Hagan grabs No. 3 in Vegas qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 6 of 23
11th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
April 16-18, 2010

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

HAGAN GRABS NO. 3 IN VEGAS QUALIFYING

LAS VEGAS (April 17, 2010) - Fresh from his first Funny Car victory in
Houston last Sunday, Matt Hagan is still riding high, qualifying the DieHard
Dodge Charger Funny Car in No. 3 for Sunday's eliminations at the 11th
annual NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

He stayed in the top half of the field through four qualifying rounds,
recording his best, a 4.217-second lap at 297.16 during the cooler Friday
evening session. His other passes included a 4.510/206.35 (No. 5), and
4.332/257.97 (No. 2) and 4.268/288.58 in today's final runs. He earned six
bonus points for his efforts as the second quickest in three rounds.

"We have a really good race car," said Hagan. "We were hoping for a little
bit more in that last run; it felt pretty good. It's going down the race
track and that's all we can hope for in these hot conditions. It's
definitely going to lead into another race like Houston, I think (which he
won in a pedalfest on a hot track). It's going to be hot out there, it's
going to be greasy. First round might have the best conditions you're going
to see and then we'll probably have to start pedaling these cars again as it
gets hotter and hotter.

"I'm going to bed knowing that we have the potential to go out there and do
well. We've been running good, we've got a great car, the DieHard team's
doing great, and I can't wait to be on RaceDay on ESPN2 in the morning (at
10 a.m. ET).²

Hagan faces Jeff Arend (his final-round opponent in Houston) in first round
of Sunday's eliminations.

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