KENT, Wash. (July 20, 2025) – Four-time and reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown powered his Matco Tools/Toyota Top Fuel dragster to a strong opening-round victory and a quarterfinal finish Sunday at the Muckleshoot Casino & Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals, the 11th event of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Brown, a four-time winner at Pacific Raceways, entered the event ranked fifth in points and broke out of a first-round rut as the chase for the regular season championship heats up.
Brown struggled to get down the track on Friday, but he bounced back on Saturday by making the third-quickest pass of the third session, a 3.835 E.T. at 319.82 mph, to move up to seventh and earn one bonus point. Despite dropping a cylinder in the final qualifying session, he improved to a 3.828-second pass at 321.27 mph and settled into the No. 9 spot for race day.
On Sunday morning, Brown lined up for a marquee first-round matchup against veteran Clay Millican. Brown was first off the line and never trailed, clocking a 3.712 E.T. at 335.23 mph to outrun Millican’s 3.739 at 293.09 mph. The win snapped a string of three consecutive first-round exits and sent Brown into the quarterfinals. There, Brown faced fellow past world champ Brittany Force. He took a slight starting-line advantage but encountered tire smoke early and was forced to pedal. When he saw Force also begin to spin just past half-track, Brown momentarily got back on the throttle, but ultimately had to lift again, allowing Force to coast to the stripe and advance. Brown slipped one spot to sixth in the points standings when Force advanced to the final round.
“We didn’t qualify like we expected to, but all in all, we did a lot of great learning this weekend,” Brown said. “We were very aggressive at some times, and then we had a couple different mishaps. We’ve been using the race to actually get better and get ready for the Countdown. It’s been no secret we’ve been messing with stuff in the bellhousing and working on the clutch. We felt really good, especially after we had that first-round matchup against Clay, where we went out there and made a nice run down the track. Then we came back up and we just got overly aggressive. We’ve been working on that combination where we can be more aggressive early and do it more often. We feel good with the progress we made at this race, and we’re going to continue that going into Sonoma.”
Next up for Brown is the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, where he returns as the defending event champion. Ahead of race weekend, Brown and Toyota teammate Ron Capps will appear with their cars at Russian River Brewing Co. in Windsor, Calif., on Wednesday from 4-7 p.m.
Qualified: No. 9 (3.828 E.T. at 321.27 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.712 E.T. at 335.23 MPH defeated Clay Millican 3.739 E.T. at 293.09 MPH
E2: 5.083 E.T. at 162.35 MPH defeated by Brittany Force 4.146 E.T. at 202.48 MPH
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):
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Brown struggled to get down the track on Friday, but he bounced back on Saturday by making the third-quickest pass of the third session, a 3.835 E.T. at 319.82 mph, to move up to seventh and earn one bonus point. Despite dropping a cylinder in the final qualifying session, he improved to a 3.828-second pass at 321.27 mph and settled into the No. 9 spot for race day.
On Sunday morning, Brown lined up for a marquee first-round matchup against veteran Clay Millican. Brown was first off the line and never trailed, clocking a 3.712 E.T. at 335.23 mph to outrun Millican’s 3.739 at 293.09 mph. The win snapped a string of three consecutive first-round exits and sent Brown into the quarterfinals. There, Brown faced fellow past world champ Brittany Force. He took a slight starting-line advantage but encountered tire smoke early and was forced to pedal. When he saw Force also begin to spin just past half-track, Brown momentarily got back on the throttle, but ultimately had to lift again, allowing Force to coast to the stripe and advance. Brown slipped one spot to sixth in the points standings when Force advanced to the final round.
“We didn’t qualify like we expected to, but all in all, we did a lot of great learning this weekend,” Brown said. “We were very aggressive at some times, and then we had a couple different mishaps. We’ve been using the race to actually get better and get ready for the Countdown. It’s been no secret we’ve been messing with stuff in the bellhousing and working on the clutch. We felt really good, especially after we had that first-round matchup against Clay, where we went out there and made a nice run down the track. Then we came back up and we just got overly aggressive. We’ve been working on that combination where we can be more aggressive early and do it more often. We feel good with the progress we made at this race, and we’re going to continue that going into Sonoma.”
Next up for Brown is the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, where he returns as the defending event champion. Ahead of race weekend, Brown and Toyota teammate Ron Capps will appear with their cars at Russian River Brewing Co. in Windsor, Calif., on Wednesday from 4-7 p.m.
Qualified: No. 9 (3.828 E.T. at 321.27 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.712 E.T. at 335.23 MPH defeated Clay Millican 3.739 E.T. at 293.09 MPH
E2: 5.083 E.T. at 162.35 MPH defeated by Brittany Force 4.146 E.T. at 202.48 MPH
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):
| 1 | Tony Stewart | 906 | |
| 2 | Shawn Langdon | 898 | |
| 3 | Justin Ashley | 825 | |
| 4 | Doug Kalitta | 747 | |
| 5 | Brittany Force | 711 | |
| 6 | Antron Brown | 683 | |
| 7 | Clay Millican | 574 | |
| 8 | Steve Torrence | 569 | |
| 9 | Josh Hart | 484 | |
| 10 | Shawn Reed | 422 |
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