Antron Brown probably will face all kinds of questions in the coming days about how he has another opportunity to sweep the NHRA's three-race Western Swing. If Sunday was any indication, he'll do his best to evade every single one of them.
Brown defeated Don Schumacher Racing teammate Spencer Massey with a pass of 3.814 seconds in the NHRA's Sonoma Nationals' Top Fuel final Sunday in front of roughly 31,000 people at Sonoma raceway. It is Brown's third win in four years at the track, and his second straight victory this season, after his win July 22 in Denver.
Schumacher Racing also had both finalists in Funny Car, as Johnny Gray beat Matt Hagan to earn his first victory in Sonoma. In the Pro Stock final, Allen Johnson beat Greg Anderson, and Eddie Krawiec beat Andrew Hines in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final.
Brown, who beat Massey by 0.012 seconds, now has the opportunity to become the first NHRA driver to sweep the Western Swing for a second time as he prepares for next week's event in Seattle. Not that he had any interest in talking about that potential accomplishment.
"Everyone keeps on asking the same questions, and we're not going anywhere near talking about it," said Brown, who swept the Western Swing in 2009. "We can talk about sweeping if we get to the final round of the next race."
It was the fifth time this year DSR drivers had met in the Top Fuel final, and the third such time it's happened in Funny Car.
The seven-car DSR team has pretty much dominated the nitro divisions so far this season. Brown and Massey are tied for first in Top Fuel with 1,174 points each, and Tony Schumacher is third. In Funny Car, the team has three of the top five spots, led by second-place Ron Capps.
Sunday gave DSR its 11th and 12th wins this season in the nitro classes.
"Let me tell you, there are a lot of egos in" the organization, Don Schumacher said. "Trying to blend these people together, get them to work together, cooperate, is really a task."
Brown beat Steve Torrence, Tony Schumacher and Brandon Bernstein to reach the final. He's now won 12 of his last 13 rounds in Sonoma.
"Learning from 2009, we'll just take the same approach," Brown said. "We didn't take anything for granted, and we never looked too far ahead. We're just focused on the here and now. When we go to Seattle, we're going to worry about qualifying."
Gray beat Tim Wilkerson, Gary Densham and DSR teammate Jack Beckman to advance to the final, where his elapsed time of 4.142 seconds was more than enough to top Hagan (5.461 seconds).
The 59-year-old Gray, who has competed in seven eliminator categories in his career, is in a good position to clinch a spot in the Countdown to the Championship. He missed the Countdown by one spot last season, but his second year with DSR has so far been one to remember.
"You can buy all of the parts and pieces that you want, but if you don't have a family of crew members and crew chiefs that share information, you get lost and can't find your way back," Gray said of the Schumacher team. "We've been lost a couple of times in my car since I've been over here, and the other crew chiefs come over to look at what we're doing. That's what it's all about."
Johnson beat Matthew Hartford, Jeg Coughlin and won a close battle with Jason Line to get to his fifth final of the season. In the final, Anderson's reaction time was 0.001 seconds compared with 0.011 for Johnson.
But Johnson, the No. 1 qualifier, had the most dominant Pro Stock car all weekend and won in 6.542 seconds compared with 6.573 for Anderson. Johnson, like Brown, has a chance to sweep the Western Swing next week.
Krawiec was also a No. 1 qualifier. He breezed past the first two rounds, then beat Hector Arana by .038 seconds in the semifinals and Hines by .030 in the final. It was the third straight week Krawiec beat Hines in the final round.
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