Pair of DSR 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars Qualify in Top-Five for NHRA SummerNationals

Mopar drivers Matt Hagan and Tommy Johnson Jr. qualify in top-five for NHRA Summernationals eliminations at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
Jack Beckman is quickest DSR Funny Car of the day and earns three bonus points for topping third qualifying session
Hagan and the 2015 Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car will face a familiar foe in the opening round of eliminations at Englishtown
Ron Capps leads Funny Car points standing by one point over teammate Hagan heading into Sunday eliminations
Allen Johnson puts his Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar Dodge Dart 11th on the Pro Stock eliminations ladder

Englishtown, New Jersey (Saturday, June 6, 2015) – Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) drivers Matt Hagan and Tommy Johnson Jr. qualified their 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars in the top-five for Sunday’s eliminations at the National Hot Rod Associations (NHRA) Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Hagan took the fourth spot on the eliminations ladder on the strength of his 3.999-second run at 315.05 miles per hour (mph) on Friday evening, while Johnson Jr.’s fifth place position was also secured in the second of four qualifying sessions with a 4.004-second pass and the top speed of the weekend at 315.27 mph.

The top DSR lap of the day was driven by seventh seed Jack Beckman (4.004/313.73) by posting the quickest run of Q2 with a 4.037/ 305.91 for three valuable bonus points.

Hagan earned two extra points on Saturday for posting the third quickest runs of the last two sessions with 4.059/306.53 and 4.052/307.16 passes, bringing him within one point of the points leader and DSR teammate Ron Capps, who posted four solid passes of his own with a best effort of 4.015/313.58 for a ninth place seeding.

Hagan and the 2015 Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car will see a familiar foe in the opposite lane for a first round showdown on Sunday. Hagan defeated John Force in the opening round at Englishtown in both 2014 and 2011 and is looking to make it a three-peat.

“We’re going to have to go out there and run hard, work hard,” said Hagan who will meet up with Force for the 27th time in his career but has an 0 and 2 record against his rival this season. “I understand that John has the ability to put us on the trailer tomorrow but we’re going to do our best not to let that happen. We have to race our race. You can think about John and who else we could race tomorrow but when it comes down to it we have to go down the racetrack and turn the win light on and do it in our own way.”

We’ve had a solid car all weekend,” Hagan added. “(Crew Chief) Dickie (Venables) is just doing a phenomenal job out here. He’s focused. He’s determined. He’s got that look in his eyes this weekend. I know when I strap in the car that I’ve got a great hot rod underneath me and I can’t wait for race day.”

Johnson Jr. will see Force’s teammate Robert Hight as his first match-up on Sunday, while Beckman will face off against Alexis DeJoria and Capps will battle Tim Wilkerson.

Last year’s Pro Stock No. 1 qualifier at Englishtown, Allen Johnson, didn’t see the gains he was hoping for after four qualifying laps aboard the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart produced a best run of 6.534/12.46 to put him 11th on the eliminations ladder, but the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart made two clean runs, and with a few more adjustments, the team expects to see better results on Sunday.

“We’re not quite showing the same improvements that we made over the last two events but we did make some big changes throughout the weekend,” said Johnson who will see Larry Morgan as his first round opponent. “We just have to keep adapting to this new formula and that takes some time. We fell behind because it affected our HEMIs differently than our competitors, but we’ve got to keep trying to make gains until we get back to where we should be. We made a good run today and we should have a good setup for race day.”

In the 12th spot is V. Gaines who ran a clean lap in his Dodge Dart to a best effort of 6.554/212.23 and will line up next to Jason Line in the opening round. The third HEMI-powered entry on the eliminations ladder will be Alan Prusiensky’s Dodge Avenger in the 14th spot. He’ll be matched up with Erica Enders Stevens.