{"id":25836,"date":"2016-04-04T10:20:57","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T17:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=25836"},"modified":"2018-08-16T12:37:14","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T19:37:14","slug":"brown-dejoria-and-line-hit-vegas-jackpots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/brown-dejoria-and-line-hit-vegas-jackpots\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown, DeJoria, and Line Hit Vegas Jackpots"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NHRA\"<\/a>
Photos: NHRA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a hot sunny day on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the crew chiefs kept shifting plans constantly to counter the 125-degree track temperature, but also trying to combat the tricky conditions while being able to muster just the right amount of horsepower and traction on the treacherous slick surface.<\/p>\n

We all know that Las Vegas is a town where your fate can change in less than four seconds.\u00a0 That was just what defending Top Fuel Champion Antron Brown needed to do in turning his glum start to his 2016 Top Fuel season into splendid grandeur on the Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway turning back first time finalist, Troy Buff.<\/p>\n

The Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals halted Alexis DeJoria\u2019s winless streak at 33 races, creating one of the largest mosh pit celebrations on the starting line, having her Kalitta Racing teammate, Del Worsham alongside competing in the other lane.<\/p>\n

In the back yard of KB Racing, Jason Line didn\u2019t disappoint his boss, Ken Black, winning the race against fellow KB teammate, Bo Butner, who red-lighted on Sunday.\u00a0 In the K&N Shootout on Saturday, Greg Anderson scored the $50,000 grand prize for KB Racing.<\/p>\n

TOP FUEL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Antron<\/a><\/p>\n

It was just two weeks ago that defending Top Fuel champion, Antron Brown was asking questions of what was happening to his season, finally finding out all it took was a little patience.\u00a0 It\u2019s just the nature of drag racing, in that, you\u2019re good one day and in Brown\u2019s case, winning something he hadn\u2019t seen since last October on his way to his second title.<\/p>\n

It just wasn\u2019t Brown that was having problems, but after the first three races, none of the DSR Top Fuel cars had advanced past the second round.\u00a0 So, after getting his 55th<\/sup> overall NHRA win counting the 16 as a Pro Stock Motorcycle racer, he was relieved to finally find the winner\u2019s circle again.<\/p>\n

“It’s huge, especially considering where we came from,” Brown said of their early season struggles.\u00a0 “We had a rough start to this year and it’s just the way it goes sometimes.\u00a0 We had a couple of things we had to change – you had to change your combination around because you have different parts and pieces than you had before.\u00a0 We started and it wasn’t as if our car wasn’t running well.\u00a0 It was running great.\u00a0 You come out, you just want to win, you want to win early, and you end up pushing too hard.<\/p>\n

“We just went back, tested after Gainesville and we decided we needed to get our window back because our car wasn’t aggressive early.\u00a0 We got that window back and it showed here.\u00a0 In qualifying, it got better and better and better.\u00a0 Then, on race day today, the car was just like a bracket car.\u00a0 It ran an 84, an 84 and an 82, and an 84 in the final and it did exactly what it needed to do to get us these wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown mounted round wins against Scott Palmer, Leah Pritchett and Dave Connolly before meeting first time Top Fuel finalist, Troy Buff, driving for Bill Miller Engineering, for the money round.\u00a0 Brown ripped a conservative time of 3.843 seconds, 314.68 mph to beat Buff with his gallant effort of 3.918 seconds, 307.58 mph.<\/p>\n

“That’s pretty special,” Brown said with his patented smile. \u00a0“Anytime you win an NHRA Wally it’s special. \u00a0You don’t look at what you’ve done in the past. \u00a0That’s one good thing about our team. \u00a0We look to the future. \u00a0As long as we can compete and as long as we can be competitive, I’m going to be out here as long as I can. \u00a0Every time we line up on that starting line, you give it all you have. \u00a0Growing up as a kid in New Jersey, this has always been my passion. \u00a0It’s always been what I love and to do what I love is just a blessing to be out here.<\/p>\n

“One thing I can tell you is sometimes what happens is you forget about how you got to where you are and the success that you’ve had.\u00a0 I did that in Phoenix. \u00a0I’ve done that before to where you push yourself, I’m looking at the tree and trying to hit it hard. \u00a0My lights were all over the place because I was trying different things. \u00a0You just have to go out there and do what you can do and keep a level head and just hit it and that’s what we did this whole weekend.”<\/p>\n

Since 2009, the Matco Tools team has 13 more event titles than the next most Top Fuel driver does. \u00a0The Matco team has 37 event titles to DSR teammate Tony Schumacher’s 24 titles in the same period.<\/p>\n

Brittany Force\u00a0still maintains her lead in the Top Fuel points standings with a 38-point advantage over Antron. With his win, Brown leaps from 10th to second in the points and in third, now only 40 points away from the lead, is Doug Kalitta.<\/p>\n

In other Top Fuel news, NHRA\u2019s oil down rule really hit Leah Pritchett hard with a 45-point deduction after numerous oil downs over the weekend from her Bob Vandergriff-owned team.<\/p>\n

\"Antron<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe crews and teams have been exceptional, working very closely with our tech department in developing containment, but there are penalties in place that have been there for a number of years,\u201d said NHRA senior vice president of racing operations, Graham Light in a reply on FOX Sports 1.\u00a0 \u201cThose penalties escalate with the number of oil downs that one team has during the season.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that Leah [Pritchett] in this race lost 45 points.\u00a0 It\u2019s severe and it\u2019s intended to be severe.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to reduce oil downs for not only television, but also for the live audience, and for the safety of the sport.\u00a0 There\u2019s just a multitude of reasons and it\u2019s for the fans.\u00a0 We\u2019re doing it for the fans.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the rule exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

FUNNY CAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Alexis<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexis DeJoria charged to the front of the Funny Car pack in Las Vegas, using great runs and better reaction times to drive her way right to victory lane.\u00a0 She reeled off round wins against Tommy Johnson, Jr., a .002-thousandth of second holeshot win over John Force Racing\u2019s Robert Hight in the quarterfinals then taking down the man himself, the 16-time champ, John Force in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

You could call it \u201cLady Luck\u201d that was riding on her side once again in the finals in Las Vegas against her Kalitta Racing teammate and reigning Funny Car champion, Del Worsham.\u00a0 Both cars were set at their performance best of the day, getting a major ovation out of the packed crowd and laying down side-by-side 3-second Funny Car runs.\u00a0 They saw DeJoria leave first off the line, going quicker on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as she picked up her career fourth Funny Car win in seven final round appearances.\u00a0 It was her first of the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, posting a time of 3.968 seconds, 315.49 mph to Worsham\u2019s time of 3.988 seconds, 323.58 mph.<\/p>\n

With three runner-up finishes, and now hoisting four Wallys, DeJoria became the third woman in a row to pick up a win in the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello series.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a part of that, it\u2019s incredible. \u00a0Three women in the last three races including myself have won. \u00a0It\u2019s an amazing time in NHRA Drag Racing. \u00a0We\u2019ve come so far,\u201d said DeJoria, whose last win came at the 2014 U.S. Nationals.<\/p>\n

The semifinal round win meant DeJoria would face her Kalitta Motorsports teammate and longtime mentor, Del Worsham, in the first ever all-Kalitta Funny Car final.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a dream of mine to race Del in the finals, and going up against him, is no easy feat. \u00a0I was pretty excited to race him in the final but man, I wanted to win so badly,\u201d said DeJoria, who now occupies the eighth position in the Mello Yello Funny Car points standings.<\/p>\n

Before Vegas, DeJoria\u2019s Tequila Patron Toyota team was having a poor start to her 2016 season.\u00a0 In only her last two races showed two first round losses and had qualified in the back half of the field for both events.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, we just needed to catch one break,\u201d said DeJoria, who used a Worsham backup car to turn her year around on this weekend.\u00a0 \u201cLately, we couldn\u2019t get down the track much in qualifying and then in the first round, we would turn it around and do so well, but the other person would just do a little bit better so it was a lot of tough breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alexis<\/a><\/p>\n

Robert Hight assumes the points lead, having 47-point margin over John Force followed by Ron Capps, who rocked the Funny Car category by not qualifying for the race, his first DNQ since the 2013 Seattle race.\u00a0 Besieged by a myriad of mechanical woes, the DSR NAPA team was the points leader going into Vegas and has now slipped to third.<\/p>\n

PRO STOCK<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a reprisal for Jason Line to win the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals Pro Stock portion of the race after having to forfeit his chances from the day before in the K&N Filters Horsepower Challenge finals against teammate, Greg Anderson discovering dripping oil from underneath his Camaro.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the day belonged to Line, taking on and beating Matt Harford, Chris McGaha, and against his long-time nemesis, Erica Enders in the semi-finals.\u00a0 In the finals, it was Line against his other KB Racing teammate, Bo Butner.<\/p>\n

The hype of the final round was over once Butner left too soon, displaying a bright red light in his lane giving Line his 39th<\/sup> career victory in the class.\u00a0 Line was also the No. 1 qualifier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve never had a start this good, even back in the heyday,\u201d said Line, who has advanced to the final at each event so far in 2016.\u00a0 \u201cIt feels really, really good.\u00a0 It is tough and is difficult, but everybody on our team works hard.\u00a0 Of course, we love Chevrolet and all the fans for coming out.\u00a0 I want to say congrats to Bo for making the finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis win is a big deal for us.\u00a0 Anytime you win in Las Vegas with Ken Black and his family here, it\u2019s a great day.\u00a0 For all of sponsors, we\u2019re grateful to be able to share this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alexis<\/a><\/p>\n

Line extends his points lead over Anderson to now 48-points followed by Bo Butner in third.<\/p>\n

The next NHRA National event will be at the zMAX Dragway in Concord, NC, for the running of the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals on April 22-24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas treated NHRA drivers well at the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,17,3470,3399,22],"tags":[3815,76,82,3643,424,1974,907,79,511,3477,887,75,72,1552,4066,440,4272,956,575,4273],"class_list":["post-25836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-guest-column","category-news","category-nhra","category-event-coverage","tag-2016-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-alexis-dejoria","tag-antron-brown","tag-bo-butner","tag-brittany-force","tag-chris-mcgaha","tag-dave-connolly","tag-del-worsham","tag-doug-kalitta","tag-erica-enders","tag-greg-anderson","tag-john-force","tag-las-vegas-motor-speedway","tag-leah-pritchett","tag-matt-hartford","tag-robert-hight","tag-scott-palmer","tag-tommy-johnson-jr","tag-tony-schumacher","tag-troy-buff"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/featuredimage1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-6II","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25836"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25846,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25836\/revisions\/25846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}