CONCORD, NC – Antron Brown and his Matco Tools/Lucas Oil Top Fuel team showed flashes of their championship-caliber form at the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway, the second of six Countdown to the Championship events. Brown, the winningest Top Fuel driver at the Charlotte-area track, qualified solidly in the No. 7 spot and recorded five clean runs over the course of the weekend. On race day, the defending world champion advanced out of the first round before narrowly coming up short in a tight second-round battle.

Brown, who went into the weekend having visited the final elimination quad at seven of the last 10 four-wide events contested between Las Vegas and Charlotte, laid down a smooth 3.822-second pass at 328.70 mph in the first qualifying session to establish himself in the No. 7 spot on the qualifying order. He maintained that position with a 3.750 E.T. at 329.75 mph in the second session to wrap up Friday qualifying. Brown then made it down the track in the third session on Saturday with a 3.853 E.T. at 322.88 mph before losing traction early in the final session. He locked in the No. 7 spot.

On race day, Brown advanced through his first-round trio with a 3.780-second pass at 330.31 mph to finish behind Doug Kalitta and ahead of Josh Hart. He was off to a strong start in a championship-loaded quad in the second round, but his 3.844 E.T. at 326.79 mph wasn’t enough to get past Kalitta and Clay Millican. Continue reading →

Concord, NC – The 2025 Charlotte 2 race marks the first four-wide style event to be contested during the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Brown’s four-wide stats are unmatched: Earlier this season, Brown advanced to the final quad at both the Las Vegas and Charlotte four-wide races; he was the event runner-up in Las Vegas.

Brown has the most final quad appearances among the pro categories in the ‘four-wide era,’ with 13 appearances between the Las Vegas and Charlotte events.

Brown has visited the final elimination quad at seven of the last 10 four-wide events contested between Las Vegas and Charlotte.

With seven zMAX Dragway victories, including the Fall 2024 race, Brown leads the Top Fuel category for most wins at the Concord, N.C. facility.  In 2024, Brown scored his second consecutive Countdown win at the Charlotte 2 race to move into the Top Fuel points lead en route to a fourth series championship.

Antron became the 10th driver among both active and inactive Mission Foods competitors to enter 500 professional events during the 2023 Carolina Nationals.  He clocked his career best E.T. (3.655) during the 2023 Charlotte 2 event. Continue reading →

READING, PA – Every time reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown powers to the winner’s circle at the Reading Nationals presented by Nitro Fish, he has gone on to win the series title later that year. Brown, a four-time world champ and the defending event champ, was looking to continue that trend this weekend at Maple Grove Raceway during the first race of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship, but a loss of traction in the first round of eliminations thwarted his chances at a fourth Reading triumph.

Antron Brown and the Matco Tools Top Fuel team started race day from the No. 14 position after a challenging qualifying outing, which saw the team struggle to put together a clean pass. Brown’s machine was up in smoke early during Friday’s two sessions, placing him 15th heading into Saturday. During the third qualifying round, the AB Motorsports dragster started to haze the tires just past halftrack, providing the team only one additional shot at moving up the Top Fuel ladder. Brown made his quickest pass of qualifying in the final session, despite dropping cylinders, and his 3.930 E.T. allowed him to move up one spot.

As the No. 14 qualifier, Brown, a Reading winner in 2015, ’16, and ’24, drew No. 3 qualifier Doug Kalitta as his round-one opponent on Sunday morning. In a battle declared NHRA’s ‘marquee matchup,’ Brown moved first to score the early lead over his fellow championship contender but encountered traction issues around halftrack, allowing Kalitta to chase him down for the win as the two cars approached the finish line. Continue reading →

Mohnton, PA – Antron Brown, the reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion, returns to Reading as the defending event champ.  Reading marks the start of the 2025 NHRA Countdown to the ChampionshipIn its first three years, AB Motorsports has finished the Countdown ranked No. 1 (2024), sixth (2023), and second (2022).

Brown raced to the Reading winner’s circle in 2015, ‘16, and ‘24, and each of those seasons ended with Brown and the Matco Tools team being crowned the series champions.  Antron begins the 2025 Countdown ranked sixth in the standingsHis 2024 title run began from the No. 5 seed; in addition to Reading, he also picked up Countdown wins in Charlotte and Pomona.

Brown is an 18-time Countdown event winner, the most of any Top Fuel driver.  AB Motorsports scored a double-up victory at the ’24 Reading event with Brown and ABM Accelerate athlete Angelle Sampey earning wins on the same day.  Sampey’s triumph was her first since switching from Pro Stock Motorcycle to the Top Alcohol Dragster category. Continue reading →

INDIANAPOLIS – Antron Brown’s bid for a sixth NHRA U.S. Nationals victory came to an early end on Labor Day Monday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, as the four-time and defending Top Fuel world champion bowed out in the opening round to eventual race winner Justin Ashley. Brown in his Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster tied for the second-quickest pass of the round, however, proving that Brown leaves Indy and rolls into the Countdown to the Championship with a car that can carry him to another world title.

Brown’s U.S. Nationals campaign started strong with a 3.702-second pass at 332.75 mph in the critical Friday evening qualifying session, putting Brown in the provisional No. 5 spot. Like many other Top Fuel contestants, Brown’s Friday pass was his best effort. He made a pair of runs in the 3.80-second range across four more sessions on Saturday and Sunday. The qualifying order didn’t change much from Friday to Sunday, locking Brown into the No. 5 position for Monday eliminations.

Brown met up with the class leader in reaction times, Justin Ashley, in the opening round of eliminations Monday morning. The five-time Indy winner cut a respectable .062 reaction time, but Ashley moved first with a .036 light. Though the Matco Tools dragster ran quicker to the 1,000-foot finish line with a 3.706 E.T. at 333.66 mph, it wasn’t quick enough to get around Ashley and his 3.721 E.T. Continue reading →

INDIANAPOLIS – Brown, a five-time U.S. Nationals winner, begins the weekend ranked sixth in the Top Fuel standings.  The No. 5 ranked driver has a two-point lead on Brown, and No. 4 carries a 96-point advantage heading into the points-and-a-half event.

Brown secured the No. 5 seed to start the 2024 Countdown to the Championship after the conclusion of the Indianapolis event and went on to win his fourth Top Fuel title in November, his first as an NHRA team owner.

Antron scored a milestone 70th victory during the 2022 event when he earned the first U.S. Nationals triumph for his AB Motorsports team during its rookie season. He also went on to win the 2023 event.

The U.S. Nationals is a home race for AB Motorsports, which is headquartered two miles from the famed Indy dragstrip in Brownsburg. Continue reading →

BRAINERD, MN – Antron Brown showed flashes of brilliance and battled through adversity at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, the 13th stop on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series tour. The four-time and reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion thrilled the passionate Brainerd fans with a 3.742-second pass on Friday to claim the coveted ‘Battle for the Rebel Axe’ trophy, but despite the momentum, a tire-smoking pass cut his Sunday short in the opening round of eliminations. The driver of the Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster is now sixth in the Top Fuel points standings going into the final race of the NHRA regular season.

Qualifying saw ups and downs for Brown, who went up in smoke early in the first session on Friday but threw down a 3.742-second, 334.90 mph pass in the second session to win the ‘Battle for the Rebel Axe’ bonus payout and its custom guitar trophy. It was the quickest pass of the day and the quickest pass of the session, also earning Brown three bonus points. Saturday brought the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, which Brown raced his way into when he made it to the semifinals at the most recent NHRA race in Sonoma. Brown, who won the last two Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenges at Brainerd, lost traction and dropped cylinders in his match against Shawn Langdon. In the final session, Brown launched hard but popped the supercharger and coasted through to a 3.945 E.T. at 240.81 mph. He ended up No. 7 on the final qualifying order. Continue reading →

BRAINERD, MN – Four-time and defending Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown powered to the provisional pole on Friday evening during the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. During the day’s second qualifying session, Brown took the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster down the Brainerd, Minn. dragstrip in 3.742 seconds at 334.90 mph to launch from ninth after the weekend’s first qualifying session up to the No. 1 spot.

In addition to the three bonus points he was awarded for clocking the quickest run of the round, Brown also scored a $4,000 bonus payout and fully functional electric cigar box guitar, custom-built in the shape of a 12-pack American Rebel Light beer. The additional bounty was secured courtesy of the American Rebel Light “Battle for the Rebel Axe” Friday night low-qualifier promotion.

“We knew the track was a little bit tricky,” said Brown, who most recently visited the Brainerd winner’s circle in 2023. “The sun was out, and you have to make up for that. The first run, we missed it, but that second run definitely made up for it and the good part about it was, we ran early in the session, so it was wide open and we got to do what we wanted to do and ran the race track as opposed to chasing someone else’s low E.T. The car took off good, got through the trouble zone, and it stayed straight and nimble and went 291 mph to halftrack, which is really good with the type of conditions we had. With all that being said, it sets us up really good for tomorrow.” Continue reading →

Brainerd, MN – Powered to a runner-up finish in Sonoma, the most recent race on tour, Brown is ready for victory in Brainerd. By advancing beyond the quarterfinals, Brown secured a spot in Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge.

Antron claimed his second consecutive Brainerd Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win in 2024 after having doubled up on victories at the 2023 Brainerd event where he scored his first-ever Mission Challenge triumph on Saturday and raced to the winner’s circle on Sunday.

The four-time and defending Top Fuel champ enters the weekend ranked fifth in the standings.  He’s been victorious in both the Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle categories and became the first driver to make a sub-3.7-second run (3.680) during the 2015 event.

AB Motorsports partners FMP and its FVP brand are headquartered in Eagan, Minn., while Genesis Attachments is based in Superior, WI Continue reading →

SONOMA, CA – Four-time and defending NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown made a valiant run at back-to-back NHRA Sonoma Nationals titles, racing to a runner-up finish Sunday afternoon at Sonoma Raceway. Driving the Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster, Brown qualified No. 4 and knocked off a trio of standout drivers before coming up short in a final round between the two most recent Top Fuel world champions. The late-round finish bumped Brown into the No. 5 spot in points with just two regular-season races remaining before the Countdown to the Championship.

Brown lost traction early on his first qualifying attempt on Friday, but crew chief Brian Corradi threw down in the evening session, sending Brown on a 3.699-second pass at 332.18 mph to jump up to the provisional No. 4 spot. Like many of the other Top Fuel competitors, Brown struggled to get down the track in Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, but his Friday night success allowed him to lock in the No. 4 spot on the final qualifying order.

Sunday morning conditions allowed Brown and the Matco Tools team to get aggressive in their first-round match against 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champion Ida Zetterström. Brown left the starting line first and recorded a 3.718 E.T. at 336.07 mph to hold off Zetterström’s 3.738 E.T. He left first again in the quarterfinals when he became just the second driver this season to leave on starting line phenom Justin Ashley. Continue reading →