![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Leah.jpg\")
Pruett went on to secure the Thunder Valley Nationals No. 1 qualifying position, the 17th of her career, second of the season before having a second-round exit during Sunday\u2019s eliminations. The Dodge Top Fuel team continues to impress reaching the midway point of the season, not having conceded a first-round loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe specifically in the car this year, having to re-calibrate myself \u2013 my emotions, my intensity, my focus. We came up with a plan. We had a crew chief-driver full conversation intervention that was data-backed. You can\u2019t have perfection without progress,\u201d said Pruett \u201cI\u2019ve been working on my reaction times. I\u2019ve been working at getting them in the low .070s, coming into this weekend in Norwalk, hopefully I\u2019ll live in the .060s. That\u2019s been the systematic strategic goal. We\u2019re not going to win a championship .072-ing them to death. That\u2019s not going to work. My team is giving me the best race car, and I\u2019ve got to get those lights down so that I can give them my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last time Pruett raced at SMP was in 2023 when she dominated the weekend as the Top Fuel No. 1 qualifier and went on to win the event for her 11th career victory defeating Kyle Wurtzel, Mike Salinas, Austin Prock and Justin Ashley along the way.<\/p>\n
Pruett will start competition this weekend lined up against a familiar foe in qualifying, her husband, Tony Stewart.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we go to Norwalk, Tony and I will be against each other in Q1 as we have been for a number of races,\u201d Pruett said. \u201cTrust me, fans, we\u2019re not trying to not run each other. We\u2019re trying to run each other just later on in the day on Sundays.\u201d<\/p>\n Pruett\u2019s Funny Car teammate Matt Hagan is also coming of a victorious weekend. The four-time world champion dominated the Thunder Valley Nationals entering race day as the No. 1 qualifier. He defeated Jon Capps, earned a bye run into the semi-finals where he took down two-time and reigning world champion Austin Prock before denying Daniel Wilkerson his first career Funny Car victory.<\/p>\n \u201cThe win in Bristol had so much excitement, especially with the JHG crew being there and then attending their open house last Friday near Nashville. It was great to get to celebrate with everyone and it really made it come full circle,\u201d Hagan said. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely carrying momentum into Norwalk, which seems to be another hot tricky racetrack sometimes, but you know one thing about SMP and (track owner) Bill Bader is they put on an awesome event. They\u2019ll fill the stands and that\u2019s why we have to make sure we put on a great show.\u201d<\/p>\n Hagan\u2019s win at Bristol Dragway extended to 14 the number of consecutive seasons in which he has won multiple events in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. He first hoisted the NHRA 75th Anniversary Diamond Wally alongside team owner Tony Stewart earlier this year at the Winternationals. The 57-time event winner has had only one first-round exit so far this season and his No.1 qualifying position also extended his streak of seasons with at least one start from the top spot to 14.<\/p>\n \u201cThe momentum and success so far this year has been great,\u201d said Hagan who jumped from fourth to second in the Funny Car points standings with his last win. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in some really difficult conditions and I think that\u2019s why you\u2019ve seen different winners throughout the season, there\u2019s not just been somebody that\u2019s just dominating. Our team has done a really impressive job of adapting. Hopefully that reigns true this weekend in Ohio too.\u201d<\/p>\n Off the dragstrip, Hagan will be participating in the intense and entertaining ice cream eating contest that has become synonymous with SMP and the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been training. My son has been helping me, feeding me ice cream between push-ups and sit-ups, between sets on the punching bags. We\u2019ve been watching past contests and taking notes. It\u2019s going to be a big ordeal,\u201d Hagan said. \u201cCompetition is competition. I don\u2019t care if we\u2019re eating ice cream, racing lawn mowers or Fuel Funny Cars, winning is winning. Have to get those bragging rights. Jianna [Evaristo] (Pro Stock Motorcycle) is the reigning three-time champ, we\u2019ve got to take her down. Time for a regime change. I think I got this. I mean a pint of ice cream is a handful to me so let\u2019s go!\u201d<\/p>\n Competition at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park begins with four rounds of qualifying Friday at 5 and 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at Noon and 2:30 p.m. Eliminations are slated for Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Television coverage of the event will be on Sunday with a qualifying show at noon ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will air Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX.<\/p>\n This story was originally published on June 25, 2026. The post Pruett and Hagan Look to Continue Winning Ways at Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tony Stewart Racing hits the halfway mark of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season with this weekend\u2019s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park (SMP). Leah Pruett and her Dodge\/\/SRT Top Fuel team will be looking for their second win of the season while Matt Hagan and the Dodge\/\/SRT Hellcat Funny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Hagan.jpg\")
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