KENT, WA – Antron Brown and his AB Motorsports Matco Tools team were solid throughout qualifying at the NHRA Northwest Nationals near Seattle, clocking the third-quickest pass of the second session (3.844 E.T.) before improving upon their time in the final session where Brown posted a 3.837 E.T. to secure a position in the quick-half of the Top Fuel field.

Starting from fifth, Brown drew Leah Pruett as his first-round competitor on race day. The former teammates were nearly even leaving the starting line and kept pace down the 1,000-foot stretch in an exciting side-by-side race. Unfortunately for Brown, despite taking his Matco Tools Top Fueler on its best run of the weekend, the three-time world champ found himself on the bad side of a good drag race, falling to Pruett by a mere 18-thousandths-of-a-second.

“It was almost that ‘get healthy’ weekend this Matco Tools team needed for Toyota and Lucas Oil and all of our loyal partners,” said Brown, a four-time Pacific Raceways event winner. “We ran great on Saturday with two good laps that put us in the number five spot for race day and we had a tough draw against Leah Pruett again in round one. That team is running great with Neal Strausbaugh and Mike Domagala at TSR, and it was a close one. We ran a good lap at 3.79, but it was just a tad off from their 3.78. Our Matco Tools machine was really good to the 330-foot mark and then we had a clutch issue. The results may not show it on paper, but I really do think we turned the corner this weekend. I wish we were going straight to Topeka (Kan.) and qualifying in five days. But, the guys do need a break after the Western Swing. It’s a long three weeks. We’ll go back to Indy, regroup, and come out swinging hard at Topeka and Brainerd (Minn.)”

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Kent, WA – With 4 prior victory circle visits, Antron Brown understand what it takes to win at the Seattle track.  It’s been 3 years since the NHRA has visited this facility, so the teams are itching to be the first back in the winners circle in 2022.

“Seattle has always been a good race track for us. It’s a tricky track; it can be super-fast, but it’s definitely one of those places where you have to have everything right. We’re ready to get up there to the Pacific Northwest on Thursday night after we send the kids back to school in Indy this week. We want to make a good lap on Friday’s opening qualifying pass, and we’re looking forward to seeing our Seattle Matco family for the first time in a few years.” explained Antron.

Noteworthy: Brown has visited the NHRA Northwest Nationals winner’s circle at three out of the last four NHRA Camping World Series events contested at Pacific Raceways

Brown holds the track E.T. record (3.685 seconds), which he set at the 2016 event

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SONOMA, CA – Antron Brown wrapped up qualifying at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals by posting a 3.755 E.T. during the third session to earn a spot on the top half of the Top Fuel ladder for Sunday’s elimination show. Starting from eighth, Brown drew No. 9 qualifier Shawn Langdon as his first-round competitor. The three-time Top Fuel world champion used his quick reflexes to score a slight starting line advantage and made a solid pass aboard the Matco Tools dragster, but his lead was short-lived as Langdon had pulled ahead by the time they passed the Christmas tree and never trailed for the win, ending Brown’s day early.

“The main thing is this Matco Tools/Lucas Oil team is making strides and we’re moving in the direction we want to be going,” said Brown of the steady progress his team has continued to make over the last several events. “We’re looking super forward to getting to Seattle, another sea-level track, and to continue to grow and move forward into the Countdown to the Championship. We just lost a tough match-up to Shawn Langdon today. It was a close race, they ran a good lap, and next week we’ll try to improve and be better. We have a lot of Matco Tools support at Pacific Raceways in Kent (Wash.). We haven’t been there since 2019, before COVID, so it should be an awesome weekend.”

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Sonoma, CA – It’s been a tough first half of the year for the rookie team owner.  If there is one thing Brown knows how to do in Sonoma, it’s win.

“We’re really looking forward to getting back to Sonoma. It’s a great facility with a great fan turnout, and we’re expecting our Matco Tools/Lucas Oil hospitality tent to be packed. We have great Matco distributors like Jeff Sheldon and Jason Brooks who fill that tent up with passionate NHRA fans. We’re going to start the busy week off with our friends at Russian River Brewing Company with our car on display at the Windsor, Calif. brew pub on Wednesday afternoon. It’s great to have Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo be part of the team for the weekend and then we’re going to go wine tasting with Steve O (Torrence), Ron Capps, Alexis DeJoria, and the Sarge (Tony Schumacher) at Three Fat Guys winery on Thursday for a fun race weekend kick-off event with NHRA on FOX. I’m ready to show them my sommelier skills. Toyota will be back on the midway and we have a busy weekend at the track. It’s going to be fun with a lot of interaction.” explained Brown

Brown continued, “We learned a lot at our Denver race last week. We were able to identify some areas that we need to focus on. We found out that we’d been having a fuel delivery problem at the step of the throttle off the starting line. We addressed it after Denver qualifying and got better on race day. Now we know we can be more aggressive with the clutch, and that gives us something to work off of at Sonoma this weekend. We’ve always done well there in the past. We’ve had great success there and it starts off with qualifying. We look forward to showing out for the folks in Nor Cal.”

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MORRISON, CO – Antron Brown qualified the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster in the fourteenth seed for the NHRA Mile-High Nationals, an event notorious for its challenging track conditions given Bandimere Speedway’s unique mile-high elevation. The three-time event winner and most recent Camping World series driver to ‘sweep the Swing’ drew Leah Pruett as his first-round competitor. Brown earned a slight starting line advantage right out of the gate, but his lead was short-lived as his machine dropped a cylinder near halftrack, causing him to slow to a 4.189 E.T. while his opponent made a clean pass in the opposite lane for the win.

Brown and the Matco Tools team won’t have to wait long to avenge their first-round loss as the NHRA heads straight from Denver to Sonoma, Calif. for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, where Brown returns as a four-time event champion. Brown and his AB Motorsports team are especially looking forward to returning to their sea-level tune-up, a combination they have been working hard to perfect. While they’re disappointed with Sunday’s early exit, the team feels confident heading into Sonoma as their Denver outing helped them to identify specific areas that need extra attention.

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Morrison, CO – Antron Brown knows how to win in Denver.  For that matter, no one has swept the western swing since his last sweep in 2009.

“Bandimere Speedway is always a challenging track for everyone, but we’re looking forward to rising to that challenge. I’ve won there a few times, and that’s always been a great event for our Matco Tools team. We have a very strong Matco presence there, and I’m looking forward to getting back on ‘the mountain’ and conquering the rock. It’s hard to conquer the rock, but we’ve done it before.” stated Brown.

“We’re going in with our heads down and ready to give it our all. We want to start our Western Swing off on the right foot. We were very fortunate in 2009 to be able to ‘sweep the Swing.’ We’ve got two nighttime qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday, and the fans always show out, so we like to show out on the race track for them.” Brown further explained.

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NORWALK, OH – Twenty-one Top Fuel entries showed up at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals vying for a shot to make the competitive 16-car elimination field. A semi-finalist in Bristol, Tenn. last weekend, AB Motorsports driver and team owner Antron Brown was looking to carry that momentum into the Norwalk, Ohio event.

Brown qualified the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster 11th and faced Doug Kalitta in the first round of eliminations. Against Kalitta, Brown powered the Matco Tools/Lucas Oil/Toyota/SiriusXM/Hangsterfer’s machine to its quickest pass of the weekend, posting a 3.772 E.T. Unfortunately for Brown, his opponent clocked the quickest lap of the session and outpaced Brown to the finish line for the win.

“We’re a work in progress and we’re moving forward,” said the three-time Top Fuel series champion. “We’re doing that. We’re getting better and learning different things. We’re looking forward to the next race at Denver in a few weeks, and we have three races in a row, and that should help us build some momentum.

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BRISTOL, TN – There’s no denying it’s been a rough road for three-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown and his new AB Motorsports team as of late. After a string of four first-round losses, Brown was looking to the Thunder Valley Nationals to be the ‘get healthy’ weekend the team had been seeking to get their program back on track.

Brown and the Matco Tools/Lucas Oil/Toyota/SiriusXM/Hangsterfer’s team kicked off their race weekend at Bristol Dragway by recording the third-quickest pass of the opening qualifying session to earn a bonus point and the No. 4 qualifying seed, Brown’s best qualifying position to-date in 2022. Against Tony Schumacher, his first-round opponent, Brown nabbed the starting line advantage and was straight down the groove, never trailing for the win over a tire-smoking Schumacher. Brown drew Brittany Force in the second round of eliminations, and despite dropping a cylinder early into the run, Brown was able to hang on and take the Matco Tools dragster to the stripe first for the win, setting up a semifinal match with his fellow Toyota teammate, Shawn Langdon. Brown and Langdon were nearly even launching off of the starting line and the 68-time NHRA winner made a solid pass, clocking a 3.896 E.T. but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Langdon’s 3.847-second run.

“It was a good race weekend, we’re definitely making strides and moving forward, and that’s what we’re always working toward,” said Brown. “We’re headed in the right direction and I’m looking forward to getting to Norwalk in a few days, not only for the race, but I’m excited to stop by Matco’s headquarters and visit with all of our wonderful Matco Tools supporters, and also attend Summit’s Open House event.

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Bristol, TN – Brown, a three-time Top Fuel world champion, has won at every track on the current NHRA tour with the exception of two –Richmond and Bristol, and the new team owner is hoping to capture that elusive first Thunder Valley Nationals victory this weekend

“We’ve come close numerous times but have yet to win at Bristol. Our Matco Tools/Lucas Oil/Toyota/SiriusXM/Hangsterfer’s team has been hitting it hard to ensure we have a good outing this weekend. We tested at Indiana Raceway Park earlier this week, and we’ve been getting ready, doing our homework, and doing what we need to do to go out there this weekend and compete at a high level. The weather looks like it should be decent, and we’re looking forward to doing great things and bringing home a trophy on Father’s Day. My family will be out there supporting me, and I’m looking for it to be a great ‘get healthy’ weekend for our AB Motorsports team.”

Bristol Event Highlights: 2011 event runner-up, 2010 No. 1 qualifier

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EPPING, NH – Antron Brown powered the Matco Tools dragster to its best run of the weekend during the final qualifying session at the New England Nationals, locking in the No. 10 spot on the elimination ladder. In what was billed as NHRA’s Top Fuel ‘marquee match-up,’ Brown faced Austin Prock in the first round of race day. Brown and Prock were the first pair of competitors to take to the track on Sunday morning, and Brown was eager to capture the win light. He stood on the throttle first but his holeshot advantage wasn’t enough to help Brown overcome a dropped cylinder early into the run. He stayed with it, but Prock made a clean pass for the win in the opposite lane.

“No doubt we’re still fighting some gremlins with this Matco Tools dragster. Today we dropped a hole at the step, and we don’t know why. It shouldn’t have done that. It seems like all the luck we have is bad luck, but we know we’re going to turn the corner soon and head in the right direction. We’re hungry. We’re working hard and the results may not show right now, but they will. We wish we could go straight to Bristol next weekend, and have another crack at it.”

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