BROWN PUTS TOYOTA IN SEATTLE WINNER’S CIRCLE; REGAINS TOP FUEL POINT LEAD
SEATTLE, WA – Antron Brown defeated Terry McMillen on a hole-shot to win the NHRA Northwest Nationals at 
Pacific Raceways in suburban Seattle and reclaim the Top Fuel point lead. Sunday’s win was the fourth of the season for the Matco Tools/Toyota driver.
Brown defeated Ron Smith in the opening round and then escaped a problem on the light in the second round against Mike Salinas. He eliminated Clay Millican in the semi-finals to set up his final round match-up with McMillen where he had an .020 advantage on the tree to overcome a .004 deficit in ET.
“This weekend we had our ups and downs all through qualifying and in the last session, the Matco Tools/Toyota/U.S. Army boys unleashed that number to put us in that number one spot and it really set the tone for the entire race day today,” relayed Brown, who has advanced to seven final rounds in his last nine races. “To go out there and get past Mike Salinas in the second round after I messed up on the start and, luckily, the boys gave me a great car and basically gave us a mulligan and we got through it. Then in the semi-finals and finals we went back to race mode.
“It was just tough competition, we were neck and neck every run. The competition has definitely stepped up their game and it sets up some really interesting stuff for these last two races heading into the Countdown to see where we end up. We just need to keep fighting like we are. The fight is only going to get rougher. Now we’ll go back home with a week off and all I can tell you is that I’ve got a lot of work cut out for me. The boys have a lot of work to do in the shop and I’ve got a lot of work to get myself ready for the Countdown.”
Rounding out the Toyota Top Fuel contingent, Doug Kalitta earned a first-round victory over Terry Haddock, but was eliminated by McMillen in round two. Shawn Langdon was eliminated on a hole-shot by Salinas, while Troy Coughlin Jr., was knocked out by Tony Schumacher in the opening round.
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria advanced to the second round in her Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry with a win over Johnnie Lindberg and then ran the second-quickest time of the quarterfinals only to narrowly lose on a hole-shot to Matt Hagan. With the round win, she closes to less than 50 points out of the final playoff berth.
J.R. Todd, Del Worsham and Cruz Pedregon all lost in their opening runs.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series will take a weekend off before resuming action at Brainerd International Raceway, August 18-20, for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.
