Matt Hagan isn’t going to give up his NHRA nitro Funny Car world championship without a fight.

Hagan kept his name in the championship mix by winning Texas NHRA FallNationals on Sunday. Hagan clocked a 3.943-second elapsed time at 327.65 to defeat Ron Capps’s 3.934, 328.28. Hagan won the race at the starting line with a .064-second reaction time compared to Capps’, 0.084.

“I love racing Capps and got a lot of respect for Capps. It felt like the old days back in when we were throwing down and stuff. But you always want to race the best and he's the best right now,” Hagan said. “So, that's what gets me up on the wheel … Me and Capps had a chance to throw down, and he hadn't won a race this year, and I know he was pushing hard, and those guys do a good job over there.

“That's what the fans want to see is a wire-to-wire race, and we got that done.”

Hagan won in the Funny Car class for the 52nd time in his career and his third of the season.

“For me, we're trying to build relationships with our partners, and we have some really great partners with Dodge. We drive the Hellcat Funny Car, and Dodge has been with me for 15 years and won four championships with them and stuff,” Hagan said. “But JHG was on the side of the car this weekend and we had Andy Ross from American Rebel, and he was debuting here, like headlining here with a Stampede of Speed, he was singing.

“Then we had Jason Johnson here, brought his whole family out. We actually flew in on his jet, which looks like the Taj Mahal, man. … But all that is just about building partnerships and relationships and really, really wanted this win for Jason. He's been an avid sponsor of us, even back in my DSR days. Jason has always been, he's like, ‘I believe in you, brother. We got this.’ He's been always pushing us forward and just had a great relationship with him. I really was up on the chip man. I was chewing on my mouthpiece, and I love Ron to death, but I was ready to cut this dude's head off. You know what I mean? I'm like, ‘Let's go.’"

On Sunday, Hagan defeated Bobby Bode, Cruz Pedregon, Dan Wilkerson, and then Capps. Hagan is third in the points standings, 168 points behind leader Austin Prock.

“You feel like you're going in a gladiator, right? This is the last opportunity. This is like rodeo stuff; you know what I mean? It feels like it out here, and that we get to get on this crazy machine and you never know what it's going to do, and you are going to be on fire.

“When I started with Don (Schumacher), I had to put up my locker and there were four firesuits in there. I'm like, ‘This ain't good, man. There are four fire suits in there.’ I was like, ‘Man, I'm probably going to be on fire a lot.’ So, it's just one of those things where this is one of the cool things we get to do is just drive something super unpredictable, and that's why we have so much fun doing it.”

Hagan, an NHRA champion in 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2023, couldn’t speak enough about getting a win for Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage.

“To get this win for Jason and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage and spend the week with him, we went out there and toured his facility, and we got to go out to the ranch this week and just build a lot of relationships. Then to pull down a win tonight with those guys, it was huge,” Hagan said. “So, it's just lives about people, you know what I mean? We can spend a lot of money out here doing a lot of this stuff, but the relationships that we build along the way is what really matters.”

Hagan also realizes reeling in Prock will be no easy task with two races to go. Prock has 13 No. 1 qualifiers this season and seven wins.

​

“Well, I'd love to give you some dramatic stuff to write about, but the only thing where we'll catch Austin is, I think, if he stays at home the next two races. Iit's just ... I'm going to try to figure out how to lock him into his closet or something like that. Pay somebody to tie him up,” Hagan said. “You tip your hat to those guys, man. I mean, they worked hard. They've been No. 1 qualifier 13 times. I have a lot of respect for the kid. He's done a good job driving the car. He's a good wheel man. Just like I said, you show respect where respect's due, and they've done a good job. I don't see us catching them anytime soon. I don't really see anybody catching them anytime soon, but unless he stays home for the next two races.

“So, if we need him to just not go to Pomona, maybe we'll have a shot. But that's racing, man. They did what they're supposed to do, and anything can happen in drag racing. But those guys, they just came out and they outworked everybody. They did something in the offseason. They found stuff that's just probably that we hadn't found and nobody else has found. So, at the end of the day, we have a lot of work to do.”

Hagan is a veteran of world championship chases and being the chaser is a little different role for him.

“Well, it showed you (Sunday) that they're human,” he said of Prock’s team. “Things happen, parts break, people make mistakes. It's a sickening feeling when you have got a truck full of parts and pieces and something breaks like that. So, I've been there. Someone told me one time …‘You can do nothing good or bad that someone else hasn't already done out here on the racetrack.’ So, he said, ‘Quit worrying about it. Just go up there and drive your race car.’ And that really set home with me. Things are going to happen. And they've got a great package, he's a great leader, and they got a tough combo to beat. His dad (Jimmy Prock) does a really good job tuning the car and he does a good job leaving the start line.

“Honestly, I was hoping to race him in the finals. It's one of those things where I get up for that; that drives me. I get back home and I get on a practice tree and my guys are like, ‘Well, you're just old man. He's 28 years old and you're about ready to be 42 in a month.’ And I'm like, ‘No, bro, that doesn't matter.’ And they're like, "Well, you're about ready to have bifocals.’ I'm like, ‘What? I don't want to talk about that.’”