LAS VEGAS – Driving for the first time in more than two months, Ashley Sanford took her Gelish/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster to the second round of the NHRA Toyota Nationals this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Great weekend,” Sanford said with a smile. “Going into this weekend, we were all anxious. It had been since Seattle since we raced, and it had been since April since we were at this track.”

But Sanford and her family-owned team performed well from the start in Vegas. She had to pedal her dragster in the first round of qualifying, but it was still a decent pass.

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LAS VEGAS – Gelish/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster driver Ashley Sanford will be a busy woman in the next two weeks, and no one is happier about that than her.

After an absence of nearly three months, the 22-year-old from Fullerton, Calif., will climb behind the wheel of her family’s race car for three events over 10 days, starting with the NHRA Toyota Nationals this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m so excited,” Sanford said. “It’s kind of like I’m in a daze because it feels like it’s been so long, and I’ve been waiting so long for it to finally come.”

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SEATTLE – Gelish/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster driver Ashley Sanford can chalk up the 29th annual ProtectTheHarvest.com NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Lucas Oil this weekend at Pacific Raceways to experience.

Sanford last raced her family-owned Gelish car in April, but the team made some minor changes for the Seattle race. They didn’t work out, and by the time Sanford and her team re-adjusted back, she lost on the first round on Saturday.

Still, Sanford was optimistic about what she and the team learned in Seattle.

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SEATTLE – Ashley Sanford is going home.  No, she’s not returning to her hometown of Fullerton, Calif. On the contrary, she’s heading north to race her Gelish Top Alcohol Dragster at the 29th annual ProtectTheHarvest.com NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Lucas Oil this weekend at Pacific Raceways.

The home part is the seat of her family’s Gelish dragster.

“It’s pretty hard to put into words because even though I raced a few weeks ago in Norwalk (Ohio), I was in a new car and it was a blast, but getting to step back into my Gelish dragster with my whole family there, it is very comfortable,” Sanford said. “In a sense, it’s going back to the basics.”

Sanford raced for another team in Norwalk and last drove her family’s dragster at a divisional race in Las Vegas, where she qualified No. 2 before rain postponed the event.

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NORWALK, OH – The longer Ashley Sanford raced in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals this weekend at Summit Motorsports Park, the more her expectations rose.

First, the 22-year-old just wanted to make some laps and have some fun in the Anthony Dicero Racing Top Alcohol Dragster. Then, she wanted to make the field.

Next in her sights was a round-win — or two. And, finally, Sanford wanted a Wally.

She ended up losing in the second round but considered her race with Dicero’s team a success.

“I’m just so happy and so proud to be out here with them,” Sanford said. “Hopefully, we’ll make this happen again. We’ll be in my family-owned car in Seattle, but we really want to get together with the Nitro University team and hopefully get a Wally sometime this year.”

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BROWNSBURG, IN – Southern California native Ashley Sanford and her Gelish Gel Nail Polish A/Fuel dragster team have made the trek to Indianapolis for the legendary NHRA national event known by many simply as “The Big Go”. The 60th Annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, August 27 through September 1, is the one race that every drag racer wants to enter, and Sanford is doing just that for the first time this weekend.

“I’m blown away by the experience so far,” she said of the historic race. “It’s kind of a racer’s dream to come to Indy, especially coming from southern California. Making the trip to Indy is a big deal for a sportsman team like ours. It’s the 60th anniversary, my first time here – I’m so excited for the experience.”

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SEATTLE, WA – After a few months away from the racetrack, 20-year old Ashley Sanford is more than ready to strap into her Gelish Nail Polish/Lucas Oil A/Fuel Dragster at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals, August 1-3. Refreshed with new parts, a spare motor, and motivation from promising performance at their last race, the SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas in March, Sanford and team head back into a consecutive stretch of racing.

“Keeping up with the results is pretty much the closest we’ve been to racing since Vegas,” Sanford said. “Ever since that race I was hoping the time between races would fly by and fortunately it did. What’s great is now we’re going to be busy. We have at least one race per month until the Finals in November.

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