ADEL, Ga. (May 4, 2026) — A tricky racing surface and an unforgiving left lane set the tone at South Georgia Motorsports Park for the NHRA Southern Nationals, where getting down the track proved to be half the battle. As teams across both categories fought for traction, consistency became the key to success on race day. Justin Ashley capitalized with a semifinal finish, while Dave Richards, Daniel Wilkerson, and Will Smith worked to navigate the conditions at the inaugural national event.
Justin Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel team qualified No. 12 with a 4.250-second pass at 198.82 mph. On race day, Ashley faced No. 5 qualifier Tony Stewart in the opening round and was able to navigate the tricky left lane, posting a 4.073 at 254.81 mph to advance after Stewart encountered trouble and slowed to a 10.598 at 66.69 mph. In the second round, Ashley matched up with Maddi Gordon and again made it down the track under difficult conditions, running a 4.035 at 246.35 mph to move into the semifinals, while Gordon lost traction and crossed the finish line in 10.440 seconds at 80.96 mph. Ashley then faced Doug Kalitta, where both drivers lost traction early and pedaled their cars. Kalitta was able to recover just enough to take the win with a 5.190 at 288.58 mph, while Ashley’s 5.450 at 183.57 mph ended his day in the semifinals.
“It was a good points weekend for us,” said Ashley. “I’m very proud of our SCAG Power Equipment team. That’s three races in a row we’ve gone multiple rounds. A semi-final finish is a great way to head into a big race in Chicago coming up soon, with so many Metalcraft employees who support us. Five races into the season and the arrow is pointing up.”
Dave Richards and the BlueBird Turf Funny Car team continued to show strong qualifying performance, securing the No. 8 position with a 3.959-second pass at 334.57 mph. With a 14-car field, Richards matched up against No. 7 qualifier Hunter Green in the opening round. Lined up in the left lane, Richards encountered tire smoke early in the run and was unable to recover, posting a 6.470 at 109.15 mph. Green advanced with a 4.007 at 321.65 mph.
“Qualifying showed what this BlueBird Turf team is capable of,” said Richards. “That 3.95 was a great run for us and something to build on. We’ll take what we learned, keep working, and be ready to put on a strong show for our SCAG dealers and distributors in Chicago.”
Daniel Wilkerson and the SCAG Power Equipment Ford Funny Car team qualified No. 14 with a 6.468-second pass at 134.58 mph, setting up a first-round matchup against No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd. Running in the left lane, Wilkerson made a clean and competitive pass of 4.047 at 303.30 mph, but it was not enough to overcome Todd’s 3.944 at 334.32 mph.
“I think we have our race car back,” said Wilkerson. “Tim made some wholesale changes and the thing finally went down the track. Now we can pick on our motor a little bit and hopefully start hurting some feelings out here again. Our next race is a huge one for our team, we will have about 500 people in attendance from Metalcraft of Mayville and our usual friends from dealerships. Hopefully, we can bring home one of those diamond Wally’s in front of the slew of cat’s eye gold that will be in the stands.”
Will Smith and the BlueBird Turf Top Fuel team qualified No. 13 with a 5.441-second run at 124.48 mph. Smith faced Maddi Gordon in the opening round of eliminations, posting a 4.056 at 258.12 mph, but Gordon’s strong 3.728 at 340.22 mph ended his day in the first round.
“Unfortunately first round didn’t go as planned,” said Smith. “We got down the track, then dropped a hole and had a valve train failure. It was a tough one and hurt a lot of parts, but it was a great weekend here in Valdosta. We’ve already got the car back together and we’re ready to roll. It was great that we had a huge crowd of dealers and customers out this weekend, it’s always great spending time with them. With this being the closest event to home, I had a ton of great friends come. Some of them I haven’t seen in a long time, so it was really special to get to race in front of them. Just an awesome weekend spent with our BlueBird Turf team and all of our customers and we’re looking forward to Chicago.”
With a semifinal finish and continued improvements across the board, SCAG Racing continues to trend in the right direction early in the season. The team now heads to Chicago, aiming to turn that progress into stronger race day results while representing Metalcraft of Mayville, SCAG Power Equipment, and BlueBird Turf.
