Top Fuel’s Justin Ashley clinched his first No. 1 qualifier of the season on Saturday at Maple Grove Raceway, taking the top spot in front of a sellout crowd at the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.
Austin Prock (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the 15th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It is the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Ashley’s run of 3.713s at 333.49mph from Friday in his Scag Power Equipment/Toyota dragster stayed atop the field, giving the former NHRA Rookie of the Year his sixth career No. 1 qualifier and second straight at Maple Grove Raceway. Currently second in points, Ashley also made the quickest run to close out qualifying on Saturday and will open eliminations against Smax Smith, looking for his first career win at his home track.
“For the most part, today’s focus was going to be on getting ready for race day and collecting those bonus points. What we saw today was probably similar conditions to what we’ll see tomorrow,” Ashley said. “I think the team learned a lot, they did a great job to be able to collect a total of five bonus points today was critical for us. Tomorrow is a brand new day. It’s really important to qualify No. 1, but at the same time the competition is just so good right now, anything can happen.
“Those bonus points are very important. It’s not everything, but it does add up. You collect a point here and there and together, they could mean a lot.”
Tony Schumacher qualified second with a 3.733s at 328.70mph and points leader Doug Kalitta finished in the third spot after going 3.733s at 328.70mph.
In Funny Car, points leader Austin Prock continued his incredible qualifying run, securing his 11th No. 1 qualifier in 15 races thanks to Friday’s spectacular pass of 3.849s at 338.43mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS. He’s now only two No. 1 qualifiers away from tying John Force and Tony Schumacher for the most No. 1 qualifiers in a single season in the nitro categories in NHRA history. He also added a strong run in front of the capacity crowd to close out qualifying and Prock, who won at Maple Grove Raceway in 2022 in Top Fuel, opens eliminations against Mike Smith, looking for his sixth victory of the season.
“These guys are giving me an outstanding car,” Prock said. “All I can do is screw up qualifying and I’ve been doing an okay job of not doing that. My dad, Thomas, Nate, this whole Cornwell Tools team are pretty incredible this season.
“We just have to do what we’ve been doing all year long. We have to execute exactly how we did all season long, change nothing and see how the cards fall. We’re racing lights out right now and I feel like we’re making the best runs we’re capable of making consistently. If we all do our best, that should be good enough to win.”
Alexis DeJoria qualified second with a 3.867s at 336.40mph, while Prock’s JFR teammate, Jack Beckman, took third after his pass of 3.869s at 330.80mph.
Pro Stock points leader Dallas Glenn impressed the sellout crowd on Saturday in Reading, making a huge run of 6.530s at 209.43mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro, picking up the No. 1 spot for the second time this season and the sixth time in his career. Glenn made the biggest jump of the day, giving him plenty of momentum heading into eliminations, where he’ll open race day against Kenny Delco. After struggling in the Countdown to the Championship last year, Glenn is eager to try and have some early playoff success.