COUNTDOWN IS NUMBERS GAME FOR BROWN
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Antron Brown, the Top Fuel class’ No. 1 seed for the Countdown to the Championship, shares his outlook about the upcoming six playoff races.
Most Challenging Track: Texas Motorplex – Ennis, Texas – “Dallas is the one that's always up in the air because we can have a cool track or we can have a really hot racetrack. When Dallas gets hot, it can vary from lane to lane where it can become a one-lane racetrack, and if the weather is good, it doesn't matter what lane you're in. Dallas has always been in a challenge because of the weather.”
Track By Track Assessment:
CHARLOTTE – “The first race at Charlotte, that racetrack can be a little tricky sometimes. If you're going on the stats of the last five years, it's been phenomenal there. People can throw low E.T. down, almost a world record run on Friday night, then race day has been really good where we run mid- to high-70s on race day.”
ST. LOUIS – “We've been going there now to where the weather has been good the last couple years. We've been running low E.T.s throughout race day, low- to mid-70s all day long because the weather is cool.
READING – “Reading, that is a throw-down fest.”
DALLAS – “I think the one that gives us the most challenge with the ones that we have left is that it's always up in the air is Dallas. I think Dallas is definitely the one that is the challenging racetrack for the Countdown.”
LAS VEGAS – “Vegas is always good into the fall where it gets cool weather. The sun can be out, but the wind blows a little bit. But the track is good because of the dry air.”
POMONA – “Pomona, the weather is always great there.”
Why Antron Brown Is Confident He Can Earn A Third Title:
1 - “I'm confident in my team.”
2 - “I have no regrets each and every race that I go to race at.”
3 - “I put the work in every week. I work hard. My team works hard.”
4 - “Brian and Mark [crew chiefs Corradi and Oswald] are always studying the data, breaking down different formulas, making different graphs to be better each and every week.”
5 - “When I go into the Countdown race, I'm going in with the team.”
6 - “The only thing we can do is lose the championship, because we have all the necessary key pieces and ingredients to win this championship, like we did last year.”
7 – “When we go in, we have to go in with our same mindset and focus.
8 – “I feel confident we can compete at the level that it takes to be there at the last race to have a chance to win this championship. I'm very confident in that.”
Calculating it is simple. Doing it is harder.
But Antron Brown, driver of the Matco Tools Dragster and No. 1 Top Fuel seed for the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship, has a numbers-based strategy for the six-race playoff that starts Sept. 16-18 at Charlotte’s zMAX Dragway.
“Every point is crucial,” Brown said. “I look at the Countdown each and every year as not just six races. There's 24 rounds up for grabs. Each round is worth 20 points. That's your maximum points. How many of those rounds can you get?”
It truly does sound simple. However, Brown knows that many factors go into taking advantage of a simple mathematical equation.
“That's what we focus on, is just doing one round at a time and getting as many rounds as possible. Last year we did a great job at it. But this year is going to be a whole 'nother ball of wax where the competition has stepped up again to just an incredible level to go out there and try to make that happen like we did last year,” he said.
“We got to capitalize on those bonus points also through qualifying, then get in a good qualifying spot, in that top eight, so you can have lane choice. It's tough to qualify in the top eight. We fell out of that a couple times this year. I guarantee, that's what contributed to our first-round loss, not being in that top eight.”
Yes, that’s one first-round defeat all season long. The last time that happened was in 2012, when Spencer Massey lost just one time in the opening round during the regular season (and only twice for the full year). Billy Torrence had no Round 1 defeats in 2015, but he ran only five races that season – which arguably is an even more remarkable feat. This year, Tony Schumacher has only two regular-season first-round losses.
Brown has the math figured out, but he also knows the quality of opponents he has.
“When you look at four qualifying rounds, there's 12 points. There's 12 bonus points out there that are up for grabs – 12 points in one race,” Brown said. “I remember before, with Doug [Kalitta], this year at the beginning of the year, me and him were bouncing around from first to second place by just going through qualifying. Took first place back from him in qualifying; he took it back from me next round by three points. So those points add up really big, and they can make one round and put you ahead of somebody where they have to win a round of racing to get around you and go ahead of you. Those points are just crucial when you add them up for four races. There's 48 points available right there, which that's a lot of points. Actually more than 48, there's 72 points – 12 points a race times six. That's 72 points right there.”
He’s aware no one will hand him a point or a round. It was a slugfest just to get into the Countdown field, even more so for No. 10 Leah Pritchett, for example.
“Oh, absolutely not,” he said. “Just to make the field, that's what took so long to get in there. You look at how like Leah and Terry [McMillen], they had to battle to make the top 10. When you look down, Tony [Schumacher] swapped spots with Brittany [Force]. He went around Brittany by winning the race [U.S. Nationals]. All these spots are so close and tight, man, it's going to be a crapshoot going here for these six races for the championship.
“Those are the challenges we all live for. We live for these moments to go out there as a team, as a whole, to see who can be that champion at the end of the year,” he said. “That's what we've been working for. We put the hard work in with our Matco Tools / Toyota / Pennzoil Dragster to go out here and compete at this high level. Now just hoping all of our hard work pays off right now.”
It all starts with qualifying Friday, Sept. 16 at Charlotte.
“When you get into the Countdown, in any race, you need to qualify well. That's our main focus going in, is not to leave one stone unturned,” Brown said.
He’ll have his calculator humming.
