Mopar-backed driver Matt Hagan begins the 2018 NHRA Countdown to the Championship in second place with six races remaining. 

Motorsports | September 14 2018

Six races with everything on the line

The first seven months of the 2018 NHRA season contained plenty of highlights for the Mopar- and Dodge-backed drivers in the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes. Among them:

  • Matt Hagan debuts the redesigned 2019 Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car body in Denver, and drives it into the final round at Indianapolis.
  • Leah Pritchett scores two event championships in her Mopar Dodge HEMI Top Fuel car, while teammate Tony Schumacher notches one event championship.
  • Hagan leads the Funny Car quartet at Don Schumacher Racing with three event championships, as teammates Jack Beckman and Ron Capps collect two Wally trophies and Tommy Johnson Jr. stays in the hunt with two runner-up finishes.

But everything is on the line for the final six races of the season, the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.

The top 10 drivers in the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes made the cut and the points have been reset to close up the field ahead of race one, the Dodge NHRA Nationals near Reading, Pennsylvania, this coming weekend.

In Funny Car, Hagan begins the Countdown in second place, trailing Courtney Force by 20 points. Capps is in fourth, Beckman in sixth and Johnson in seventh. See the standings here.

Mopar and Dodge-backed Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett begins the 2018 NHRA Countdown to the Championship in fourth place.

In Top Fuel, Schumacher starts in third place, 30 points behind Steve Torrence, with Pritchett in fourth, 40 points out of the lead spot. See the standings here.

Heading into this weekend, just 100 points separate the leader from 10th place in each class. Since a driver can collect a maximum of 120 points in a race weekend, except for the finals in Pomona, California, in November where the max is 180 points, every Mopar driver has a shot at taking home the season title.

With the pressure to win increasing, you can get a closer look at what motivates the Mopar-backed DSR drivers in the Chasing the Title video series at dodgegarage.com and on the Dodge YouTube channel. Keep watching for new episodes.

If you can, get to the drag strip to see/hear/feel the championship battle as it rages or watch the action on Fox Sports 1. Dodgegarage.com will also keep you updated.

Mopar or No Car!

Dale Jewett
Do you know your blood type? Mine is 100 octane (not your standard blood bank classification). At any given moment, I’m thinking about cars – driving one, fixing one, buying one or (in my dreams) restoring one. So I love to tell stories that involve horsepower, brake and wheel diameters
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Do you know your blood type? Mine is 100 octane (not your standard blood bank classification). At any given moment, I’m thinking about cars – driving one, fixing one, buying one or (in my dreams) restoring one. So I love to tell stories that involve horsepower, brake and wheel diameters and 0-to-60 times – and the people who make it happen. Because behind every awesome vehicle are amazing people with vision and the desire to make it a reality. I cover Mopar, Dodge, SRT and motorsports for Stellantis Digital Media. I learned to drive on a 1973 Jeep CJ-5 with the rare Super Jeep option package and three-speed manual transmission. I still belong to the dwindling club of people who prefer to shift their own gears, and think the best way to drive is with the top down!