The second edition of the SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton (Fla.) Motorsports Park kicks off the drag racing season in style Feb. 6-8.

Without points on the line and with a giant purse at stake, teams and drivers have embraced the all-star event.

Last year, eventual NHRA Funny Car champion Austin Prock kicked off his stellar season with a victory in the Superstar Shootout. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Erica Enders (Pro Stock) also picked up victories during the inaugural event.

With the race weekend placed at the beginning of February, the offseason for teams has drastically shortened.

While that may tighten deadlines in a variety of aspects ahead of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, which begins March 6-9 at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway, SCAG Racing Top Fuel driver Justin Ashley believes its more than worth having the opportunity to compete and test.

I think as racers, we want to race as much as we can, Ashley said. So, were grateful for the opportunity to compete in an event like this. The truth of the matter is, it does shorten our offseason, so theres not as much time to get everything together.

Whether thats agreements or wraps or decaling or whatever that may be. But at the end of the day, were going to spend a certain amount of time allocated toward testing before the actual season began. Now we have an opportunity to not only test, but while were there, compete for whats going to be the biggest purse in drag racing and compete in an all-star event against the best drivers and the best teams in the world that happens to be presented by SCAG Power Equipment, Ashley continued.

It certainly shortens the timeline a little bit, but its an opportunity that were certainly grateful for and an opportunity that we want to try and do everything we can to make sure we take advantage of that and if nothing else, put ourselves in a good position going into the regular season.

With testing beginning on Wednesday at Bradenton, it gives Ashley and his SCAG Racing team the chance to fine-tune their 11,000-plus dragster with the NHRAs Gatornationals looming one month following the Superstar Shootout.

Normally, wed go into the first NHRA race of the year still trying to get our feet wet and still trying to get everything underneath us, if you will, Ashley said. It felt like the season already kicked off, because we had the PRO Superstar Shootout already in Bradenton.

It kind of felt like when the NHRA season started, we all had a little bit of a head start. We understood a little bit better about where we were at as a team and where all the other teams were, relatively speaking.

I think it was just a good way to kind of kick things off and a good way to have some momentum and have some more data and information going into Gainesville to kick off the year.

Despite having plenty of unknowns entering last years first Superstar Shootout, it checked practically every box.

Held at a grassroots-type of track in Bradenton, Ashley believes that played a big role in giving the one-off event a special atmosphere for all involved.

I think probably what stood out to me at the event the most was just probably the fans and the excitement that surrounded the event, Ashley said.

It was the first time we did something like this. I think we were all eager to see the reception from the fans that would be there and the reception from the fans that would be watching on FloRacing. It was so overwhelmingly positive.

They all really enjoyed the experience. I think the opportunity to see Top Fuels and Funny Cars race together and race against each other at the same time, the opportunity to do a lot of night racing, to have a lot of events and concerts on the midway, to do a chip draw to have super good conditions with super fast race cars.

All of that added together, kind of a grassroots, specialty type of event that had a really, really positive response.