Early Exit for AB Motorsports Team in Richmond

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.”

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.

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

NHRA Camping World Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):