A reporter suggested to Top Fuel racer Justin Ashley even before the 15th Countdown to the Championship began that “it's a pretty good time to be Justin Ashley right now.”

And the modest third-year driver from New York’s Plainview, Long Island, smiled and said, “Yeah, I guess so, right? I mean, things have been going really well. It's been a really good season so far.”

It got even better last weekend with the Pep Boys Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, near Reading, Pa. – his 50th start. Although Ashley was just .0048 of a second, or about two feet, slower than John Force Racing’s Austin Prock to the finish line in the final round of the Countdown opener, he leapfrogged Mike Salinas – his semifinal victim – and speed queen Brittany Force to assume the points lead for the first time since the February Winternationals.

For Josh Hart, it was disillusioning. He called it painful.

It was satisfying to him to be among people who loved drag racing as much as he did. But the shine of it all faded when the Top Fuel owner-driver discovered that not everyone in the sport is trustworthy.

And he spoke out about the shady but prevalent practice of rivals trying to pursue his personnel and pirate his marketing partners.

“Last year, I genuinely did just come out here to have some fun. I wanted to race with the best people on the planet, taking it all at face value. I thought that [some] were upstanding, good people. As you enter this arena, you realize very quickly that nothing’s off-limits,“ Hart told Competition Plus’ Bobby Bennett.

Pro Stock legend Greg Anderson and award-winning drag racing publicist Dave Densmore will be recognized as Texas Motorplex Legends during the opening ceremonies of the 37th annual Texas NHRA Fall Nationals.

Anderson is the winningest Pro Stock driver in Texas Motorplex history with six Texas Fall Nationals titles, including his historic 99th career win last year. Densmore has been one of the most respected and influential drag racing publicists for over four decades working for the sanctioning body as well as the biggest names in drag racing.

Pro Stock veteran Greg Anderson recorded his 100th victory with his seventh U.S. Nationals triumph three weeks ago.    

He’s in exclusive company, with just John Force’s seemingly unmatchable standard of 155 victories on the NHRA’s professional side. Sportsman racers Frank Manzo (105 national events), Dan Fletcher (104), and David Rampy (100) also have reached or surpassed the 100-victory plateau.    

But at least in the pro ranks, it might be a long time before any driver earns 100 or more victories. Five active racers (Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Robert Hight, and Steve Torrence) have 50 or more victories. Doug Kalitta and Eddie Krawiec both are on the doorstep of 50. And Angelle Sampey has 46. Those drivers have combined for 27 championships and multiple NHRA records. Still, earning 100 victories is an extra-special accomplishment.    

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how you get there; you just have to get there.

Sunday afternoon, the NHRA definitely got there.

Following the NFL on Fox’s 1 - 4 PM EST slot on Sunday, the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals delivered 1,678,000 viewers – the most for NHRA on FOX. The NHRA receives one NFL adjacent game per year, and this season’s was up 10 percent (the equivalent of 150,000) viewers over last year’s NHRA Carolina Nationals broadcast.

Drag racing is about win lights and fast performance for Kalitta Motorsports.

Today, the multi-car team based in Ypsilanti, Michi., announced an initiative with longtime sponsor DHL Express to take winning to another level and doing so off the track. They are partnering to accelerate hunger relief and help those who need it most -- working families, children, and the elderly.

With Feeding America, the largest charity working to end hunger in the United States, Kalitta and DHL Express are in a race to end food insecurity with the ‘Drive For Purpose Challenge’. During four NHRA national events in September (Charlotte and St. Louis) and October (Dallas and Las Vegas), Kalitta Motorsports will be donating $1,000 for every win light on race day that Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd earn, with DHL matching each donation with another $1,000. This combined monetary donation will be the equivalent of 20,000 meals per win light for Feeding America.

In less than 17 seconds Sunday at Reading, Pa., Austin Prock morphed from a self-proclaimed “charity” recipient into the racer no Top Fuel competitor has any sympathy for as the NHRA Countdown to the Championship got under way with the Pep Boys Nationals. 

With his 3.755-second elapsed time at 329.67 mph on the 1,000-foot Maple Grove Raceway course in the final-round victory over new points leader Justin Ashley, Prock ended his personal streak of five first-round defeats. 

​Following a script is great in theory but a lot of time it doesn’t come to fruition.

That, however, wasn’t the case for Robert Hight.

Erica Enders’ stellar 2022 NHRA season hit the pause button at the U.S. Nationals on Sept. 5.

Fast-forward to the next race – the Pep Boys Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., and Enders’ highlight reel was rolling again.