If NHRA drivers are anything, they are creatures of habit.

Well, those drivers will have to alter their routines because for the first time in decades and decades and decades the 2023 season will not start in mid-February with the Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., but rather the Gatornationals March 9-12 in Gainesville, Fla.

The change-up in the slate has the attention of world champion nitro Funny Car driver Matt Hagan of Tony Stewart Racing.

“I don't know, for me it's just got a feel to it and it's like, you know, they start the year there (in Pomona) and they crown the champion there (at the end of the season),” Hagan said. “So yeah, it's definitely got a different feel to it. It is weird testing in Florida. I haven't tested yet, but we're going to here shortly. We're usually out in Arizona in Phoenix testing. It just kind of changes everything up. I don't think it'll hurt our results. It just kind of got a different feel to it for sure.”

Adapting to change is something Hagan came to grips with in the COVID-19 marred NHRA season in 2020.

“I think that COVID (season) prepared me to just kind of go with the flow,” Hagan said. “We were just running and gunning and racing as hard as we could. And then they would tell us, we're going to race this weekend and then cancel it. So, after going through COVID, it kind of prepares you for anything because 10, 12 years before that, everything was just so structured, and everything happened the same on time and you get in the groove. Then, the year I won the championship when we were doing COVID, it was just like you never knew when the season was going to end. You didn't know which race you were going to go to. They'd book plane tickets for this, and we'd do that and then they'd have to cancel them and stuff.

“I think after getting through that, this just little bit of a change is probably not that big of a deal. But we are creatures of habit and it's one of those things where you do get in a rhythm and a routine, and I'm not used to having this much off time. I've been grateful for that to spend more time with my kids and around the farms and stuff. But I'm ready to go man. We've had almost an extra month.”

Hagan definitely isn’t sitting around his house with nothing to do.

“They're pulling so many directions here with my CBD business and my farm stuff and my meat company and then the kids' stuff and playing daddy daycare when I can and trying to take the workload off my wife, running kids around and stuff,” Hagan said. “So, it's just super nice for me because when I'm home, I really try hard to ease the burden off her and spend the time with my kids and take them to school and pick them up and run them to sports and all that kind of stuff. So that extra month has been really nice.”

It was announced recently that Hagan’s Dodge Funny Car and his teammate Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett will be sporting some prime in sublime paint schemes in 2023 something Hagan likes.

“It has been good feedback and I think that everybody really likes it and it's really cool, and it pops man when it's out there,” he said. 

Hagan also is anxious to defend his Gatornationals title in March.

“Last year was the first time I won it (the Gatornationals), man. So, it was a first TSR win,” Hagan said. “It was a huge win for me last year because I think other than Sonoma (Calif.), that's the only racetrack I haven't won at. So, it's like checking the Gators off was big for me, and plus it was Tony's first win, and all the Dodge guys were there, and it just overall was a great way to start the season last year for us. The plan is to go back and win it again.”