It was NHRA’s young generation Pro driver talents dominating the vets at Lucas Oil Nationals ….
Justin Ashley picked up his third win of the season on at Brainerd International Raceway, defeating Shawn Langdon in the final round of the 42nd Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. Blake Alexander (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won race #13 of 20 for the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Ashley led wire-to-wire against Langdon, going 3.745-seconds at 329.34 mph in his Scag Power Equipment/Toyota dragster to roll to his 14th career victory. Ashley defeated Billy Torrence, Tony Stewart and Josh Hart to reach the final round, earning his first career Top Fuel win at Brainerd and also getting his first victory since April.
He moved to third in points and showcased impressive consistency during eliminations, with all four runs between 3.74 and 3.76. That bodes well for a strong performance in Indy and the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Justin Ashley won his 14th career Top Fuel title at BIR’s Lucas Oil Nationals.
“Everything that we’ve done throughout the entire regular season so far has been done with intent and purpose,” Ashley said. “We want to win each and every race that we go to, but ultimately, it’s about positioning ourselves well for Indy and beyond. We broke out a new car this weekend and kudos to Mike (Green) and Tommy (DeLago), they did an amazing job. The car went up and down the track every time today. There’s just something about a new chassis that feels great. There’s going to be ups and downs, it’s about staying level-headed.
“This class is so difficult, it’s so tough. The margin of error is so small, so when you’re able to be consistent like that, it just increases your chances of winning. It’s one of those sports that any given Sunday, anything can happen. It’s so hard to run in such a tight window like that, but this team came through and got it done.”
Langdon went to the finals for the sixth time in 2024 and the 44th time in his career, getting past Shawn Reed, Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta and Ida Zetterstrom, who made her NHRA Top Fuel debut this weekend. Kalitta now holds an 84-point lead over Langdon.
Norway’s Ida Zetterström made her NHRA Top Fuel debut and advanced to the semi final round!
In Funny Car, Blake Alexander enjoyed a terrific redemption weekend in Brainerd after the team battled back following an explosion in Sonoma. The turnaround was impressive and Alexander ended his weekend in the winner’s circle for the first time this season, picking up the win in his 11,000-horsepower Head Racing Ford Mustang when defending world champion Matt Hagan went red in the final round. Alexander would have been tough to beat, posting a 3.927 at 324.67 in the championship round after staying in the low 3.90s the entire day.
It’s the fourth career victory for Alexander – and his second in Funny Car – and he advanced to the final round on the strength of round wins against Dave Richards, Jack Beckman and Chad Green. Working with crew chief Jim Head, Alexander has turned into a legit contender and will head to the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals seventh in points, feeling fully capable his team can compete against anyone. Alexander proved that in Brainerd, taking another step forward in his career at a track that means a great deal to him.
Following a recent big incident at the preceding event — Blake Alexander earned a gratifying comeback win in Fuel FC racing.
“Sonoma was the hardest race I’ve ever had in my career and then to come here and have one of the best races I’ve ever had in my career, it means a lot,” Alexander said. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I know that when I’m on, I’m one of the top guys out here. I know when I’m not on, just like anyone else, I can be a problem for my race team. So I’m trying to keep it tight, four straight runs every single time. Saying that is really easy to do, but doing that is really hard.
“I’m really proud of this team, they worked really hard on the combination and seeing them pull the strings on it in between runs. We’re making legit horsepower now and when it turns into a horsepower game we can play that game now and I’m pretty proud of that. It’s just a nice to place to come to and when you can feel that the people who own the track and the fans care, it just makes this big difference.”
After struggling in qualifying, Hagan reached the finals for the fourth time this year and 91st time in his career, getting past Ron Capps, Daniel Wilkerson and J.R. Todd. Austin Prock remains in the points lead, holding a 218-point advantage over Bob Tasca III heading to Indy.
Pro Stock points leader Dallas Glenn got back to his winning ways in impressive fashion, picking up a repeat win in Brainerd after defeating Mason McGaha in the final round, going 6.613 at 206.95 in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro. It’s the third season of the season for Glenn – and his first since Chicago in May – and the 11th in his career. Brainerd also continues to treat Glenn very well, defeating Eric Latino with a 6.598, defending world champion Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield, who had won three of the past four races, to reach the final round.
Driving for Canadian-based sponsor RAD Torque Systems –– it was Dallas Glenn who claimed another convincing win in Pro Stock.
McGaha left first but ran into trouble as Glenn cruised to a victory. It opened up his lead over KB Titan Racing teammate Greg Anderson to 184 points heading to the regular-season finale in Indy and gets Glenn back on track, also snapping the six-race winning streak of Elite Motorsports in the process.
“It feels really good,” Glenn said. “I went to three finals in that six-race streak where they kept winning. It was definitely good to finally seal the deal. We made a really nice run there in the final, even though I kind of got caught with my pants down on the tree. I kept flickering it all day and had really long trees, then all of a sudden I get a quick one and it caught me off guard.
“Everybody on the crew did an awesome job. You go up second round against Erica and you know she’s going to be tough, and then you follow it up with Aaron Stanfield, who’s won three out of the last four – yeah, it was a tough day. This is a big Pro Stock area, the Zoo is always a good time, and people around here definitely show up for this race. They support it, and it’s really great seeing the stands packed and everybody up against the fence cheering every run you go up and down.”
McGaha reached his first final round of the season and third in his career thanks to victories against No. 1 qualifier Jerry Tucker, David Cuadra and Fernando Cuadra Jr.
Supplemental Summary!
First time FlexJet winner — Battling multiple rain delays and tough competition, veteran Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series driver Scott Libersher, from Illinois, won for the first time.
The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdowns Series made its debut at Brainerd International Raceway and the fans enjoyed watching the COPO Camaros, Ford Cobra Jets Mustangs and Dodge Drag Paks go head-to-head over the previous three days.
Libersher carried the Chevrolet banner to the winner’s circle and the four win lights made all the hard work worth it.
Scott Libersher (near lane) defeated David Janic in the FS/XX class final round.
In the final round, it was Libersher taking a wire-to-wire win over Bristol winner David Janac. Libersher’s COPO Camaro was first off the line with a strong .036 second reaction time and he kept the lead the full quarter mile. When the win light came he banked another strong run — 7.816 secs 172.04 mph run.
The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will be back in action at the 70th annual U.S. Nationals August 30 – September 2 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park outside of Indianapolis.
#2Fast2Tasty Challenge – Brainerd International Raceway’s Mission speciality event (held Saturday) featured the 6th straight win for FC star Austin Prock. Prock went a stellar 3.860-seconds at 334.07 mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to close out qualifying #1 and win the specialty race against Ron Capps. That gave Prock an incredible seven victories in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge series, which is the most in the history of the program, that started just a year ago.
It was Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also winning in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge competition. Brown defeated Steve Torrence in the TF final and Anderson outran Cory Reed in the PS final.
Antron Brown won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge event at BIR
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Aug. 28-Sept. 2 with the 70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The Lucas Oil Nationals at BIR also included exciting bonus eliminators for Pingel-presented Top Fuel Motorcycle and Mountain Motor Pro Stock classes.
The TFM feature (1000′ event) was won by class icon Larry “Spiderman” McBride over five other entries. McBride (from Virginia) qualified #1 and defeated Mitch Brown in the final round. He was also credited with both low ET and top speed at 4.841 secs and 240.64 mph – numbers which were by far superior to the rest of the competition.
NHRA’s Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock class hosted its 3rd NHRA race for 2024 and that championship round featured two unexpected finalists when Brad Waddle faced Dennis Firkus.
In a weird one — both drivers left before the tree was activated — but Waddle was declared the winner.
Waddle, who is from Kansas, had qualified his 2021 Ford Mustang #4 was also credited with low ET of the event (6.304 secs) over 9 other entries.
The Lucas Oil Lowdown
(NHRA Sportsman Racing – Final Round Results)
Top Alcohol Dragster — Hunter Green, 5.251, 271.90 def. Madison Payne, 5.264, 276.86.
Top Alcohol Funny Car — Bob McCosh, Chevy Camaro, 5.515, 263.77 def. Sean Bellemeur, Camaro, 5.827, 261.07.
Competition Eliminator — Bruno Massel, Chevy Cobalt, 6.986, 187.23 def. Travis Gusso, Cobalt, 8.450, 160.31.
Stock Eliminator — Brian Anderson, 10.330, 125.01 def. Johnny Diekema, 10.055, 128.04.
Super Stock — Jason DeForret 9.000 147.13 mph def. Larry Hodge 9.966 130.44 mph.
Super Gas — Tom Carlson 9.935 secs 144.35 mph def, Trevor Larson 9.938 secs 149.96 mph
Super Comp — Michael Cheney, 8.907, 164.23 def. Kris Whitfield, Foul – Red Light.
Super Street — Wayde Samuel, 10.88 secs 139.95 def. Steve Stockton, Foul – Red Light.
Top Sportsman — Darren Butler 9.594 secs 88.82 mph def. Kasey Kroeker Foul – Red Light
Top Dragster — Kendra Larson 7.029 secs 188.28 mph def Dylon Hough – Foul – Red Light
Posted with files by NHRA Communications – Elon Werner – Bruce Biegler
Photos courtesy of NHRA & Auto Imagery
