Justin Ashley considers himself a very competitive person — but whether that’s because he loves the feeling of winning or just hates the idea of losing, he’s not quite sure.
Originally, his zealous nature landed him a spot in an NHRA star vs. NASCAR celebrity grudge match, which was scheduled for Thursday night at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., ahead of this weekend’s Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Dubbed “NASCAR Night at the Dragway,” Ashley was to be pitted against Tyler Reddick, Antron Brown would take on Bubba Wallace and J.R. Todd would race Ty Gibbs.
However, rain washed out the event, leaving Ashley to fully focus his efforts on claiming his first victory in four-wide competition.
Though his past record at four-wide events is a bit flimsy, Ashley’s faith wouldn’t be misplaced if he were to expect the victory this weekend. After all, the Phillips Connect driver has been a frequent visitor to the winner’s circle during two-lane NHRA competition this season.
He credits offseason work, team continuity and guidance from crew chiefs Mike Green and Tommy DeLago for his early season success.
“We took a step back in the offseason to try to take two steps forward. I think the results of that have shown already,” Ashley said. “There’s a lot of work going on in the shop Monday through Friday to be able to put ourselves in this position early on in the year.”
After collecting three Wallys last year — during only his third Top Fuel campaign — Ashley has nearly matched that win record already with only four of 21 scheduled races complete. The 28-year-old has triumphed twice this season; once at the Arizona Nationals and again at the NHRA Winternationals.
However, Ashley’s surge came to an abrupt end on April 16 at the Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, when he made a first-round exit during eliminations. With another four-wide format awaiting him this weekend, he is anxious for a do-over.
Without having a regular event to break up the four-wide weekends, which is typically how the season is scheduled, Ashley expects that applying lessons from one race to the next will be a bit easier this year.
“Staging is a little bit different, whether or not you have to make a judgement call on pedaling the car is different, so being able to do those consecutively on back-to-back weekends is certainly helpful for myself as a driver and I know a lot of teams out there feel the same way,” Ashley commented.
The Top Fuel standout will begin his battle during qualifying on Friday night at zMAX Dragway. As Ashley made his professional NHRA debut at the track in 2019, his personal history has also left him feeling inspired to take a trip to the four-wide winner’s circle on Sunday.
“There’s definitely something special about coming to race at zMAX,” Ashley noted.