Matt Hagan wants to stay on top of Funny Car mountain heading into Denver this weekend

By Jul 22, 2015, 6:00 AM EDT
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Defending Funny Car champ Matt Hagan (Photo courtesy NHRA)

When you reach the top of the mountain, not only do you enjoy the view, the last thing you want to do is head down.

That’s how defending NHRA Funny Car champ – and current points leader – Matt Hagan is approaching this weekend’s 35th annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals in the Denver suburb of Morrison, Colo.

Hagan climbed the Funny Car mountain with a strong run in the six-race Countdown to the Championship, eventually toppling 16-time champ John Force. It was Hagan’s second Funny Car title in four seasons, having done so the first time in 2011.

And Hagan has shown no signs of letting up in 2015.

Through the first 13 races of the 24-race Funny Car schedule, Hagan has a series-high four wins and leads second-ranked Ron Capps by a 178 points. He’s 189 points ahead of the third-place tie of Jack Beckman and Del Worsham by 189 points each, and leads fifth-ranked John Force by a whopping 223 points.

This weekend has special meaning for Hagan, as race sponsor Mopar is also one of the primary sponsors on his super-fast Dodge Charger Funny Car. Hagan has never won in Denver, but he’s hoping for a Rocky Mountain high by the time Sunday’s final eliminations are over.

“Obviously this is a huge race for Mopar and they’re one of my primary sponsors, so this is an event I want to win really bad for them,” Hagan said in an NHRA media release. “I just haven’t done it yet.

“It’s so tricky and you never know what you’re going to get with the challenges of this track and race. But everybody is in the same boat and I would love nothing more than to win it this year.”

This weekend is the start of the NHRA’s annual three-race “Western Swing.” A good run this weekend can give a team momentum it can ride through next week in Sonoma (Calif.), and two weeks from now in suburban Seattle.

A winner of 18 national events, Hagan has won four this season: the season opener at Pomona, as well as Phoenix, Englishtown and Bristol.

Those four wins are equal to what Hagan did last season – and there’s still 11 races left on the schedule.

He also finished second last week in Joliet, Ill., losing to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tommy Johnson Jr.

This weekend’s host track, Bandimere Speedway, presents challenges to drivers not only because of the racing surface, but also because it’s the only track on the circuit that is a mile high in elevation (5,800 feet) and altitude.

“If I have any shot of getting it done (winning for the first time at Bandimere) this is going to be the year,” Hagan said. “We’ve put on a good (title) defense this year, and up to this point we’ve raced well and raced smart.

“We’ve capitalized on some mistakes and had some luck as well. But one mistake and things can change quickly. You just have to make good decisions and feel comfortable in the car. That confidence from my crew chief gives me confidence as a driver. Hopefully we can have that momentum built up and it all rolls downhill from there.”

But it won’t be easy for Hagan to break through, especially against John Force Racing, which has 11 combined career wins at Bandimere, including an event record six victories by John Force and three by teammate Robert Hight.

“This sport has, hands down, been the most humbling I’ve been a part of,” Hagan said. “You can do it all right and still lose. But I’ve got a great car underneath me and it all comes down to my crew chief and team. To come out and after a championship like this is huge, but you still have to prove it during the Countdown.

“We want to carry that momentum with us,” Hagan said. “We had a big points day in Chicago and we definitely want to keep all the momentum going over the next four to five races. In Denver you have to try some stuff and see if it works.”

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Strong rebounds for Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi amid some disappointments in the Indy 500

By May 28, 2023, 10:00 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou had not turned a wheel wrong the entire Month of May at the Indy 500 until Rinus VeeKay turned a wheel into the Chip Ganassi Racing pole-sitter leaving pit road on Lap 94.

“There is nothing I could have done there,” Palou told NBC Sports. “It’s OK, when it is my fault or the team’s fault because everybody makes mistakes. But when there is nothing, you could have done differently there, it feels bad and feels bad for the team.”

Marcus Ericsson was a master at utilizing the “Tail of the Dragon” move that breaks the draft of the car behind him in the closing laps to win last year’s Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, however, the last of three red flags in the final 16 laps of the race had the popular driver from Sweden breathing fire after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden beat him at his own game on the final lap to win the Indianapolis 500.

Despite the two disappointments, team owner Chip Ganassi was seen on pit road fist-bumping a member on his four-car team in this year’s Indianapolis 500 after his drivers finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh in the tightly contested race.

Those are pretty good results, but at the Indianapolis 500, there is just one winner and 32 losers.

“There is only one winner, but it was a hell of a show,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Chip Ganassi Racing consultant Dario Franchitti told NBC Sports. “Alex was very fast, and he got absolutely caught out in somebody else’s wreck. There was nothing he could have done, but he and the 10 car, great recovery.

“Great recovery by all four cars because at half distance, we were not looking very good.”

After 92 laps, the first caution flew for Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing hitting the Turn 1 wall.

During pit stops on Lap 94, Palou had left his stall when the second-place car driven by VeeKay ran into him, putting Palou’s Honda into the wall. The car sustained a damaged front wing, but the Chip Ganassi crew was able to get him back in the race on the lead lap but in 28th position.

Palou ultimately would fight his way to a fourth-place finish in a race the popular Spaniard could have won. His displeasure with VeeKay, whom he sarcastically called “a legend” on his team radio after the incident, was evident.

“The benefit of being on pole is you can drive straight and avoid crashes, and he was able to crash us on the side on pit lane, which is pretty tough to do, but he managed it,” Palou told NBC Sports. “Hopefully next year we are not beside him. Hopefully, next year we have a little better luck.”

Palou started on the pole and led 36 laps, just three fewer than race leader Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing.

“We started really well, was managing the fuel as we wanted, our car was pretty good,” Palou said. “Our car wasn’t great, we dropped to P4 or P5, but we still had some good stuff.

“On the pit stop, the 21 (VeeKay) managed to clip us. Nothing we could have done there. It was not my team’s fault or my fault.

“We had to drop to the end. I’m happy we made it back to P4. We needed 50 more laps to make it happen, but it could have been a lot worse after that contact.

“I learned a lot, running up front at the beginning and in mid-pack and then the back. I learned a lot.

“It feels amazing when you win it and not so good when things go wrong. We were a bit lucky with so many restarts at the end to make it back to P4 so I’m happy with that.”

Palou said the front wing had to be changed and the toe-in was a bit off, but he still had a fast car.

In fact, his Honda was the best car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all month. His pole-winning four lap average speed of 234.217 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a record for this fabled race.

Palou looked good throughout the race, before he had to scratch and claw and race his way back to the top-five after he restarted 28th.

In the Indianapolis 500, however, the best car doesn’t always win.

“It’s two years in a row that we were leading the race at the beginning and had to drop to last,” Palou said. “Maybe next year, we will start in the middle of the field and go on to win the race.

“I know he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s better to let that pass someday.”

Palou said the wild racing at the end was because the downforce package used in Sunday’s race means the drivers have to be aggressive. The front two cars can battle for the victory, but cars back in fourth or fifth place can’t help determine the outcome of the race.

That is when the “Tail of the Dragon” comes into the play.

Franchitti helped celebrate Ericsson’s win in 2022 with his “Tail of the Dragon” zigzag move – something he never had to do in any of his three Indianapolis 500 victories because they all finished under caution.

In 2023, however, IndyCar Race Control wants to make every attempt to finish the race under green, without going past the scheduled distance like NASCAR’s overtime rule.

Instead of extra laps, they stop the race with a red flag, to create a potential green-flag finish condition.

“You do what you have to do to win within the rules, and it’s within the rules, so you do it,” Franchitti said. “The race is 200 laps and there is a balance.

“Marcus did a great job on that restart and so did Josef. It was just the timing of who was where and that was it.

“If you knew it was going to go red, you would have hung back on the lap before.

“Brilliant job by the whole Ganassi organization because it wasn’t looking very good at half-distance.

“Full marks to Josef Newgarden and Team Penske.”

Franchitti is highly impressed by how well Ericsson works with CGR engineer Brad Goldberg and how close this combination came to winning the Indianapolis 500 two-years-in-a-row.

It would have been the first back-to-back Indy 500 winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.

“Oh, he’s a badass,” Franchitti said Ericsson. “He proved it last year. He is so calm all day. What more do you need? As a driver, he’s fast and so calm.”

Ericsson is typically in good spirits and jovial.

He was stern and direct on pit road after the race.

“I did everything right, I did an awesome restart, caught Josef off-guard and pulled away,” Ericsson said on pit lane. “It’s hard to pull away a full lap and he got me back.

“I’m mostly disappointed with the way he ended. I don’t think it was fair and safe to do that restart straight out of the pits on cold tires for everyone.

“To me, it was not a good way to end that race.

“Congrats to Josef. He didn’t do anything wrong. He is a worthy champion, but it shouldn’t have ended like that.”

Palou also didn’t understand the last restart, which was a one-start showdown.

“I know that we want to finish under green,” Palou said. “Maybe the last restart I did, I didn’t understand. It didn’t benefit the CGR team.

“I’m not very supportive of the last one, but anyway.”

Dixon called the red flags “a bit sketchy.”

“The Red Flags have become a theme to the end of the race, but sometimes they can catch you out,” Dixon said. “I know Marcus is frustrated with it.

“All we ask for is consistency. I think they will do better next time.

“It’s a tough race. People will do anything they can to win it and with how these reds fall, you have to be in the right place at the right time. The problem is when they throw a Red or don’t throw a Red dictates how the race will end.

“It’s a bloody hard race to win. Congrats to Josef Newgarden and to Team Penske.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500