A happy Matt Hagan.

"It's a big win for us, to get into the Traxxas Shootout," he said. "It's been more than a year since we won. It's been too long. That feeling is great to have back. Obviously we don't want this to go away. Our guys our great, we have a couple of them here with their first win and we're making memories that are going to last forever."  

Hagan couldn't help but think how far they've come since 2012 when they came up short in four final-round appearances and didn't qualify for NHRA's Countdown to the Championship six-event playoff.  

"You start fresh every year with a new slate," he said. "I've had so much success at Don Schumacher Racing so early in my career. We just came off a world championship in 2011 and we came out and fell right on our face (last year).   

"That's brutal. You're expected to rise to the occasion and it just wasn't there. The biggest thing that I learned from that was keeping my guys' morale up. That taught me a lot last year, to go through that struggle. It was very, very humbling. When we get these wins, you really have to enjoy them because they aren't easy to get."  

For Tim Wilkerson, a good day was already in the bank when he pulled up to run in that third and final round, but a great day eluded him when tire spin caused him to finish third in the four-driver group. What could've been a win, or at least the equivalent to a normal final round, was instead a semifinal finish that was earned with the drama of a final.

"This four-wide race is a crazy deal, but, man, the fans sure seemed to like it and we had great crowds when it wasn't pouring rain on us,” said Tim Wilkerson. “The funniest thing I noticed this time was that the two drivers and teams that advanced each round would kind of celebrate together down there at the end of the track. First, you get out of your car and you want to know if you were first or second, and then when you learn you are, and the other guy hears he's moving on too, everyone hugs and high-fives down there. When you race one-on-one, that doesn't happen. Kind of a neat deal, and like I said the fans sure seem to like it so that's good.