Justin Ashley's confidence high heading into Menards NHRA Nationals

 By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After earning NHRA Rookie of the Year honors in 2020 and posting a fourth-place points finish a year ago, Top Fuel driver Justin Ashley entered the current Camping World Drag Racing Series season with his confidence at an all-time high.

Justin Ashley, currently third in Top Fuel points with a pair of 2022 victories, will compete in this weekend's Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park. [Photo by Ron Lewis Photography]

And nothing has happened to change that, with Ashley a strong third in points with a pair of 2022 victories entering this weekend's Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park.

"I felt really confident going into the season because I knew the kind of work that we put in in the offseason to be able to put us in the kind of position that we're in now,'' said Ashley, who has reached four final rounds and earned a No. 1 qualifier position in '22. "We knew how good the depth in the Top Fuel field was going to be, so we were really pro-active and took steps forward to make more power, bringing in guys like Tommy DeLago to work with Mike Green and take that next step forward.

"The expectations to perform well were there, and when you look at it from a broader view now that we're 13 races down, I think we're exactly where we expected to be and we're really happy with our performance. Obviously, we want to win every race and we expect to be No. 1 in the points but we also have to be realistic. We know how good the field is and we want to compete race-in and race-out and I think we've done a good job of doing that.''

Top Fuel star Justin Ashley will be looking to join his father, Mike, as a Topeka winner in this weekend's Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park. [Photo by Ron Lewis Photography]

The aim now for Ashley, the son of former Funny Car star Mike Ashley, is to finish strong over the final three races of the regular season and put the Phillips Connect team in a position to challenge for the Top Fuel championship.

"It's all about getting hot at the right time with the Countdown format, but I think we've positioned ourselves really well so far in the regular season,'' Ashley said in a phone interview. "Right now our objective is really two-fold. No. 1 is obviously to try to catch the people (Brittany Force and Mike Salinas) in front of us but at the same time we also have to create a certain degree of separation from the people behind us in the four, five, six and seven spot because once you're in the Countdown they re-set the points but the further up we finish (in the regular season), the closer to one that we finish, we'll put ourselves in a better position based on the point standings to win a championship at the end of the year.

"Once we get to the Countdown and those points are re-set all bets are off and anything can happen.''

Ashley has been a factor in the Top Fuel class since his rookie campaign in 2020 and said he continues to feel more comfortable in all aspects of his profession.

"I certainly do as the years go on and honestly I always feel comfortable with the team,'' the 27-year-old Ashley said. "Mike Green, Tommy DeLago, our Phillips Connect team, I always feel comfortable with them. It's just a matter of me feeling comfortable in the car and one thing you can't buy is experience.

"It just takes time and the more experience I get, the more laps I go down the racetrack the more times I experience different things in the race car, so I'm still continuing to learn and I've made it an objective to always continue to learn from guys like Mike and Tommy and study and learn and analyze these runs that we make down the racetrack.''

Ashley will race in Topeka for only the second time this weekend, posting a quarterfinal finish, but his family and team have built a strong legacy at the "House of Speed.''

"I'm really excited about it for a few different reasons,'' Ashley said. "That track has a lot of history for our team and my family. My dad won his first professional race in Funny Car there in 2007 and the executive vice-president  of Phillips Connect, Jim Epler, was the first Funny Car driver to go over 300 miles per hour and that was in Topeka in '93.

"So there's a lot of history and a lot of reasons why I like that race track. I think it's a beautiful facilty and I love the way the track is laid out and I know the fans usually pack the place, so I feel really good about going to this track. I also feel really confident in our team and am really confident in the kind of car that we have because I know we have the kind of car that can compete on any given day and can obviously go out there and win races.'' 

The first round of Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, followed by a pair of qualifying sessions at 3 and 6 o'clock on Saturday.

Eliminations will begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

MENARDS NHRA NATIONALS PRESENTED BY PETARMOR

At Heartland Motorsports Park

EVENT SCHEDULE