TOYOTA IN STRONG POSITION AFTER THUNDER VALLEY NATIONALS QUALIFYING
Repeat wins at Bristol on the table in both Top Fuel and Funny Car
BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 8, 2024) – Going into Sunday’s eliminations for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, Toyota is well-positioned to be victorious in both Top Fuel and Funny Car at the Tennessee dragstrip. Points leader, Justin Ashley, along with Antron Brown and Shawn Langdon lead the Toyota Top Fuel dragsters, qualifying second, third and fourth, respectively, after laying down fast times in the Friday night session.
Ashley enters tomorrow seeking his third consecutive Top Fuel victory at Bristol Dragway and his third victory of the 2024 season. Langdon also seeks his third triumph of the year, while Brown looks to couple his Chicago win from a few weeks ago.
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria was the lead GR Supra Funny Car, earning the second overall qualifying position, missing out on the No. 1 spot by just 0.015 seconds. Ron Capps closely followed in the third position, and J.R. Todd will be the No. 11 seed to begin tomorrow. Like Ashley, Capps is also seeking a threepeat at Bristol Dragway and Toyota seeks four in a row in Funny Car with DeJoria capturing victory here in 2021.
Tomorrow’s eliminations have been moved up due to impending weather with the first round now beginning at 10 a.m. EST. Television coverage of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals eliminations will be on FS1 tomorrow at 7 p.m. EST.
Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
Bristol Dragway
Race 8 of 20
TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Qualifying Position | First Round Opponent |
| Clay Millican | Parts Plus Top Fuel Dragster | 1st* | C. Ferré |
| Justin Ashley | SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 2nd | B. Force |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 3rd | D. Kalitta |
| Shawn Langdon | Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 4th | S. Reed |
| Steve Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 6th | C. Krohn |
| Billy Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 7th | J. Hart |
| Doug Kalitta | Mark III Employee Benefits Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | 14th | A. Brown |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Qualifying Position | First Round Opponent |
| Austin Prock | Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Funny Car | 1st* | J. Smith |
| Alexis DeJoria | Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 2nd | D. Richards |
| Ron Capps | NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 3rd | B. Hull |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | 11th | T. Haddock |
TOYOTA QUOTES
JUSTIN ASHLEY, SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, SCAG Racing
TF Qualifying Result: 2nd
What are your expectations for tomorrow’s eliminations?
“Yeah, I think for the most part, we accomplished our goal in qualifying. For this kind of race, the person who wins and the team that wins is going to be the team that goes up and down the race track more so than the others. It’s definitely a tricky track to navigate, but we accomplished a lot during qualifying. We’ll have to see what the conditions look like tomorrow. I think they’ll be a little bit better than what we anticipated, should be kind of overcast, at least earlier in the day. Think for our SCAG Power Equipment Toyota team, I think that means good things. I think as long as we can make the power, we’ll give ourselves a good opportunity to win and hopefully it’ll be a long race day.”
ALEXIS DEJORIA, Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, DC Motorsports
FC Qualifying Result: 2nd
How would you describe your weekend so far and your outlook for tomorrow?
“Well, it feels great to be back at a track I feel we have a really good handle on. In qualifying, we made some good passes. Last night’s Q2 at a 3.973 elapsed time gave us that No. 2 spot, which is incredible and that’s where we need to be, that’s where we are. That’s what we’re capable of. We’re so close! It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a Wally (Trophy) and going rounds tomorrow is going to be key. Being consistent. Who knows what the weather is going to hold for us. They’ve moved us up two hours so we can get some (runs) in before the rain, hopefully. So, we’ll just have to see. But, you know, this seems to be our track. I’ve been to so many finals here, qualifying No. 1 and won.”
About Toyota
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