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It’s no secret that Justin Ashley is used to success, having won 13 national event titles over the last three seasons and 15 in 99 career Top Fuel starts — that’s one win roughly every six starts — so the Scag Power Equipment team’s rough start to the 2025 season, with just one round-win in the first three races, is a tough pill to swallow.

It’s even tougher when you remember that Ashley and tuners Mike Green and Tommy DeLago had won the Winternationals three straight years and were in the thick of last year’s championship battle, even entering the season finale with the points lead until a first-round loss in Pomona killed those chances.��

The Scag got into that position through consistency — their 2024 successful-run completion of nearly 69% was tops in the class — but their season best of 3.67 was a few ticks off of their top competition.

The team commissioned a new chassis from PBRC with a new front-half design meant to help the chassis flex better, and that’s where the trouble began. Although the car debuted in testing with a 3.66 at 338.94 mph, by the time they got to Gainesville for the season opener, the car was not responding to their tuning inputs. They lost in round one there, and even though they qualified No. 6 in Phoenix, and won a round, it still wasn’t right.

“We just weren't happy,” admitted Ashley. “I just wasn't responding to what we were trying to do."

So the team dragged out last year’s car, which had just eight races on it — including winning efforts in its debut in Brainerd and a crucial Fall win in Dallas — and tested it after the NHRA Arizona Nationals,

“We tested on Monday after Phoenix, and we saw more of when we were looking for, so we ran it at Pomona, so, in a lot of ways, Pomona is kind of our first race," he explained.

“We’ve just kind of put ourselves on the eight ball, making a move that we saw,” he added. “We don’t feel bad about the choice we made to try things but, let’s be honest: Last year we were running really good, super consistent, but not quick. We didn't run a .65, so I think sometimes if you want to run that fast — and we've done it before — you’ve got to kind of take a step back to figure out how to do that. I think we have a 3.64 tune-up. We just haven't got there yet, but we feel like we have a foundation again.

“We’ve got to figure out how to run .64 because we’ll need that in the Countdown, so now's the time. It sucks. You’ve got to be patient, but now's the time to figure it out, but we're not the most patient of teams.”

Although the hot weather this weekend in Las Vegas won’t allow mid-3.60 times, the Scag team had the best run of Q2 on Saturday and third best of Q1, so the team is definitely headed in the right direction.

Ashley is also on the verge of two milestones. His next round win will be his 150th in Top Fuel competition and, with a spot pretty much already guaranteed in Sunday's field, it will mark his 100th career race day start.��

“The thought of competing in my 100th race and winning my 150th round of racing is surreal," he said. "I remember both my first Top Fuel race and first Top Fuel round win in Charlotte of 2019 like it was yesterday. The thing that stands out to me the most is how many people it took to get to this point. We still have a long way to go, but I cannot help but stop and reflect with gratitude on all that led to this point."
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