Justin Ashley extended his Top Fuel points lead on Sunday, rolling to an impressive win at the Texas Motorplex for the second straight year at the 37th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals. Ron Capps (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won at the 20th event in the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the fourth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
After struggling in qualifying, Ashley more than made up for it on Sunday, going 3.688-seconds at 329.24 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Phillips Connect Toyota dragster to defeat Austin Prock in the championship round. It gives the points leader his third victory this season – as well as his second straight in Dallas – and fifth overall, extending his lead to 82 points over Brittany Force in the process. He knocked off Doug Kalitta, Kebin Kinsley, and Shawn Langdon to reach the final round, running a weekend-best 3.677 at 331.76 in the semifinals. Ashley, who qualified 10th, was impressive on the starting line in the finals, picking up a critical victory in the Countdown to the Championship.
“This really was a great win and if you can win in Dallas, that puts you in position to go for a championship,” Ashley said. “To run that fast and consistent, it’s really amazing. Everyone on this team, we all make each other better. We’ve won from the bottom half before, so I wasn’t worried. These guys on this team, they’ve won so many races and championships, so I’ve always got confidence in them. Everyone has done a great job, but we’ve got two more races left and we can’t let up. We know it’s going to come down to the wire in Pomona.”
Prock, who qualified No. 1, reached his second final round in the Countdown to the Championship thanks to wins against Alex Laughlin, Leah Pruett, and Antron Brown, moving to seventh in points.
In Funny Car, Capps also won for the second straight year in Dallas, also inching closer to the points lead after defeating Matt Hagan in the final round with his run of 3.911 at 327.18 in his 11,000-horsepower NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra. It gives the defending world champion his fifth victory this season and 73rd in his fantastic career, also bringing him to within 10 points of leader Robert Hight with two races remaining. After knocking off Jeff Diehl and longtime rival John Force, Capps got past Hight in a…
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