En route to their fourth victory in the specialty race, Justin Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster team won the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge championship for the second consecutive year Saturday at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
In its second season, the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge is a rematch of semifinalists from the previous event. The specialty race is competed during Saturday qualifying and awards a cash prize as well as bonus championship points.
“We take the Mission Foods Challenge very seriously. It’s important for a number of reasons,” Ashley said. “Obviously, we want to run well because it’s a part of qualifying and help position ourselves well for Raceday but it’s also points that are going to be added on before the countdown starts, which is super important to us. We’ll take it, whatever advantage that’s going to give us before we head into the Countdown to the Championship. Every point that we collect is just of the utmost importance. I think it’s critical, so we’re happy to get those extra points.”
With his first-round win in the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the U.S. Nationals, Ashley and the SCAG Toyota team secured the 2024 Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge championship. Ashley ran a 3.739-second pass at 332.84 mph to defeat Josh hart who ran into tire smoke to go only 4.482 at 174.48. Ashley then went on to defeat Top Fuel rookie, Ida Zetterstrom in a pedalfest. Ashley drove through tire smoke for a 4.085 run at 260.01 bettering Zetterstrom’s 4.541 at 171.55.
Ashley earned a total of 13 bonus championship points with four victories. Wins for Ashley and the SCAG team in the Saturday specialty race came at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals, Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, Northwest Nationals in Seattle and today’s Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals.
“Super happy for the team, happy for the guys and everybody at SCAG Power Equipment. We’ll enjoy it, but then we have to shift our focus to tomorrow,” Ashley said. “These races are decided by such close margins now and as you get closer to the end of the year, it’s every point matters, from qualifying to these Mission points.”
Ashley is currently qualified No. 7 at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals with a 3.738-second pass at 332.84 mph.
Qualifying continues Sunday with two sessions at 1:20 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eliminations are slated for Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Television coverage continues with a second qualifying show Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations begin Monday at noon on FS1 and shift to FOX Broadcasting Network (FOX) at 2:00 p.m. ET.
This story was originally published on August 31, 2024. 
