NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Justin Ashley Racing has announced a primary sponsorship agreement with Phillips Connect, a national leader in semi-trailer tracking and sensor technologies, to begin the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. 

The wide-ranging marketing program will initially include the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, NHRA Arizona Nationals, and Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals with primary sponsorship on Ashley’s Davis Motorsports Top Fuel dragster and comprehensive corporate hospitality and business-to-business initiatives.

“I believe this is only the beginning of what will be an incredibly valuable win-win relationship,” said Ashley, the No. 4 finisher in Top Fuel in 2021 and 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year. “I am honored to represent Phillips Connect and anxious to be a part of their team. I want to win on the track and equally important I want to win for them in the business-to-business sector. I believe our team, the NHRA, the fans, and, for that matter, the entire sport of drag racing is a high-speed golf course where some of the greatest business deals get done. I can’t wait for the season to get started.”

Through the on-track program, Phillips Connect will be demonstrating a wide range of smart-trailer technology products that improve and streamline its customers’ businesses with instant data analysis and insight in the most critical conditions to improve up-time, operational efficiencies, and driver safety. 

Phillips Connect was born out of an obsessive drive to move the transportation industry forward. For nearly 100 years, Phillips Industries has been devoted to making products that make a difference for its customers. Its products are standard equipment on nearly 100% of all semi-trucks that are manufactured in North America, and 70% of all trailers. From their engineers to their passionate sales team, Phillips Industries and Phillips Connect both understand the unique challenges transportation and logistics customers face every day and are driven to innovate and build products that are easy to install, intuitive to use, and scalable for the future. 

“It’s been 28 years since I was the first professional driver to break the 300-mph barrier in a Funny Car, and 20 years since I retired from the sport as an NHRA driver, and I can’t explain how exciting it is to return as a primary sponsor,” commented Jim Epler, executive vice president of Phillips Connect. “From my early days as an owner and driver, I have been focused on the business-to-business side of marketing a race team. NHRA has the best platform to conduct relationship selling, and Justin Ashley and Davis Motorsports are the perfect fit for Phillips Connect. Justin has proven to be an incredible driver and spokesperson, and we are honored to be partnered with him. I can’t wait to kick this off on the 30-year anniversary of my first Funny Car win!” 

Phillips Connect’s tracking and management products increase driver uptime, safety, and ROI, while providing complete transparency into the status of an entire fleet, all in real time. The suite of Phillips Connect hardware is like nothing else on the market, designed to be an integrated solution for use with any sized fleet, that pulls in data from every major component manufacturer into one intuitive software platform.  

“I’m excited about this new partnership with Justin Ashley Racing,” commented Rob Phillips, CEO of Phillips Connect. “There are obvious synergies between our businesses. The high performance and efficient operation required by Justin’s team matches the dedication of everyone at Phillips Connect to deliver to our truck fleet customers a total telematics solution that will give them fast ‘pit-stop’ installations, and the most cost-effective and reliable system available anywhere. Justin has put together a winning team, and we are happy to have him represent Phillips Connect.”

The program will kick off at the season opening Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com with the official unveiling of the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Vita C Shot.