Justin Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster team picked up their first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory of the season Saturday at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.
Ashley, who tallied six #2Fast2Tasty wins in 2023, picked up the win with his best run of qualifying at 3.701 seconds and 334.32 mph bettering Steve Torrence who runnered-up (3.740 at 332.43), Josh Hart who was third (3.796 at 318.17) and Antron Brown who had trouble getting down the track (5.717 at 119.51).
Ashley, the Top Fuel points leader, made his way to the finals of the Challenge by winning his first quad of the day with a 3.739-second pass at 321.35 mph to advance with Brown (3.763 at 324.12).
“I thought it was a great day today. Yesterday, we fell behind a little bit. We wanted to run a little bit better, a little bit quicker. So it was important for us to come out here today and start to set a new tone for ourselves,” Ashley said. “We had a nice 3.739 earlier in the day and running that 3.701 was really important for our team. It gives us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s qualifying or if it’s the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, we want to win each and every lap that we make down the race track. This is a testament to the team we have. Mike Green, Tommy DeLago, and this whole SCAG team, they do a great job and have been working hard, really since the offseason, putting us in a position to win,” Ashley continued. “If it’s a race, event or challenge, it’s equally tough to win because the Top Fuel field is just that good. Just really proud of the guys and happy to be a part of it.”
Ashley’s 3.701 not only earned him valuable championship points and a cash prize, but also bumped him up to No. 3 in the qualifying order. He’ll take on motorsports legend Tony Stewart (No. 6), Doug Foley (No. 11) and Dan Mercier (No. 14) in the first round of eliminations.
In Funny Car, Daniel Wilkerson and the SCAG Ford Mustang improved his career best elapsed time from Friday night to a 3.910 second pass in the third qualifying session. He sits No. 10 and will race against Bob Tasca III, Paul Lee and Jim Campbell in round 1. Dave Richards and the Versatran / BlueBird Funny Car team qualified No. 14 on a 4.035 pass at 285.65 from the final qualifying session and will match up with points leader Austin Prock, Matt Hagan and Blake Alexander.
Eliminations at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway are slated to begin Sunday at noon. Television Coverage of the event will be on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with a qualifying show Sunday at 11 a.m. ET and an eliminations show to follow at 6 p.m. ET.
This story was originally published on April 28, 2024. 
