In a short period of time – Justin Ashley made his NHRA Top Fuel debut in 2019 – he has become a world championship contender.

Ashley confirmed that fact in the first race of the six-race Countdown to the Championship on Friday afternoon.

Robert Hight isn’t chasing an elusive NHRA nitro Funny Car world championship.

Hight, who competes out of the John Force Racing stable, has three world titles on his resume in 2009, 2017 and 2019.

Two weeks ago, Bo Butner drove to the Super Gas title at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals. The past NHRA factory hot rod champion lamented that he wished he had done it in his Pro Stocker.

Friday, at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals outside of Reading, Pa., the man simply known as "Bo" made a step in that direction by driving his Johnson's Horsepowered Garage (#JHGDriven)-sponsored Camaro to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position.

Butner stopped the timers in the crucial first session at 6.523-seconds at 210.08 miles per hour.

For the second straight year here at Reading, Pa.’s Maple Grove Raceway, a Camping World Drag Racing Series title contender has been sidelined with COVID and is sending a substitute to kick off the Countdown to the Championship.

Tommy Johnson Jr. won the Funny Car trophy while filling in for Matt Hagan last fall. This time, 2018 Pro Stock champion Tanner Gray is driving the Get Biofuel Chevy Camaro at these Pep Boys NHRA Nationals for No. 11-seeded Deric Kramer, who tested positive for the virus Wednesday. (Whatever points Gray earns this weekend will remain with Kramer, who received a medical waiver.)

Gray, who at age 18 became the NHRA’s youngest-ever champion, left drag racing following his eight-victory 2018 season to compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He raced Thursday night, finishing 17th (just behind younger brother Taylor) in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. And with barely any sleep, Gray slid into the driver’s seat for Kramer.

In the 1980s, iconic wrestling promoter Jim Crockett developed a promotion he branded as a Bunkhouse Stampede, where the participants fought in a battle royale format complete with rivalries and, if needed, weapons until one man was left standing.

This season's Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown battle has looked like those old Bunkhouse Stampede matches with seven different finalists in six events.

One of the unique features of this specialty division featuring the latest factory hot rods from the three major domestic has been a bounty program where a racer is awarded $1000 for knocking off the previous event winner. The bounty has been claimed in five of the six events this season.

Consistently voted as the No. 1 destination by SEMA Show buyers and media, the 2022 New Products Showcase will expand to include two new product categories. Showgoers will find products related to electric vehicles (EV) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) along with products in 16 other categories, in what is the world’s largest display of new automotive aftermarket products.
 
Accessible exclusively to SEMA Showgoers on November 1-4, 2022, the New Products Showcase is the automotive aftermarket industry’s most comprehensive collection of new and trending products. SEMA Show attendees visit the area to discover and see parts and accessories before they hit the market. A Featured Products component includes items that may not qualify as new; the product may have been on the market for more than a year but is amongst an exhibitor’s top products.

Tanner Gray is returning to NHRA Pro Stock, at least for one weekend.

Gray will be a substitute driver for Deric Kramer, who revealed he tested positive for the coronavirus.

Seeing his team, through years of hard work, finally reach the pinnacle as a national-event winner has been very gratifying for Cory Reed. Reed’s teammate and best friend Joey Gladstone having won two events (Sonoma, Topeka).

“Just after a little bit of a long road, four or five or six years for me, five years for Joey, it feels nice to finally get some success,” Reed said. “Keeps us wanting to come back.

“We put the work in, honestly. It's just as simple as that. We've tried a lot of stuff. We've simplified a lot of things. We went testing a bunch and worked at it, honestly. We're more prepared this year racing-wise than we've been at any point, and we've learned a lot the last few years too, like how to race on Sunday and all that type of stuff. Just kind of a combination of everything coming together.

“If we had to do our own engine stuff still, like when we did … the V-Twin stuff, we'd be full-time, all the time, working at it at the shop. We're lucky that we have the luxury of being able to get good power from somebody, you know?” Reed said. “But other than that, it gives me and Joey the luxury of going testing a lot, traveling, doing all the other stuff that you normally have to hire people to go do. Me and Joey drive the rig, you know? We drive everywhere. We've driven to every race for the past four or five years.”

Drag racing is a sport not just won on the track.

It is not just won in the pit area or back home at the shop. Success in drag racing starts behind closed doors with handshakes, signed agreements, and mutual understanding.

The fact of the matter is the best racers in the world don’t get where they are on skill alone. It takes savvy marketing men and women, successful public relations and relationships with the right people and businesses to turn driver skill into actual round wins.

Paul Lee knows that fact perhaps better than most.