Ashley, Prock, Glenn & Herrera Qualify No.1 in front of Sellout Crowd at Pep Boys NHRA Nationals

READING, PA – September 15, 2024 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Top Fuel’s Justin Ashley clinched his first No. 1 qualifier of the season on Saturday at Maple Grove Raceway, taking the top spot in front of a sellout crowd at the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.

Austin Prock (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the 15th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It is the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Ashley’s run of 3.713-seconds at 333.49 mph from Friday in his 11,000-horsepower Scag Power Equipment/Toyota dragster stayed atop the field, giving the former NHRA Rookie of the Year his sixth career No. 1 qualifier and second straight at Maple Grove Raceway. Currently second in points, Ashley also made the quickest run to close out qualifying on Saturday and will open eliminations against Smax Smith, looking for his first career win at his home track.

“For the most part, today’s focus was going to be on getting ready for raceday and collecting those bonus points. What we saw today was probably similar conditions to what we’ll see tomorrow,” Ashley said. “I think the team learned a lot, they did a great job to be able to collect a total of five bonus points today was critical for us. Tomorrow is a brand new day. It’s really important to qualify No. 1, but at the same time the competition is just so good right now, anything can happen.

“Those bonus points are very important. It’s not everything, but it does add up. You collect a point here and there and together, they could mean a lot.”

Tony Schumacher qualified second with a 3.733 at 328.70 and points leader Doug Kalitta finished in the third spot after going 3.733 at 328.70.

In Funny Car, points leader Austin Prock continued his incredible qualifying run, securing his 11th No. 1 qualifier in 15 races thanks to Friday’s spectacular pass of 3.849 at 338.43 in his 11,000-horsepower Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS. He’s now only two No. 1 qualifiers away from tying John Force and Tony Schumacher for the most No. 1 qualifiers in the nitro categories in NHRA history. He also added a strong run in front of the capacity crowd to close out qualifying and Prock, who won at Maple Grove Raceway in 2022 in Top Fuel, opens eliminations against Mike Smith, looking for his sixth victory of the season.

“These guys are giving me an outstanding car,”…