Toyota’s Brown Dominates Dallas, Closes In On NHRA Top Fuel Title

Antron Brown

ENNIS, Texas – Antron Brown capped a dominating weekend off by defeating Steve Torrence in the finals of the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex in suburban Dallas Sunday for his seventh win of the season. The victory was the 16th for a Toyota NHRA driver this season and the fourth Top Fuel win in a row in the Countdown.

Brown set the track record in qualifying on Friday to earn the pole position and then defeated Chris Karamesines, Doug Kalitta and J.R. Todd before matching his match-up with Torrence. In the finals, Brown had a slight .003 advantage at the light and then edged Torrence 3.744-3.750 for the victory.

"The only way you win now is by inches and to win that final right there, that was monumental for our team because we needed to do that," said Brown, who earned his third victory in four Countdown races. "We are going into Vegas with a little bit of a points lead but it's anybody's game. Our main focus is to stay humble, keep our heads down and continue the hard work that's got us here. That is a crucial moment for us right now. We're still not done working. We can't wait for Vegas and the Toyota Nationals."

With the win, Brown now holds a 150-point advantage over second-place Doug Kalitta and 172 over third-place Shawn Langdon as Toyota drivers occupy the top three spots in the championship standings.

Langdon advanced to his fourth semi-final in the last six races today by beating Larry Dixon and Tony Schumacher before falling to Torrence. Todd made it three Toyota Top Fuel drivers in the semi-finals today with round wins over Troy Buff and Brittany Force before losing against Brown. Kalitta knocked off fellow Toyota driver Richie Crampton in his opening run.

In Funny Car, Del Worsham drove his DHL Toyota Camry to the semi-finals after defeating fellow Toyota driver Chad Head and Tommy Johnson in the first two rounds before narrowly losing to Ron Capps on a holeshot. Teammate Alexis DeJoria won her first round match-up with John Force before falling to pole-sitter Robert Hight in round two. Head and Cruz Pedregon each fell in their opening match-ups.

NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series' heads to Las Vegas next for the NHRA Toyota Nationals, the penultimate round of the the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, Oct. 28-30.

2016 Toyota Wins (16):

Top Fuel (14): Brown (7), Las Vegas, Epping, Chicago, Seattle, Charlotte2, Maple Grove; Kalitta (3), Houston, Atlanta, Topeka; Langdon (3), Bristol, Norwalk, St. Louis; Todd (1), Sonoma;

Funny Car (2): DeJoria (1), Las Vegas; Worsham (1), Brainerd

2016 Toyota Number One Qualifiers (13):

Top Fuel (9): Kalitta (4), Phoenix, Atlanta, Norwalk, Charlotte2; Brown (3), Epping, Brainerd, Dallas; Crampton (2), Gainesville, St. Louis;

Funny Car (4): DeJoria (1), Charlotte; Worsham (3), Norwalk, Sonoma, Seattle