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Early Exit for AB Motorsports Team in Richmond
Virginia NHRA Nationals
Event 7 of 22
Virginia Motorsports Park
North Dinwiddie, Va.
May 13 - 15, 2022
Event 7 of 22
Virginia Motorsports Park
North Dinwiddie, Va.
May 13 - 15, 2022
NORTH DINWIDDIE, Va. (May 15, 2022) – Virginia Motorsports Park is one of only two tracks on the current NHRA Camping World Series tour where three-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown has not finished his race day in the winner’s circle at least once. He’s come close, having powered to a runner-up finish in 2019, the last time an NHRA Camping World Series race was contested at the North Dinwiddie, Va. facility. After a three-year hiatus, the NHRA returned to VMP for the Virginia NHRA Nationals, and Brown was looking to close the deal. He qualified the Matco Tools dragster twelfth and faced last event’s winner, Mike Salinas, in round one of eliminations. Brown and Salinas launched off the line, and both drivers immediately lost traction. The two competitors were on and off the throttle, pedaling it down the track with Brown in the lead until just before the finish line when Salinas edged past for the win.
“There’s no doubt we’re struggling right now, and we need to keep plugging away to figure this Matco Tools dragster out for our partners like Lucas Oil, Toyota, and Hangsterfer’s,” said Brown, owner of AB Motorsports. “We’re going to test tomorrow here at Richmond. We think we found the gremlin, and we’re working to correct that. We had great support from our Matco distributors and customers this weekend, and we appreciate the ‘Matco Mafia’ here in Virginia supporting us. We’ll go home and regroup in Indy, get some rest over Memorial Day weekend, and come out swinging strong at Epping in a few weeks. We’ve done well there in the past, so that’s the perfect place to turn our season around.”
Qualified: No. 12 (3.828 E.T. at 324.90 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 5.833 E.T. at 143.66 MPH defeated by Mike Salinas 5.384 E.T. at 259.66 MPH
Brown and the AB Motorsports Top Fuel team will have a two-week break to regroup before the NHRA Camping World Series competition resumes with the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H., June 3 – 5.
NHRA Camping World Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):
| 1 | Brittany Force | 605 | |
| 2 | Steve Torrence | 524 | |
| 3 | Mike Salinas | 521 | |
| 4 | Justin Ashley | 468 | |
| 5 | Austin Prock | 367 | |
| 6 | Clay Millican | 365 | |
| 7 | Josh Hart | 345 | |
| 8 | Doug Kalitta | 316 | |
| 9 | Tony Schumacher | 295 | |
| 10 | Shawn Langdon | 269 | |
| 11 | Antron Brown | 262 |
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, Hangsterfer’s Metal Working Lubricants, and Summit Racing Equipment.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.
