NHRA Finals Highlights:
- Antron Brown raced to a runner-up finish, and will close out the year ranked in the Top 10 for the 24th consecutive season
Qualified: No. 5 (3.719 E.T. at 329.26 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.717 E.T. at 328.94 MPH defeated Justin Ashley 3.713 E.T. at 329.42 MPH
E2: 3.747 E.T. at 327.35 MPH defeated Billy Torrence 3.730 E.T. at 328.46 MPH
E3: 3.794 E.T. at 324.98 MPH defeated Tripp Tatum 3.915 E.T. at 246.57 MPH
E4: 3.803 E.T. at 312.21 MPH defeated by Steve Torrence 3.759 E.T. at 317.12 MPH
Race Recap:
Starting from the top half of the field, Antron Brown opened his race day looking at an imposing ladder, opening against Justin Ashley, who entered the weekend fourth in points. Brown had a slight starting line advantage and then held on for a holeshot win by just 0.010 seconds (five feet) as both drivers ran their quickest passes of the weekend. Brown would face another top-five driver in the points during round two in Billy Torrence. Brown once again had an advantage on the tree and the power to hold on for his second consecutive holeshot victory to send him to the semifinals.
In the semis against Tripp Tatum, Brown again had the starting line advantage. Tatum would take an early lead, but the Matco Tools Toyota driver drove back around him for the win to advance to his 126th career final round.
The final round against close friend Steve Torrence was a rematch of the finals at Atlanta earlier this year where Brown came out on top. This time around, Brown had a sizable advantage at the tree and led at the 330-foot mark before dropping a cylinder, allowing Torrence to drive away with the win.
Brown wraps up his 2021 campaign ranked sixth for his 24th consecutive Top 10 finish.
Quotable:
“We had a great day here at Pomona. We wanted to end the season out with a win for all of our Matco Tools distributors and our partners who support us like Toyota and SiriusXM and Hangsterfers. At the end of the day, we’ll lick our wounds from this season and get right for ’22. When you drop a hole around 300-feet, it’s hard to stay in front of that Capco car. They won another race and a fourth championship. That’s a great accomplishment and hats off to those Capco boys. It’s time for us to get to work and come out strong in February of ’22.”