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By all accounts, Justin Ashley’s 2023 tour was a championship season. Unfortunately, the final championship points standings didn’t agree. 

The second-generation drag racer, who won the NHRA’s Rookie of the Year accolades in 2020, won six races in eight final rounds, more than any other driver in Top Fuel, including Doug Kalitta, the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion. He won 40 rounds of competition and qualified No. 1 three times. 

What more could a driver have done?

In Ashley’s case, mastering the Countdown to the Championship was the most significant lesson he learned. 

“The Countdown, particularly the last couple of races, really was an experience,” Ashley admitted. “I think we took a lot that we can learn as a group. And as a team, I think it was more of like a reiteration of a few things that we already know, which is not to focus on anything else that’s outside of our control. To control, we can control and just be mechanical, go out there and try and do the same thing every time as a driver and as a team and let the rest let the points take care of themselves.”

Speaking of mechanics, Ashley’s performances on the starting line all season long and on Saturdays during the #2Fast2Tasty Challenges made him look like something in between man and machine. 

The season started much like it ended, in disappointment. Ashley fell in the first round of the NHRA Gatornationals to Mike Salinas, but rebounded with eight consecutive rounds wins taking home the titles in Phoenix and Pomona. Ashley took home the first of six #2Fast2Tasty Challenge events in Pomona.

“I think the most significant, pivotal moment [of 2023] was probably the second race of the year when we were in Arizona,” Ashley explained. “We didn’t perform the way that we wanted to in Gainesville. And the important thing was going to be how we responded the next week in Arizona. We responded by winning the race. Then we followed up by winning the next race again after that in Pomona. I think that was a turning point for us. It showed the fortitude of our team and our attitude. I’m proud to be a small part of such a great and bigger group that accomplished so much this year.”

So, how does one improve on a blockbuster season that falls short of a title? If you ask Ashley, he’ll tell you to do it all over again and limit the number of miscues. 

“If you don’t take care of your own business, it’s not going to matter anyway, so it’s a new year or fresh start beginning in 2024,” Ashley said. “But I think overall, just our attitude about everything, having a healthy, good understanding of what we’re looking at, will really be good for us and prove to be invaluable. It’s exciting because it’s different. It’s a great challenge, great opportunity. The more we race at these racetracks, I think the more, as teams and drivers, we have an understanding of what they’re all about.”

Ashley’s road to the highest level in drag racing competition began as a Junior Dragster racer before he graduated to Top Dragster. When he won in his debut event behind the wheel of Randy Meyer’s A/Fuel Dragster, the writing was on the wall that the kid would be a force to be reckoned with. He made his Top Fuel debut at the 2019 NHRA Carolina Nationals and drove to a semi-final finish. 

Of all the fan interactions Ashley experienced in 2023, he admits it was the kids that touched his heart. He just turned 29, and to him, being the kid on the other side of the ropes feels like it was yesterday.

“I think whenever there’s a kid, it’s special. It kind of puts things in perspective quickly,” Ashley said. “I don’t care what kind of day you’re having, or you might have gone out the first round, no matter what the race, but ultimately, you realize it really is so much greater than yourself. Something as small as giving someone a hat signing an autograph or taking a picture it really can have a tremendous impact on the life of somebody, especially children. So, as a whole, that’s something that really stood out to me this year.”

And, just like that, 2023 isn’t a bad memory of the one that got away. It stands as motivation for his first championship, which many feel is coming.