By: SCAG Racing
LAS VEGAS (April 13, 2025) – Dave Richards and the BlueBird Turf / Versatran Funny Car team made their way to the finals of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday earning the first semifinal points finish of Richards’ career. Justin Ashley also took the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster to the final quad while Daniel Wilkerson finished with quarterfinal points.
Richards finished third in the final quad at The Strip with a 4.320-second pass at 227.80 mph, beating out four-time world champion Matt Hagan’s 7.965 at 87.66 after he hazed the tires. Paul Lee finished runner-up (4.042 at 311.77) while reigning world champion Austin Prock picked up the win (4.009 at 316.01).
“This was an exciting day. I’ve never made it past the second round. It was a great weekend for our team. It feels really good to go some rounds,” said Richards who moved to 13th in points. “To make it to the final quad in this Funny Car category, to finish third, it’s a major accomplishment for our BlueBird/ Versatran team. Now we have the momentum and taste of what it’s like and we want to continue this trend.”
Richards started the day from the No. 11 qualifying position facing off with Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge winner Spencer Hyde, rookie Hunter Green and Buddy Hull. Richards had a 4.163-second pass at 292.96 mph that was enough to take down Hull (5.157 at 155.19) and Green (6.732 at 94.59) and advance with Hyde (3.994 at 320.43).
In the semifinal quad, Richards came in second with a 4.354-second pass at 214.35 mph to beat Cruz Pedregon (4.446 at 202.52) and Hyde (10.331 at 71.54), coming up short only to Prock (3.964 at 322.88).
In Top Fuel, Justin Ashley and the SCAG Toyota team qualified No. 8 to end up in a first round match up with No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta and most recent winner Clay Millican. Ashley handled the SCAG dragster to a 4.022 second pass at 280.08 mph to beat out Millican (4.080 at 230.53) and advance with Kalitta (3.774 at 317.12).
Joining Ashley and Kalitta in the semifinal quad was former world champion Steve Torrence and motorsports legend Tony Stewart. Ashley ran a 4.090 second pass at 269.94 mph to move onto the final with Stewart (.052-second reaction time, 3.943 at 303.50) who beat Torrence (.230, 3.928 and 294.82) on a holeshot. Kalitta double stepped and redlit by -.351.
In the finals, Ashley and Stewart matched with reigning world champion Antron Brown and rising star Jasmine Salinas. Ashley would finish third for semifinal points after a 3.965 second pass at 304.25 mph was out run by runner-up Brown (3.912 at 302.35) and Stewart (3.870 at 317.42) who picked up his first win in Top Fuel. Salinas would smoke the tires for a 4.237 at only 196.67.
“I think today’s result gives us a lot of momentum. When you race in the Four-Wide Nationals, anything can happen, so it’s one of those quirky deals. But, it was important for us to start gaining momentum now. This whole SCAG Power Equipment Toyota GAZOO Racing team has been working so hard, and it’s nice to see their work start to come to fruition. Now, this is something we can build off of. Once we’re done here (at Las Vegas), we’ll learn from it, put it in the past and focus on Charlotte.”
Daniel Wilkerson and the SCAG Ford team kicked off race day from the No. 8 in a quad with Paul Lee, Bob Tasca III and Chad Green. Wilkerson would advance to the second round with a 4.242-second pass at 261.17 mph that defeated Green (4.493 at 206.42). He advanced with Paul Lee (4.074 at 277.32) while Tasca III had problems before taking the tree and couldn’t make the run.
In the second round, Wilkerson and Lee were joined with J.R. Todd and Matt Hagan. The SCAG Ford Mustang would start to haze the tires down track causing Wilkerson to slow to a 4.249-second pass at 287.29 mph, third quickest of the quad. He defeated Todd (4.490 at 199.88) but was bettered by Hagan (4.126 at 304.05) and Lee (4.140 at 289.76).
“We had a very finicky race car this weekend,” Wilkerson said. “We thought we had this SCAG Ford machine slowed down enough and then she’d spin. So, we parked the clutch, and she dropped holes. Vegas does Vegas things so we will tune her up head to Charlotte with our heads held high.”
The three-car SCAG Racing team next heads to zMAX Dragway just outside of Charlotte for the American Rebel Light NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, April 25-27.
