Ashley, Hagan, Coughlin Jr. and Herrera win the NHRA Texas FallNationals

Justin Ashley took the Top Fuel points lead Sunday at the Texas Motorplex, beating Clay Millican in the final round and winning in Dallas for the third time in four years at the 39th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals.

Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 18th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the fourth of six races in the Countdown to the championship playoffs.

Ashley managed 3.773 seconds at 327.99 mph on the final lap in his Scag Power Equipment/Toyota dragster, defeating Millican by a holeshot thanks to a brilliant 0.026 second reaction time at the starting line. Millican clocked a faster time of 3.762 seconds at 328.40 mph, but was unable to track down Ashley at the finish line. It is the fourth win of the season and 15th overall for Ashley, who defeated Antron Brown, Shawn Langdon and Tony Schumacher to reach the final round.

He qualified 12th and only completed the first qualifying run on Friday while observing Yom Kippur. But the team was prepared with several outstanding runs on Sunday and Ashley now has a 44-point lead over Antron Brown with two races to go.

“That speaks volumes about the type of team we have,” Ashley said. “When I went to them and told them my plan, the team rallied around me and we bonded as a group. We’re a team and a family, and for them to understand my principles and just have one lap of the track – I don’t think we had lane choice once today, our backs were against the wall, but Mike (Green, crew chief ) and Tommy (DeLago) did a great job.

“It’s not over until it’s over, that’s for sure. You just have to keep going and it’s best not to even look at the points. If we don’t mind our business, it won’t matter anyway. It’s important to enjoy it, but once we leave here we need to immediately focus on Vegas. No matter what happens, it’s far from over. We took a big step today, but it’s getting more and more difficult. As always, it will come down to Pomona.”

Millican reached the final for the third time this season and 25th time in his career, defeating reigning world champion Doug Kalitta, Shawn Reed and Texan Steve Torrence.

Texas Motorplex continued to showcase the best of reigning Funny Car World Champion Matt Hagan, who won for Tony Stewart Racing at Dallas for the second straight year, powering Ron Capps with a 3.943-second run at 327.65 mph in his Johnson’s Horse Garage Dodge defeated. /SRT Hellcat. It is the third win of the season for Hagan and the 52nd of his career as he also moved into third place in points, 168 points behind leader Austin Prock.

After qualifying second in qualifying, Hagan defeated Bobby Bode, Cruz Pedregon and Daniel Wilkerson to reach the final round. He used a better reaction time of 0.064 seconds to stop Capps’ run of 3.934 seconds at 328.28 mph. The team had struggled since Hagan’s last win in Chicago in May, but he was thrilled with everyone’s performance on Sunday in the warm conditions, giving the team a much-needed boost at the end of the season.

“I was really excited and I love Capps more than anything, but I was about to cut his head off,” Hagan said. “You go in like a gladiator. You can get on this crazy machine and never know what it’s going to do, but that’s one of the cool things we get to do, drive something so unpredictable.

“But that’s exactly why we like to do it. It was huge to get that win for Jason Johnson and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage, to get the win. Life is about the people and the relationships we build along the way, that’s what really matters. We’ve surrounded ourselves with really smart people and I believe in my guys and my crew. That core group was really important and I was fortunate to be able to keep my core group together for so long.”

Capps reached the finals for the fifth time this season and 152nd time in his career, defeating Dave Richards, Blake Alexander and Prock. Prock will still have a commanding lead in Las Vegas as he will be 147 points ahead of Jack Beckman heading into the final two races. Beckman, who races for drag racing legend John Force, did not compete in Sunday’s race after waking up with dizzying symptoms.

In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin Jr. edged out longtime rival Greg Anderson in the championship round to claim his first win at the Texas Motorplex in more than 20 years after leading his Scag with a 6.592-second run at 208.10 miles cars slipped past Anderson every hour. Coughlin’s last win in Dallas came in 2002, but that changed with a classic performance on Sunday. It gives Coughlin his fifth win of the season and 69th of his career.

To get there he beat Cory Reed, David Cuadra and Matt Hartford, but the performance was stepped up in the final round against Anderson. They were two five-time world champions, but Coughlin slipped past the veteran at the finish. He is fifth in points and was also happy about the first double victory for Scag Power Equipment.

“This feels amazing,” Coughlin said. “The icing on the cake for us was that Justin Ashley and I got our first double as Scag teammates. I can’t wait to celebrate with our team. It should be a big one. This Wally goes back to Mark Ingersoll. It’s pretty remarkable what he’s been through. He’s well on his way to recovery and he’s certainly as strong as an ox. We miss having him out here and look forward to him coming back more often.

“Since he got behind the wheel of a Pro Stock program, Greg has always been the front runner. Today he overtook us in terms of performance, so we jokingly said that we would have to pull a rabbit out of the hat before this final lap – and luckily we did it. I was lucky to be surrounded by great teams and great people. I think this weekend is further proof of that. I saw the victory light come on and I couldn’t have been more excited.”

Anderson, who qualified as the No. 1 seed, reached the final for the fourth time this year and 180th time in his career by defeating Fernando Cuadra Jr. and leader Dallas Glenn. But Glenn extended his points lead by defeating Stanfield in the second round, giving him a 54-point lead over Stanfield heading into Las Vegas. Anderson jumped to third place with his performance on the final lap.

It was another dominant Dallas weekend for Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Gaige Herrera, who won for the second time this year at the Texas Motorplex after edging rival Matt Smith on the final lap with a 6.816-second run at 200.56 Miles per hour on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki. With the victory, Herrera secured his 20th career win, reaching this milestone faster than any other driver in NHRA history.

Herrera, who was also No. 1 in qualifying as part of a spectacular weekend, now has nine wins in 2024 and secures a 62-point lead over Smith in the final two races of the season as he aims for a second consecutive championship . To reach Sunday’s final round, Herrera defeated Chase Van Sant and Jianna Evaristo. Smith was first off the starting line but ran into trouble as Herrera took his second straight victory in the countdown to the championship.

“Today means a lot to me,” Herrera said. “I definitely had more luck than performance on my side today. I was sleeping by one of the lights and Chase blushed and Matt would have caught me in the finale there. Luck was definitely on my side and I would rather have luck than good any day. My bike ran well all day despite the heat. I made a few small mistakes, but overall I’m happy to go home with the win and another cowboy hat.

“This countdown was pretty tight. We all know that some nonsense was said, so it means a lot to me that we don’t have the performance advantage and get the win. This season, with every round win we get, it just means a lot more. This year was a lot more pressure for me as a driver. Every round and every win means so much more this time. I’m just showing my true side and not holding it back any longer.”

Smith reached his fifth finals of 2024 and the 80th of his career thanks to round-robin wins over Malcolm Phillips Jr., Marc Zwillingsen and Hector Arana Jr.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action October 31st through November 31st. 3 with the 24th Annual Ford Performance NHRA Nationals on the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.