Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The Lucas Oil Winternationals

1. NEVER TOO EARLY TO THINK OF TITLE - Top Fuel winner Justin Ashley recognizes that the 2023 Top Fuel champion will be crowned here at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip – but not until November, not at this Winternationals appearance.
 
However, the class’ first two-time winner of the season said, “It is important to know the championship’s a long way (off), but it's important to start collecting points now, because you want to be in the best possible position once that Countdown starts. Goal No. 1 is to make the Countdown. Goal No. 2 is put yourself in a position to win the championship. And those points add up. The points that we accumulate now count just as much as the points that we accumulate in Indy before the Countdown starts. It's never too early to start thinking about the championship.

Now, that’s an encore.

A week after winning the Arizona Nationals, Justin Ashley qualified No. 1 at the Lucas Oil Winternationals, won the Mission 2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday and won $10,000, and then capped things off Sunday by taking the title at the Winternationals.

Ashley clocked a 3.713-second elapsed time at 327.43 mph to defeat Austin Prock’s 3.762-second lap at 327.43 mph in the finals in Pomona, Calif.

Ashley left Pomona with his seventh career Top Fuel national event win, his third No. 1 qualifier, and his first 2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge victory, a new program that debuted in Phoenix.

Matt Hagan certainly didn’t look like he had the dominant nitro Funny Car heading into race day at the Lucas Oil Winternationals.

However, the Tony Stewart Racing driver found his grove on Sunday in his Dodge Direct Connect Charger SRT Hellcat.

By late Sunday afternoon, Hagan clocked a 3.967-second time at 328.06 mph to defeat reigning world champion Ron Capps’ 4.303-second lap in the finals at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona (Calif.) Dragstrip.

Four-time and reigning Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world champion Jim Halsey is starting his championship defense season with a win as he raced to victory Sunday night at the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Summit Racing Equipment East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech at GALOT Motorsports Park. Halsey defeated fellow multi-time world champion Tommy Franklin in the final round, claiming his third East Coast Nationals victory. 

Stamina is a big part of drag racing, just ask Pro Stock winner Dallas Glenn, who needed a hefty dose of it Sunday at the In-N-Out dragstrip in Pomona, Ca., to pick up his fifth career Pro Stock win, and did it at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.

Glenn walked the drag racing equivalent of the gauntlet to win the race and assume the point lead.

"It's obviously a great long day," Glenn said. "Anytime I'm wore out at the end of the day, I'm pretty happy about it. I mean, I've got an absolutely great car right now. We are just making small tweaks to it, and it's just running really, really good. Really happy with it. It's a different car from last year and I really like it. I'm real comfortable in it, feel real good."

In a rematch of last year’s Top Fuel final round at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, Justin Ashley picked up his second straight win at the storied event, powering past Austin Prock on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the third of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

Ashley went 3.713-seconds at 330.63 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by National Debt Relief, leading from start-to-finish against Prock’s 3.762 at 327.43. It gives the Top Fuel points leader his second straight victory and ninth career win, as well as a clean sweep of the weekend in Pomona after winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday.