NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

In the end, Justin Ashley, Ron Capps, Aaron Stanfield, and Gaige Herrera were definitely 2Fast for their fellow racers and claimed the season “championchips” in the new Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge.

The Challenge, which pits the semifinalists from a previous race against one another in a two-round series of rematches that takes place during the final day of qualifying, made its debut earlier this season at the NHRA Arizona Nationals and quickly became a huge favorite for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle racers as a way to add some extra fan drama to qualifying, to win some cash, and, more importantly, to bank some bonus points that would be added to their totals at the points reset leading into the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Three points were given to the winner of the Challenge in each class, two points were awarded to the runner-up, and one point given to the quickest loser in the first round.

Here's a look at how the Mission Challenge played out in the four classes.

TOP FUEL

The key to Ashley’s success in the Challenge was not just that he was a participant in a class-high eight of the 11 Challenges staged in Top Fuel (originally scheduled for 12, but the Epping rainout canceled that round), but by winning six of them, in Pomona, Chicago, Bristol, Norwalk, Denver, and the finale at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indy. Additionally, Ashley also scored a runner-up in Topeka and got the low e.t. point in Brainerd for a whopping total of 21 points, or more than a round of racing.

At the Countdown reset, instead of having just a 20-point lead over second-place Steve Torrence, Ashley’s lead is 30 points. Torrence, who won back-to-back-to-back Mission Challenge titles in Seattle, Sonoma, and Topeka to stop Ashley’s five-race monopoly, accumulated 21 Mission points, 10 fewer than Ashley, hence the bigger boost to Ashley’s lead.

Antron Brown, who won the penultimate Challenge in Brainerd, and Doug Kalitta, who won the inaugural event in Phoenix, were the next highest finishers with respective totals of seven and six points.

FUNNY CAR

Ron Capps accumulated 14 championship points on the strength of a class-leading three wins, taking home the Challenge titles in Chicago, Norwalk, and Seattle in the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra. Capps, who took part in seven of the 11 Mission Challenge events, also was the runner-up in Indy and collected the low e.t. bonus three times, in Pomona, Denver, and Topeka, meaning he scored at least one point every time he competed.

Matt Hagan was the only other multitime Funny Car winner in the Challenge, scoring in Denver and Topeka, with a runner-up in Brainerd and a low e.t. points in Phoenix and Chicago for a total of 10 points, making Capps lead heading into the Countdown playoffs at 24 points instead of 20. Considering that Capps won the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series championship by just three points, those four points could mean everything at the end of the season.

Funny Car had the most different winners with eight as Alexis DeJoria, Chad Green, Bob Tasca III, J.R. Todd, Robert Hight, and John Force all scored one Mission Challenge victory.

PRO STOCK

The Mission Challenge Pro Stock championship was not decided until the final round of the final race, in Indy, where Aaron Stanfield defeated Kyle Koretsky to earn three points and tie incoming leader Dallas Glenn. Stanfield got the championship on the basis of the tiebreaker, which was head-to-head wins and the result of Stanfield beating Glenn in the Bristol final, his other win besides Indy. Stanfield also had a runner-up in Denver.

Glenn, who only won one Challenge, in Topeka, had three low e.t. scores (Phoenix, Denver, and Indy) to add to his Bristol runner-up. Glenn’s lead in the world championship points entering the Countdown will be 25 points ahead of Matt Hartford, who accumulated just three points in a pair of Challenge appearances, all of them coming from his win in Pomona.

Only Troy Coughlin Jr. won more than one Challenge – the opener in Phoenix and Denver – and racked up seven points after adding a low e.t. tally in Topeka.

Deric Kramer (Norwalk) and Erica Enders (Brainerd) also picked up Challenge wins in Pro stock, which had 12 different drivers take part in the class’ eight Challenge events.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Like much of the 2023 season itself, the Pro Stock Motorcycle portion of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge was the Gaige Herrera Show. The bikes didn’t get their first crack at the Mission Challenge until Chicago, where the four semifinalists from the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals squared off, but Gaige, aboard the flagship Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki, won that race as well as the Bristol, Seattle, and Indy races to pull together 13 points.

The only riders to dent the Herrera Hustle were the Smiths, Angie and Matt, who won, respectively, in Norwalk and Denver. Herrera grabbed an extra point by having low e.t. in Norwalk.

Because Matt only earned four Challenge points to Herrera’s 13, Herrera will start the Countdown with a 29-point lead over Smith.