Brandon Bernstein upset three-time series
champion Tony Schumacher Sunday in the Top Fuel final of the $1.6 million Lucas
Oil NHRA Nationals for his third victory of the season. Bernstein's 4.510-second
pass at 329.34 mph was enough to dismiss the hottest driver on the NHRA tour,
who smoked his tires a few hundred feet down Brainerd International Raceway.
Rounding out the Sunday winners were Tommy Johnson Jr. in his Skoal Racing
Chevy Monte Carlo (Funny Car), Dave Connolly in his Skull Shine Chevy Cobalt
(Pro Stock) and Antron Brown on his U.S. Army Suzuki (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
Bernstein shook off a forgettable Western Swing, where he failed to win a
single round, with a stunning victory in his Budweiser dragster over the
three-time and defending champion Schumacher, who went into tire-spin at half
track. The pilot of the U.S. Army dragster was competing in his fifth
consecutive final round, two short of his own NHRA Top Fuel record for
consecutive final rounds (7).