This season marks the fourth year in the Countdown to the Championship for 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year Justin Ashley and the third time he\u2019s led at some point during the playoffs in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the points leader heading into this weekend\u2019s 16th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at state-of-the-art zMAX Dragway, the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship. But it\u2019s hardly a huge advantage, as Ashley leads by just a single point over Reading winner Antron Brown and only six points over Reading runner-up Shawn Langdon.<\/p>\n
Ashley, though, continues to be in the championship conversation in his 11,000-horsepower Scag Power Equipment\/Toyota dragster, a sign of the progress Ashley and his team continue to make. He qualified No. 1 and advanced to the semifinals in Reading and the lessons learned in previous years may mean Ashley is as ready as ever to find success this weekend in Charlotte for the first time and perhaps, ultimately, win his first NHRA Top Fuel world championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not on your \u2018A,\u2019 you\u2019re going to be sent home early. That\u2019s just the way it is now,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cWhen the competition is as good as it is, anything can happen. It is just legitimately that good right now and that helps you stay focused because if you\u2019re not, see you later, we\u2019ll see you the next race. So, that focus is always there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been knocking on that door (to win a championship), but it\u2019s time to try and break that door down. It\u2019s not going to be easy because the competition is legitimately that good. We feel like this is a great opportunity. We\u2019ve got a championship team and this is a great opportunity to try and finish the deal. But we\u2019ve got a healthy understanding of how difficult it is and how difficult that\u2019s going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season, Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all picked up wins at the fall race in Charlotte and this year\u2019s race will again be broadcast on FS1, including eliminations coverage starting at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.<\/p>\n
It is the 16th of 20 races during the 2024 season and things are as tight as ever following the first of six playoff races. That means the intensity will be high in Charlotte, as a flurry of championship contenders look to get back in the mix, while the likes of Ashley, Brown and Langdon will try to build a healthy lead.<\/p>\n
Reigning world champion Kalitta, who lost in the opening round in Reading, is 33 points out of first, while the likes of four-time world champ Steve Torrence, Indy winner Clay Millican, racing legend Tony Stewart and eight-time Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher are still very much in the hunt.<\/p>\n
Ashley remains a major threat and appears to be peaking at the perfect time, winning in Brainerd and performing well in Reading. He\u2019s racing against the guys he grew up watching, but the young standout is as dangerous as anyone, especially with an experienced team guiding the way. A first career victory at zMAX Dragway would also go a long way in strengthening Ashley\u2019s title chances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m lining up against the guys I tried to model my driving career after and that\u2019s pretty neat, whether it\u2019s Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta, of course Antron Brown,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool just to have the opportunity to line up against the best in the world at what they do. It\u2019s amazing and to be here right now is pretty phenomenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be ups and downs, but we have a very experienced team. No matter what happens \u2013 win or lose \u2013 we\u2019re going to stay steady and focus on the objective and the job at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Funny Car, Tasca will try to win his second straight fall race at zMAX Dragway following last year\u2019s success. Currently second in points, Tasca is trying to chase down leader Austin Prock, who has six wins in 2024. Others to watch include defending world champ and 4-Wide winner Matt Hagan, Ron Capps, J.R. Todd and Alexis DeJoria.<\/p>\n
Pro Stock\u2019s Anderson would love to repeat last year\u2019s fall race victory as he sits fourth in points behind defending world champion Erica Enders, Dallas Glenn and points leader Aaron Stanfield, who won the playoff opener and has five victories in 2024.<\/p>\n
Gaige Herrera has won three straight races at zMAX Dragway, sweeping both events last year. He\u2019ll look to do the same in 2024, too, as the points leader won in the spring and aims to hold off the likes of Matt Smith, Reading winner Hector Arana Jr. and Richard Gadson.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on September 18, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post Top Fuel Points Leader Justin Ashley Looks for First Charlotte Win at NHRA Carolina Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This season marks the fourth year in the Countdown to the Championship for 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year Justin Ashley and the third time he\u2019s led at some point during the playoffs in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. He\u2019s the points leader heading into this weekend\u2019s 16th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96021","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"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}