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<\/p>\nSCAG Racing continued to build momentum at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals, with Justin Ashley advancing to the semifinals at Brainerd International Raceway.<\/p>\n
Ashley qualified No. 5 in the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster with a 3.743-second pass at 333.99 mph. In the first round of eliminations, Ashley posted a .038 reaction time and a 3.750 at 331.36 mph to defeat Shawn Reed, who recorded a .109 reaction time and a 4.927 at 148.04 mph. Ashley advanced to the semifinals after defeating Clay Millican in the second round with a .041 reaction time and a 3.793 at 335.57 mph. Millican recorded a .077 reaction time and a 6.390 at 96.30 mph. In the semifinals, Ashley had the starting-line advantage with a .039 reaction time against Doug Kalitta\u2019s .064. Kalitta ultimately took the win with a 3.747 at 329.18 mph, while Ashley recorded a 3.805 at 327.74 mph.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a nice get-healthy weekend for our SCAG Power Equipment team,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful for the opportunity to represent all of the dealers, distributors, owners and users in attendance. We established consistency and gave ourselves a window that we can work with moving forward. We also tested on Monday to get ourselves ready for The Big Go. I am enjoying the new open cockpit car. It\u2019s an adjustment, but more comfort will come in time. Can\u2019t wait to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Smith qualified No. 11 in the BlueBird Turf Top Fuel dragster with a 3.777 at 328.30 mph. Smith faced Leah Pruett in the opening round of eliminations, where he had a .083 reaction time to Pruett\u2019s .060. Smith posted a 3.726 at 330.47 mph, but Pruett\u2019s 3.702 at 341.08 mph gave her the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came up a little short first round, but we set a career best ET for our team, and a personal best for me,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe had the car running great this weekend. I made great runs in qualifying and a great first round, just came up short to Leah\u2019s low ET of the round. We did some testing on Monday. Indy is coming up in two weeks, and we\u2019re really excited for the progress we\u2019ve made here and the way the car is running. We\u2019re just gonna keep getting quicker and faster. It\u2019s been a great weekend for SCAG Racing here, and we\u2019ve had a great time with all of our dealers and customers this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Funny Car, Daniel Wilkerson qualified No. 4 with a 3.902-second pass at 322.81 mph, giving the SCAG Power Equipment team another strong starting position heading into eliminations. Wilkerson faced Bobby Bode in the opening round and got the advantage off the starting line with a .052 reaction time compared to Bode\u2019s .092. However, Wilkerson\u2019s car went up in smoke immediately at the hit, forcing him to click it off. Wilkerson recorded a 7.925 at 101.02 mph, while Bode posted a 4.483 at 206.99 mph to take the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most frustrating parts about drag racing is when you drag the thing up there, trying to go a low to mid 3.90, not like we were trying to go 3.85, and it just laughs in your face,\u201d Wilkerson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just frustrating when you have such a good car all weekend long, and you take it up there, similar to how it\u2019s been, and it flips you the bird. But our team had a strong weekend, and I know we\u2019ve got something for them at Indy. We\u2019re going to make a couple adjustments to make our window a little bit bigger, and the whole SCAG Power Equipment team will be something to be feared.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Richards qualified No. 9 in Funny Car with a 3.924-second pass at 327.66 mph. Richards faced Alexis DeJoria in the opening round and posted a .104 reaction time, while DeJoria left with a .075. Richards went up in smoke early and clicked it off, recording a 5.358 at 135.63 mph. DeJoria posted a 3.927 at 328.14 mph to advance.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot the results we wanted first round,\u201d Richards said. \u201cWe stayed Monday to make a couple test laps to be ready for Indy. I\u2019m still super confident and excited for the future and for the next race with this team. We\u2019re really progressing well, and it\u2019s been an amazing weekend here with another packed SCAG tent as well as all the military members still coming and signing these cars.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action September 2-7 for the 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on August 26, 2026. <\/p>\n
The post Justin Ashley Leads SCAG Racing to Semifinals at NHRA Brainerd Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SCAG Racing continued to build momentum at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals, with Justin Ashley advancing to the semifinals at Brainerd International Raceway. Ashley qualified No. 5 in the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster with a 3.743-second pass at 333.99 mph. In the first round of eliminations, Ashley posted a .038 reaction time and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}