BRAINERD, Minn. (August 19, 2023) – In a scorching day both on and off the track, Ron Capps and Greg Anderson held their top spots from Friday while Justin Ashley surprised with a stunning run in the heat of the afternoon to steal the number one spot from Doug Kalitta.
Capps scored his second No. 1 qualifier of the 2023 NHRA Camping World Series season on Saturday at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals, the penultimate event before the Countdown to the Championship playoffs begin. The three-time and defending Funny Car world champion earned the pole on the strength of his 3.894 at 330.23 MPH run from the weekend’s second qualifying session on Friday to earn his 38th No. 1 qualifier overall and second at Brainerd International Raceway. With the exception of the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals, the owner-driver of the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra hasn’t qualified lower than sixth in 2023.
“You never take anything for granted. We saw Bob Tasca run 3.92 ahead of us and ‘Guido’ (Dean Antonelli, crew chief) went into the box and made some adjustments,” said Capps of the weekend’s final qualifying session. “I think he was going to try and run 3.88 but obviously it didn’t stick. This yellow (No. 1 qualifier) hat is such a tribute to how good our NAPA guys are. There is not a lot you can do as a driver. You pretty much stage the car and keep it in the groove.”
As the No. 1 seed, Capps will face Jim Campbell during the opening round of eliminations on Sunday. Capps, a four-time finalist in 2023, is seeking his second victory of the season as he looks to reclaim the Funny Car point lead, currently occupied by Matt Hagan. A 59-point margin separates Capps from his former teammate.
With 74 event wins, the driver of the NAPA Supra is on the cusp of reaching a milestone 75th victory at a facility where he has a long history of success. Capps is a six-time winner at Brainerd International Raceway, second only to John Force in the category. A cold front is expected to come in overnight, presenting teams with drastically different conditions on Sunday, but the NAPA team has proven that they can be successful no matter what is thrown at them.
“Tomorrow is going to be epic,” said Capps, currently ranked second in the Funny Car standings. “It’s going to be some pretty incredible times and speeds, but the equalizer will be the cool conditions.”
Ashley and the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Okuma saved the best run for last today at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals running to the Top Fuel No. 1 spot. Entering the final qualifying session in hot conditions Ashley was sitting No. 6 but his surprising 3.746 second pass at 328.14 mph moved him to the top of the class and a first round race with No. 14 qualifier Terry Totten. This was Ashley’s second No. 1 of 2023 and first at Brainerd International Raceway.
“That's an excellent run with the conditions what they were (hot), nothing necessarily surprises me with the team that we have with Mike Green and Tommy DeLago,” said Ashley, who has six wins in 2023. “It just speaks volumes for our team. This is kind of a unique situation because I'm not sure how much of that you can actually take and apply it to tomorrow because it's going to be cooler. It'll be much different out there tomorrow. But nonetheless, what we did was, at least position ourselves the best that we can heading into race day. I don't care who we're racing now. I feel like it's hard to even win on a bye run out there. It's going to be tough starting with our good friend Terry Totten over there. I never take anyone lightly so I am looking forward to hopefully what will be a long and exciting race tomorrow.”
During the first qualifying session today at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Ashley and the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Okuma earned one championship point but did not advance to the final round for the first time in seven appearances in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Ashley dropped a close race to Antron Brown, 3.842 seconds to 3.804 seconds. By virtue of his quicker elapsed time compared to Clay Millican’s 3.886 second pass Ashley grabbed the championship point awarded to the quickest semifinalist.
“We got a championship point and I really think when the Countdown get going these championship points are going to be very important,” said Ashley. “We are going to turn our attention to the last qualifying session and see if we can improve a little. The weather is going to change dramatically but we still have a chance to get some of those qualifying bonus points.”
The race with Toyota teammate was the second time Ashley faced Brown in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and the championship contending teams are now 1-1 in the specialty race that awards cash and championship points. Ashley pocketed $1,000 for his effort bringing his total cash winnings to $54,000 to go along with 18 championship points in seven Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge events. The final numbers from the race had Ashley’s 3.842 second, 320.20 mph against Brown’s 3.804 second, 326.56 mph.
“Days like today give us a lot of confidence,” said Ashley. “Those points are so important, round win points are obviously you could say the most important right, but in addition to that these bonus points and these Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty points are just so critical and they're really going to add up you know with the Mission Foods deal. The fact that it's after the points reset makes it that much more significant and even, you know, taking every lap and trying to collect as many points as you can even during qualifying is just critical. Our Phillips Connect Toyota team that's always in mind and you know, our team has been doing a great job of trying to take advantage of every opportunity that we have out there.”
Not surprisingly, the Pro Stock class was most affected by the heat in Brainerd. Greg Anderson’s 6.597 from Friday afternoon wasn’t challenged. In fact, no driver in Pro Stock including Anderson was able to come within four hundredths of a second. That being said, some drivers had every reason to feel good about their performances including Anderson, who set the pace for the day with a 6.642, albeit in a holeshot loss during the opening round of the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Anderson followed with a 6.682 to conclude qualifying.
“It’s very gratifying to know that you can run in heat and cool and in any conditions,” said Anderson. “We experimented a little today and we might have learned something. What we did [in Q4] didn’t’ work. That’s not bad. If you bat .500 our here that’s pretty good.
“Tomorrow should be a fun day,” Anderson said. “The cars will be fast and hooked up. You should be able to throw everything you’ve got at the track and see what you’ve got. I got my butt spanked in the Mission [Challenge] and I don’t want to see that happen again.”
Anderson’s teammate, Dallas Glenn, also made a solid run in the heat with a 6.650, while Mission Challenge winner Erica Enders also produced a solid baseline run with a 6.658 in her Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Elite Camaro.
In the final session, Matt Hartford collected the lion’s share of the bonus points with a 6.662 while Dallas Glenn (6.664) and Kyle Koretsky (6.669) also earned points.
Sunday’s Pro Stock ladder sets up a few intriguing match-ups as drivers jockey for position in the standings ahead of the Countdown to the Championship, which will be finalized in Indy later this month.
Erica Enders, the winner of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, will face off with fellow Texan Mason McGaha, Mission runner-up Kramer will face Troy Coughlin Jr., while Aaron Stanfield is paired with Bo Butner.
Competition at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway continues with eliminations slated to begin Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event continues with a second qualifying show Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will air Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcasting Network.
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