| EPPING, N.H. (June 01, 2025) – Justin Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster team made a quarterfinal appearance Sunday at the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway. His Funny Car teammates, Daniel Wilkerson in the SCAG Ford Mustang and Dave Richards in the BlueBird Turf / Versatran machine, had first round exits. Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota team started their day from the No. 7 qualifying spot after a 3.717-second pass at 336.99 mph from the final qualifying session on Saturday. Racing against Josh Hart in the first round of eliminations, Ashley had a clean 3.723 pass at 338.34 mph to get the win while Hart smoked the tires for a 7.158 at 97.47. In the second round, Ashley faced off with Top Fuel points leader and motorsports legend Tony Stewart. Ashley had the starting line advantage, but the SCAG Toyota dragster was up in smoke early for a 5.893-second pass at 118.90 mph. Stewart had a solid 3.733 at 330.96 for the win. “Tony’s a tough competitor. You have to start by giving credit to them for the roll they’re on. But we’re tough too. We pride ourselves on racing at a high level and we did that at times throughout the weekend, just not during the second round of eliminations,” Ashley said. “We are a championship team that’s following our process. It’s only a matter of time before we put this SCAG Power Equipment Toyota dragster into the winners circle.” Wilkerson and the SCAG Ford Mustang team had an eventful first round matchup with Jack Beckman. Qualified No. 12 after a 3.952-second pass at 291.63 mph, Wilkerson had to pedal his hot rod before it made a major move, and he was off the throttle. Beckman also had trouble but managed to pedal his way to a 6.397 at 298.93 that was enough to take down Wilkerson’s 6.835 at 146.72. “I learned a new thing today: patience is a virtue when pedaling. I hate losing but we all learned what not to do today,” Wilkerson said. “I really hated it because we had so much support on property from a lot of great SCAG dealers, and friends from the distributor KPM here too. This this will turn around soon, as soon as next week hopefully in Bristol.” Richards and the BlueBird Turf / Versatran team entered race day as the No. 14 qualifiers off their 4.022-second pass at 317.49 mph. Their efforts earned them a first-round matchup against Paul Lee. The BlueBird machine would smoke the tries for a 6.709 pass at only 130.07 mph that was bettered by Lee’s 4.384 at 199.29. “This BlueBird Turf / Versatran team had a good weekend hanging out with all our SCAG dealers,” Richards said. “Today didn’t go the way we wanted, but we’ll keep our heads up and keep digging. We will get this car running with the top of the pack, I know it and I believe in this team.” SCAG Racing will take on the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, June 6-8, race eight of 20 on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series 2025 schedule. |
The post JUSTIN ASHLEY AND SCAG TOYOTA LEAD SCAG RACING WITH QUARTERFINAL APPEARANCE AT NEW ENGLAND DRAGWAY appeared first on Justin Ashley Racing.
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