Justin Ashley secured his first No. 1 qualifier of the 2024 NHRA season on Saturday at Maple Grove Raceway during the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals. He led the Top Fuel category in front of a sellout crowd.
Austin Prock (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock), and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also earned top qualifying spots at the 15th of 20 races in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. This event marks the first of six in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Ashley’s 3.713-second pass at 333.49 mph from Friday in his Scag Power Equipment/Toyota dragster held up through Saturday’s qualifying. The former Rookie of the Year, currently second in points, will face Smax Smith in Sunday’s eliminations.
“For the most part, today’s focus was going to be on getting ready for raceday 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 took the second spot with a 3.733-second pass at 328.70 mph, while points leader Doug Kalitta also posted a 3.733 at 328.70 to qualify third.
In Funny Car, Prock continued his strong season by grabbing his 11th No. 1 qualifier in 15 races with a 3.849-second run at 338.43 mph. Prock, who won at Maple Grove in 2022, will face Mike Smith in eliminations as he chases his sixth victory of the year.
“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 in Funny Car with a 3.867-second pass at 336.40 mph, and Jack Beckman took third with a 3.869 at 330.80.
In Pro Stock, points leader Dallas Glenn surged to the top spot with a 6.530-second pass at 209.43 mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro. Glenn, who struggled in last year’s Countdown, will race Kenny Delco in the first round of eliminations.
“Yesterday, I didn’t feel like we made that great of runs even though we were near the top and got bonus points. They were decent runs, the engine was running good and everything, but we were struggling in 60-feet. I knew if we figured out that out, we would be good,” Glenn said. “Today, when the track is a little worse and the air is just a touch worse, you go up there and as long as it 60-foots, we should be able to be really close to it. We went up there and made a really nice run.
“I feel like everybody counts all the little points, especially when you reset them with six races to go and you have this mad rush to try to go rounds and get wins. It really matters when you’re in the playoffs. It’s really important here at the end of the season that we do well, so I’m going to try to stay extra focused, try to just kick it up and grab that little bit of extra gear that I feel like we have, focus a little bit harder, and see if we can squeeze a couple wins here in the last six races.”
Erica Enders qualified second with a 6.535-second pass at 210.34 mph, while Greg Anderson qualified third at 6.537 seconds and 209.23 mph.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, defending series champion Gaige Herrera posted a 6.743-second run at 200.20 mph on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki to take the No. 1 spot. It’s Herrera’s sixth top qualifier of the season and his 20th overall.
“We were very pleased with that. We’re happy with that going into tomorrow,” Herrera said. “Conditions will be pretty much the same, maybe a little cooler. I’m glad to get No. 1 qualifying spot. We’re trying to get as many points as we can because now it’s going to be a lot tighter.
“Last night we stayed and looked at data for a good bit and came up with a game plan for today and it paid off. We kind of threw the kitchen sink at it, and it worked. That doesn’t always work, so that gave me confidence in the machine. It’s going to be good for racing tomorrow, and hopefully I have a very fast and consistent motorcycle all day.”
Matt Smith qualified second with a 6.795-second run at 200.50 mph, while Richard Gadson finished third at 6.806 seconds and 198.35 mph.
Eliminations for the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals begin Sunday at 10:30 a.m. ET at Maple Grove Raceway.
