JOLIET, Ill. (May 18, 2024) – Justin Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster team rallied to their second Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the year Saturday while qualifying for the Gerber Glass & Collision Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.
Ashley would get his eighth overall #2Fast2Fasty Challenge win with a clean 3.831-second pass at 320.05 mph to defeat Clay Millican and his 6.120 at 10.222 after smoking the tires.
“We’ve been fortunate to have a lot success in the Challenge. It feels great but it’s tough to pinpoint one thing that we did to make this happen today,” Ashley said. “The only thing I’ll say is I think it’s good because it helps us to get into raceday mode. In these races, I’m not necessarily trying to race the other person, just trying to make the best run I can make. As a team, we keep chipping away at it. We struggled a bit at the start of the year, but the guys worked hard and they were able to turn this thing around. So whether it’s qualifying, the Mission Foods Challenge or race day, we want to win each and every round, so this was a fun one today.
“When we ran that 3.83 in the final, I felt good. That was a great last lap. The conditions were tricky, but it was similar conditions to what we’re going to face tomorrow,” Ashley continued. “It’s going to be even trickier, but we have extra motivation this weekend with all of the SCAG employees that have come down from Metalcraft of Mayville. The pitbox, the stands, hospitality, they were filled so I’m feeling really good heading into tomorrow.”
Before reaching the finals, Ashley took down Antron Brown in the first round. Ashley would have a 3.942 second pass at 296.37 mph bettering Brown’s 4.082 at 258.42 after he had to pedal it. Ashley will start race day at Route 66 Raceway in the No. 14 spot off his winning 3.831 pass. He’ll face a tough matchup with reigning world champion Doug Kalitta in the first round of eliminations.
In Funny Car, Daniel Wilkerson and the SCAG Power Equipment Ford Mustang will start race day from the No. 9 spot off a 3.962 second pass 321.58 mph from Friday night that ended in an explosion. They’d pull out a new car for Saturday qualifying and go 4.178 and 4.615.
Dave Richards and the Versatran / BlueBird car will start race day from the No. 15 spot off a 4.316 second pass at 225.15. They’ll line up against Bob Tasca III in the first round.
Eliminations at the Gerber Glass & Collision Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway are slated to begin at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event continues on FOX Sport 1 (FS1) with a second qualifying show Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Eliminations will feature two shows Sunday at 4 and 10 p.m. ET.
