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AB Motorsports Advances to Quarterfinals at Inaugural NHRA Outing
POMONA, Calif. (February 20, 2022) – The season-opening NHRA Winternationals marked Antron Brown’s inaugural event as an NHRA team owner, and he and his AB Motorsports team are pleased with the weekend’s results.
Brown qualified his Matco Tools/Lucas Oil/Toyota Top Fuel dragster tenth out of a competitive 17-car field to draw former teammate Leah Pruett as his first opponent of the year. Brown and Pruett were the first pair of racers to hit the track on Sunday morning and delivered an exciting side-by-side race in the opening session. The three-time Top Fuel world champ snagged the holeshot advantage and took his 11,000-horsepower machine on its quickest pass of the weekend (3.724 seconds) to defeat Pruett’s 3.748-second effort and advance to round two.
In the quarterfinals, Brown faced friend and technical-alliance partner, Justin Ashley. Regarded as two of the best leavers in the sport, Brown and Ashley ripped off identical reaction times, but Ashley quickly started pulling ahead, clocking low E.T. of the session for the win, and ending Brown’s day after round two.
“We got after it on race day today. I’m really proud of this entire Matco Tools/Lucas Oil/Toyota team. Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald, Brad Mason, and all the boys on this team. These guys have all worked so hard to get all of these trailers, race cars, parts and pieces together for the start of the season. It’s been non-stop at the AB Motorsports shop since January 3rd. We tested well and made strides, and we’re growing and learning, and I love the path that we’re on. We have a really competitive hot rod and we’re only going to get better. I’m excited and this team is really looking forward to Phoenix. We want to come out strong and have a good showing. We want to qualify well and get ourselves in that Pep Boys Call Out Challenge at Gainesville. Phoenix is the last race to earn points for that and we want to have fun, like always, and throw down. We’ll have a big outing of Matco Tools guests and we want to put on a good show for them.”
Brown and the AB Motorsports team heads to Chandler, Ariz. near Phoenix next for the NHRA Arizona Nationals, Feb. 25-27, where Brown returns as a three-time event champion.
Qualified: No. 10 (3.756 E.T. at 324.84 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.724 E.T. at 327.66 MPH defeated Leah Pruett 3.748 E.T. at 328.86 MPH
E2: 3.742 E.T. at 326.00 MPH defeated by Justin Ashley 3.692 E.T. at 333.33 MPH
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Point Standings (unofficial):
| 1 | Justin Ashley | 124 |
| 2 | Austin Prock | 96 |
| 3 | Brittany Force | 82 |
| 4 | Steve Torrence | 74 |
| 5 | Mike Salinas | 61 |
| 6 | Antron Brown | 53 |
| 7 | Tony Schumacher | 52 |
| 7 | Josh Hart | 52 |
| 9 | Doug Kalitta | 34 |
| 10 | Leah Pruett | 33 |
| 10 | Shawn Langdon | 33 |
About AB Motorsports:
Established in 2019 and making its on-track debut in 2022, AB Motorsports is a single-car NHRA Top Fuel team owned and operated by three-time world champion Antron Brown. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., the team competes on the 22-race NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series circuit thanks to the support of Matco Tools, Lucas Oil, Toyota, SiriusXM, and Hangsterfer’s Metal Working Lubricants.Brown, who serves as both the owner and driver of the AB Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, is the only competitor in NHRA history to have won races in both the Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle categories. Brown is a 68-time NHRA national event winner and became the first Black driver to win a major U.S. auto racing championship when he captured the 2012 NHRA Top Fuel series title.
For more information, visit www.antronbrown.com or @antronbrown on Twitter, and @antronbrowntf on Instagram and Facebook.
