The regular season wasn’t great for reigning and five-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders.
 
However, Enders and her Elite Motorsports team is right in the mix for Enders to win world title No. 6 at the first race of the six-race Countdown to the Championship – the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa.
 
Enders proved that with a blistering 6.494-second elapsed time at 211.13 mph on Friday, which held on for the No. 1 qualifying spot through Saturday’s two qualifying sessions.

Bob Tasca III picked up his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season in front of a sellout crowd at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, located outside of Reading, Pa.

Also maintaining top spots at the opener for the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship were Justin Ashley (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock), and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

This event marked the 16th race of the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the first of the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Notably, it was the seventh sellout crowd of the season. Due to the anticipated bad weather, the Sunday eliminations were moved up to 9:30 a.m. ET at Maple Grove Raceway.

Top Fuel driver Justin Ashley had a dominating regular season – but none of that mattered when the six-race Countdown to the Championship began at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals this weekend.

Ashley started on the right foot by capturing the provisional pole with a 3.687-second elapsed time at 335.57 mph in Reading, Pa.

If Ashley holds the No. 1 spot through Saturday, it would be his third of the season and fifth of his career.

Bob Tasca III is aware the stakes have changed this weekend in Reading. Pa.

He and his team are beginning the six-race Countdown to the Championship at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.

Tasca’s team stayed calm in the moment on Friday night as he clocked a 3.874-second elapsed time at 334.90 mph in Q2 to take the provisional No. 1 spot at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.

If Tasca keeps the No. 1 spot, it would be his fifth of the season and the 14th of his nitro Funny Car career, which began in 2008.

Jay Cox secured his third No. 1 qualifier award of the season in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous at the PDRA Red Line Oil Carolina Nationals at Darlington Dragway with a record-tying performance. Cox matched Jim Halsey's national class E.T. record by clocking a time of 3.613 seconds at 208.72 mph on Friday night.

Also setting the pace in the respective headlining divisions were Melanie Salemi (Pro Boost) and John DeFlorian (Pro Stock).

Justin Ashley is well known for his lightning-quick reflexes, which have landed him in the winner's circle many times. Understanding the importance of supplementing his first No. 1 seed in the NHRA's Countdown to the Championship, he reacted in familiar fashion, racing his way to the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel provisional qualifying at the 38th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.

Bob Tasca III, Erica Enders, and Gaige Herrera also showcased their skills and claimed the provisional No. 1 spots in their respective categories at Maple Grove Raceway, located outside of Reading, PA.

Ashley drove his Phillips Connect Toyota dragster to an elapsed time of 3.687 seconds at 335.57 mph. If the run holds, it will mark Ashley's third No. 1 qualifier of the season and fifth in his career. Although pleased with his accomplishments, Ashley remains focused on the ultimate goal, the championship.

I wouldn't have given us 24 days to make it, much less 24 years. But here we are at an age where social media is the norm, still killing it in a website world. 

CompetitionPlus.com has become a way of life for our dedicated team. Our way of life has been in traveling the globe to bring you the latest drag racing news daily, sometimes hourly, and bringing news you can trust.nd what you demand in a media outlet.

The idea looked good on paper and, as it turned out, even better on a computer screen.

The Drag Race Bracket Bonanza, the first dynamic bracket competition for drag racing fans, plans to parlay its success at the NHRA U.S. Nationals into the next chapter of its presentation at the Reading Nationals from Maple Grove Raceway. 

Drag racing fans can fill out the complete competition brackets for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle when qualifying concludes on Saturday evening. Brackets can be filled out until the first pair of Top Fuel dragsters fire up for the first round of eliminations at 10:30 a.m. ET.

If you are going to go, you might as well go big.

For European Top Fuel racer Ida Zetterström, the delivery couldn’t get much bigger than she pulled off at Santa Pod Raceway. In capturing the final FIA Top Fuel race of the year, she also secured the series championship. The win was Zetterström’s fourth of the season and enabled her to close out the season with a 120-point lead over Susanne Callin. 

This hasn’t been the season Kyle Koretsky was hoping for in 2023,

Koretsky, after fourth and fifth-place finishes in the points in 2021 and 2022, arrived in Indy ninth in the points standings with one runner-up and one semifinal finish. His semi-final run at the NHRA U.S. Nationals allowed him to climb into eighth as the regular season concluded.