Ashley, Green, Hartford Win Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge; Ashley, Pedregon, Caruso also Qualify No.1 at Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals

POMONA, CA – April 2, 2023 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Justin Ashley picked up the win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge as part of the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, also racing to the No. 1 qualifier position in Top Fuel to close out Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

In the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, Chad Green (Funny Car) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) also picked up wins in the bonus event in Pomona. Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car) and Camrie Caruso (Pro Stock) qualified No. 1 at the third of 21 races during the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.

Ashley went 3.707-seconds at 330.15 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by National Debt Relief to beat Leah Pruett in the final round, earning the bonus purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. The run also gave Ashley, who won last weekend in Phoenix, his third career No. 1 qualifier and plenty of momentum heading into Sunday.

“This is probably the best Saturday I’ve ever had at the racetrack,” said Ashley, who will race Krista Baldwin in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. “It’s been pretty amazing and just a really positive step in the right direction. It’s a new tune-up and a new combination, and my team has obviously done a great job learning and adapting and I thought you saw the results here in this last session.”

Brittany Force finished No. 2 with a 3.712 at 328.86 and Pruett took third with a 3.725 at 331.04.

It was a memorable moment for Chad Green, who picked up the win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge over Alexis DeJoria with a run of 3.974 at 316.08 in his 11,000-horsepower Bond-Coat Ford Mustang. Green knocked off Robert Hight, who finished third in qualifying, earlier and then got past DeJoria, who qualified second, with a strong run in the final round of the bonus event, enjoying the biggest moment in his young Funny Car career in the process.

“It’s a really big moment for us,” Green said. “It’s our first win in Funny Cars as a team. This season] is going a little better than I expected to start the season off, but we’re not surprised. I mean, we’ve got a good car. We’ve got a good group of guys, and we’re focused this year.

“It definitely proves we’re for real and we do feel we can do some damage. We definitely don’t have the car running as fast as we think we can get it running, but it’s been really…