Antron Brown Takes Over Top Fuel Points Lead with Second Consecutive Countdown Win at Charlotte
A week after starting the 2024 NHRA Countdown to the Championship with a win at Maple Grove Raceway, Antron Brown charged to another victory Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Carolina Nationals. Now the winningest Top Fuel driver at zMAX Dragway with seven victories, Brown also took over the points lead on his way to defeating Doug Foley in the final round. It was Brown’s fifth national event win of the season and the 79th of his career, counting Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel event titles. With four races left in the Countdown, Brown is chasing his fourth world championship and the first for AB Motorsports.
Brown was on the outside looking in after the first qualifying session on Friday, but he rebounded in the second session by recording a 3.752-second pass at 324.90 mph to move into the No. 10 spot. Brown charged hard off the starting line in Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, though he had to step off the throttle early due to traction issues. He held on to the No. 10 position going into race day.
In the last pair of Top Fuel’s first round of eliminations on Sunday, Brown matched up with four-time world champion and fellow Toyota driver Steve Torrence. It was the first time the two multi-time world champions met in the first round since 2021. Brown jumped off the starting line first with a sizable holeshot advantage, which he paired with a 3.829 E.T. at 325.30 mph to beat Torrence and his 3.817-second effort on a holeshot. He followed that up with an identical .054-second reaction time in the second round to leave ahead of Torrence’s father and teammate, Billy Torrence. Brown reached the finish line first with a 3.869 E.T. at 321.12 mph to take out Torrence and his 3.892 E.T. A third consecutive .054 reaction time and a 3.873 E.T. put Brown ahead of reigning world champion Doug Kalitta and his 3.876 E.T. in the semifinals.
Brown was first off the starting line again in the final round against Foley. He held the lead through the 1,000-foot finish line, posting a 3.848 E.T. at 319.90 mph to Foley’s 3.862-second runner-up effort.
“We’ve got some momentum our way and we’re just finding ourselves in the right situations and we’re capitalizing on it,” Brown said. “I see Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) and Brad (Mason) and all these Matco boys trying to make the car do what they want it to do. We’re really, really close to being where we need to be, but the good part is we’re working and we’re getting better and we’re in the right spot at the right time to capitalize. Our guys know how to race. I’m super proud and super blessed to be on this team. To bring these wins home means something, but the work is not done yet. It’s not done at all. We’ve gotta keep going until the job’s finished.”
By winning the Pep Boys Nationals NHRA Nationals last weekend, Brown moved up from fifth to second in the Top Fuel points standings just one point behind Justin Ashley. With Ashley losing in the second round at Charlotte, Brown took over the points lead for the first time since 2017.
“Taking the points lead is crucial because there’s only so many rounds of racing left,” said Brown, who also won the Reading and Charlotte 2 races in 2015 and 2016 on his way to world championships both seasons. “Literally, four times four is 16 rounds of racing left. That’s 16 rounds of winning left on the table, and we’ve got to go out there and get as many of those rounds as we can. That’s the name of the game. We’ve been here before. The Countdown is really, really intense. We’ve got to enjoy these moments now, but we can’t let them slow us down on what our mission is, and our mission is to finish the job that’s at hand.”
Angelle Sampey, Brown’s former Pro Stock Motorcycle teammate and current AB Motorsports Accelerate driver development program driver, had another strong weekend in Top Alcohol Dragster competition. She drove the Michalek Brothers Racing-fielded Hangsterfer’s Metalworking Lubricants A/Fuel dragster to the No. 5 spot in qualifying, then charged to a semifinal finish to build on a runner-up finish at the U.S. Nationals and a career first win at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.
Brown is a five-time winner at the next race on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, the Midwest Nationals, Sept. 27-29 at World Wide Technology in Madison, Ill.
This story was originally published on September 23, 2024.
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