Three-time world champion Antron Brown picked up his first playoff win in six years on Sunday at zMAX Dragway, driving to the Top Fuel victory at the 14th annual Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals.
Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) also picked up wins at the second of six races in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.
Brown put together a run of 3.672-seconds at 335.73 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Matco Tools dragster, slipping past points leader Justin Ashley on a holeshot in a thrilling final round to win his first race in the Countdown to the Championship since 2016. It is Brown’s third victory in the past five races and the 71st in his career, as the first-year team owner also moved to second in the points standings with four races left in 2022. To reach the finals, Brown beat three standout competitors, including Reading winner Austin Prock, Brittany Force and Clay Millican. He followed with a .035 reaction time in the final round, which was enough to allow him to beat Ashley’s quicker 3.671 at 333.99.
“When you look at the Top Fuel class, the first round is a final round. It’s incredible competition and my hat is off to my team,” Brown said. “They’re just incredible, we’ve never lost faith and this group just kept digging. To own a team and do what we’ve done, we’re blessed. To win the second race in the Countdown, that’s really huge. This is where it really gets good and it gets really tight, and you have to fight for every point. It’s a blessing to make it here. If you win a race today, you’re doing something special, and I’ve got a special group behind me.
“Justin was dropping bombs on people all day long and we knew that was going to be a tough matchup. That was just a fun final. We push each other all the time and I knew we were both going to give it everything on the starting line. Our car stayed lit and I just tried to keep it straight as an arrow.”
Ashley, who was also the No. 1 qualifier, advanced to his second straight final round thanks to wins against Alex Laughlin, four-time defending world champ Steve Torrence and Doug Kalitta. It’s the sixth final round this year for Ashley, who holds a 43-point lead over Brown after two playoff races.
Capps, the defending world champ in Funny Car, also pulled to second in points with his win on Sunday, hanging on against Alexis DeJoria in the…
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