show him a little love in the (post-race) interview.”  

The win was the 51st of Hagan's memorable career, which includes world championships in 2011, 2014, 2020, and 2023.

“The competition, I can’t remember when it has been more competitive in the 15 years I have been out here doing this,” Hagan said. “I think it is because the parts and pieces and the rules are so tight, it is not like there’s a lot of room to do much. When Tony (Stewart) came over here I really thought we would haul our car over to Stewart-Haas and all his engineers and data (and figure something out), and it just didn’t happen like that. All his engineers came back and said, ‘Look, guys, you’re all doing pretty much all there is to do inside the rules.’

“It makes it tough, and someone was asking me the other day, ‘Why do you think there are so many competitive cars?’ (Back in the day), we used to go over and help some teams here and there -- and now you don’t do that because everybody has the same parts and pieces, and everybody is rubbing on the same stuff, and it is so hard to find any edge. I feel like a lot of it is left up to the driver and being able to go up there and be aggressive and have a couple hundredths on the tree. The crew chief has to have that gut check of like, ‘I’m going to go up there and open up the flows more than I probably should and hopefully this thing sticks.' It is getting tighter and tougher every season and every race.”

The victory was Hagan's fourth at Route 66 to go with those from 2010 and 2013-14.

Hagan qualified No. 11 at 4.012 seconds, but turned it up a notch on race day, defeating Ron Capps, Paul Lee, Blake Alexander and Force.

“We had a really tricky, tricky race track all weekend,” Hagan said. “We came in 11th, and with the 2Fast2Tasty, we got put in the left lane because we didn’t have lane choice and we pretty much stayed in the bad lane all weekend. We had one round over there in the right lane, and we got put back in left lane. It felt like we were behind the eight-ball a little bit and we couldn’t get back where the good lane was. It is a testament to my guys for navigating through that tricky track. There’s a bad bump out there in the left (lane) when the clutch wants to come at it. There were a bunch of little things here and there to make it happen for us” Sunday.

Hagan arrived in Chicago in third place in the points standings, but moved to first, four in front of Austin Prock.

“Anytime that you take the points lead that is a feather in your cap,” Hagan said. “I know it is too early to be counting points and we reset the points there in the last six, but it is always something about it anytime you can be leading the points. You feel like you have that momentum, and it is a morale boost for all the guys. It is something they can put a little pep in their step during the week. It does mean a lot to that.”