![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/unnamed-min-e1677864308153.png\")
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To help kick off the season at the 54th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, The Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout is back, and with it comes a trio of first-time competitors in the specialty race.<\/p>\n
Although not rookies, Austin Prock, Josh Hart and Clay Millican are in the Callout field for the first time, joining a star-studded eight-car lineup that also includes reigning Top Fuel world champ Brittany Force, defending Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout winner Steve Torrence, Justin Ashley, Mike Salinas and Doug Kalitta. All of those names round out one heck of an event.<\/p>\n
First time Callout drivers will look to start their 2023 racing seasons with a bang and also clear a little money along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some elite drivers in here and to be in that same group in this Callout, that\u2019s really special,\u201d Prock said. \u201cWe worked hard to get in here and it\u2019s going to be a blast. I\u2019m looking forward to it and I\u2019m excited for a little bit of the smack talk. I like that it\u2019s at the first race of the year. It\u2019s going to show who did their homework in the off-season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The one-day shootout takes place on Saturday, March 11, with the first-round selections being made on Friday in the Top Eliminator Club at the famed Gainesville Raceway. Force gets the first selection and with Hart, Prock and Millican making up the final three spots, each will likely be called out.<\/p>\n That\u2019s fine for Hart, who is ready for a big year in his 11,000-horsepower R&L Carriers dragster. He\u2019s already had one magical moment in Gainesville, winning the Gatornationals in his Top Fuel debut in 2021 \u2013 one of just eight drivers in NHRA history to win their first event \u2013 and he wouldn\u2019t mind another one.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a little bit of confidence and I\u2019m more comfortable in the car than I\u2019ve ever been before,\u201d said Hart, who advanced to two final rounds in 2022. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an awesome Callout and I\u2019m super stoked. I learned a lot last year and I\u2019m ready to roll. I\u2019m proud to be a part of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n With big money and bragging rights on the line, as well as a special broadcast on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) leading into NHRA Gatornationals eliminations on FOX on Sunday, March 12, Millican will try to grab the spotlight in his 11,000-horsepower Parts Plus\/NurtecODT\/Rick Ware Racing dragster.<\/p>\n He joined Rick Ware Racing as part of a new Top Fuel team at the tail end of 2022, bringing considerable momentum in 2023. Knowing he\u2019ll be called out, Millican is eager to play the spoiler in his first appearance in the specialty race.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just proud to be a part of it. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be exciting,\u201d Millican said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really cool. I\u2019m hanging in there at No. 8, but I\u2019m excited to see who\u2019s going to call us out and what we\u2019ll be able to do on that first run. It\u2019s a lot of money on the line and I\u2019m excited just about the chance to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Prock is bringing out the big guns with his famous 11,000-horsepower Montana Brand\/Rocky Mountain Twist dragster. He won twice in the Countdown to the Championship last year, including the finale in Pomona, picking up the most round wins of any playoff driver in Top Fuel. A strong performance in the Callout \u2013 as well as raceday in Gainesville \u2013 would go a long way in continuing that momentum in 2023 and Prock figures to be ready no matter who his first-round opponent will be.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group of people going here on this team,\u201d Prock said. \u201cI think we\u2019re in the best shape we\u2019ve ever been going into the season, and I think we\u2019ll be really strong in Gainesville.\u201d<\/p>\n After the first round in the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout, the driver who makes the quickest winning run will also select their semifinal opponent, locking in the other matchup. It helps lead into the Sunday eliminations for the Gatornationals, which is a thrilling NHRA season-opener in 2023.<\/p>\n In 2022, Tripp Tatum (Top Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock), and Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all picked up victories during a record-breaking weekend in Gainesville. Hagan earned the first-ever victory for Tony Stewart Racing, and Karen Stoffer made the quickest pass in Pro Stock Motorcycle history at 6.665 seconds en route to the win. Tatum earned his first career victory, as a first-time winner picked up the victory for a second straight year in Top Fuel.<\/p>\n NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 1:30 and 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday, March 10, and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, March 11 at 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, March 12. Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 10:00 a.m. ET. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday, leading into live eliminations on FOX at 12 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n The opening round of the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout takes place on Saturday at 1:20 p.m. ET, with the semifinals to follow at 2:45 p.m. The finals are slated for 4:25 p.m. The callout will be given a featured broadcast on FS1 at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To help kick off the season at the 54th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, The Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout is back<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":89981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,1082,3470,8393,3399,22],"tags":[9586,41,7,9587,1632],"class_list":["post-89979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-column","category-press-release","category-news","category-press-releases","category-nhra","category-event-coverage","tag-callout","tag-news","tag-nhra","tag-pepboys","tag-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/unnamed-min-e1677864308153.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-nph","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89983,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89979\/revisions\/89983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/unnamed-6-min-300x300.jpg\")