Justin Ashley started the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship in first place in the Top Fuel class. However, he has fallen to fourth place, watching first Doug Kalitta, then Steve Torrence and Leah Pruett, take turns seizing the spotlight. He remained optimistic as Friday qualifying opened, despite piling up a 108-point disadvantage with only two chances to make up ground.

The first opportunity is this weekend’s Nevada Nationals. After that, the Auto Club Finals at Pomona, Calif., will close the season.

“Last year, we were in and out of the points lead during the Countdown, and there were always several teams grouped together, trying to take the top spot. The field is more competitive than it has ever been, and it has shown throughout the first four races of the Countdown,” Ashley said. “If we can find success in Las Vegas, I believe we’ll have an opportunity for the championship in Pomona.

“Our goal from the start of the season was to win the championship for this team and all our sponsors,” the Phillips Connect / Leatherwood Distillery / Toyota Dragster driver said. “We know what we need to do, and that begins by taking it one lap at a time in Las Vegas. Every opportunity for points is critical, whether it’s qualifying or race day.
 
“We all know you have to perform in the playoffs. And we haven’t been able to capitalize on as many opportunities as we did in the regular season. But we have two more races and remain right in the thick of things. We just need to get back to our routine of stacking round wins on top of one another and let the points take care of themselves,” Ashley said. “Vegas is a city where fortunes can turn around in an instant, and that is what we are going to be looking for.”

Mac Tools dragster driver Doug Kalitta is a mere four points behind newest leader Leah Pruett and a shaky nine points ahead of surging Steve Torrence, who’s pursuing his fifth crown in six seasons. Kalitta has been in this position before – and has been disappointed six times with runner-up finishes.

This time the 51-time winner is charged up about this year’s opportunity. Fresh from a weekend at Dallas in which he set the Texas Motorplex speed record at 336.73 mph, Kalitta said, “I feel confident,” Kalitta said. “We’re looking forward to seeing what we can make happen on Sunday. Everybody on the Mac Tools team is super-excited. I think we’re in a great spot. We just need to do what we do and go rounds. It’s all about executing.”

Title tuner Alan Johnson, who has won with six different drivers, is starting to regain his stride. And Kalitta said, “Having Alan Johnson in my corner, and obviously this team I have, definitely brings a whole new element of confidence, for sure. He and Brian [co-crew chief Husen] are doing an awesome job tuning the car. The guys are definitely in their groove putting this thing together, and having this team I have with two races to go is a pretty good spot to be in.

“I’m definitely thinking about it. Whenever I’m driving, it’s on my mind – especially when I’m going back and forth to the race shop to check on the boys to see how they’re doing or when I sit down with Connie [his team owner and uncle, drag-racing pioneer Connie Kalitta] to work out when we’re leaving, there’s always something going on throughout my day that involves the race team. I wake up in the morning, and I have a practice tree at home, so it’s definitely part of my routine. There’s just a lot of positive energy going on with this Mac Tools team,” he said.

“We want it. Everybody on the team is hungry – I’m not focused on it every moment of every day or anything like that, but it’s important. We don’t need to get too psyched up about this thing,” Kalitta said. “We just need to keep working hard and keep moving forward.”

For Torrence, it’s a simple task for Pruett, Kalitta, and himself: “The bottom line is all three of us control our own destiny. We’re separated by less than one round, so it comes down to whoever does best in these last two races.”

Like Kalitta, he said he feels strong.

“Coming off what we did at Dallas, it’s hard not to be confident,” Torrence said. Two weeks ago, he qualified No. 1, recorded career-best elapsed time and speed numbers (3.636 seconds, 336.62 mph), and reached the finals – where he lost to Pruett by an agonizingly close .005 of a second. “That was on me,” he said. “We had the car to win, but it takes everybody doing everything exactly right in one of these races, especially in the Countdown.”

In the Funny Car class, current champion Ron Capps’ playoff fortunes have mirrored Ashley’s. But he’s hoping his four victories at this event (2001, 2005, 2011-12) bode well for him as he will work to climb from fourth place, 99 points off leader Matt Hagan’s pace.

Capps, Hagan, and No. 3 Robert Hight all are pursuing a fourth championship, trying to join still-active and Countdown qualified John Force, as well as retired legends Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme.  But just like last year, Capps has found himself out of the lead but with a chance to win the title with two races remaining on the schedule.                                                       

“Here we are, same conversation: Headed to Vegas, two races to go, and another chance to win a championship,” he said. “We would have liked to have been positioned better in the points going into this weekend, but it makes me extremely proud that our NAPA AutoCare team has put our Toyota Supra in a position to win a championship pretty much every season, and you can’t ask for more than that as a driver. And surely, you can’t ask for any more than that as a team owner.

“[We’ll try to] move up in the points. There’s a lot that has to happen, and Vegas is one of those tracks that can be very unpredictable,” Capps said. “For the fans, it’ll be very exciting. And for us racers, it’s going to be nail-biting time, but we love that.”

Tony Schumacher, who has eight championships and more victories (86) than any other Top Fuel driver in NHRA history, isn’t in the title mix at this point. But he assessed this weekend best: “It’s crunch time, which makes it all the more entertaining for the fans. We will start to see the championship decided here. Teams will step up out of necessity. Some teams will implode. It just comes with the pressure.”