Matco's Brown not worrying about a 'sweep' of Western Swing just winning rounds like his team did in Rocky Mountains

One of Antron Brown's first reactions after winning the Top Fuel title Sunday at the NHRA Mile-High Nationals near Denver was that he knew what question he would be asked question the most this week.

 

And it wouldn't be if he can win at Sonoma, Calif., for the second straight year and third time in the past four.

 

The question of the week will be: Do you think you can sweep the Swing again?

 

Sonoma is the second stop on the annual Western Swing that involves three consecutive weeks of racing on the West Coast. The event in the Rocky Mountains at Bandimere Speedway was first, and this week the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is near San Francisco for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Next week the last Swing stop is near Seattle.

 

On the very rare occasions when a driver wins each of the event titles it is called "The Sweep" like in other sports.

 

The last professional driver to accomplish it was Brown in 2009, and his Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Tony Schumacher, did it the year before. They are two of only five Top Fuel pilots to have done it.

 

"It's a great feat to do but there really isn't much you can say about it unless you win Denver, win Sonoma and then if you're in the final round at Seattle.

 

"We would have our work cut out for us at Sonoma whether we won at Denver or not.

 

"It's a waste of time for us to even think about sweeping the Swing. When we did it 2009, no one on the team talked about until the final round of the Swing when it was in Sonoma. Our guys won't even think about it or focus on it.

 

"Right now, we just got through Denver. It takes a lot of things to make the Sweep happen; your team has to be on point for every round, and then you need some things to go your way. It's not just skill by me, but it's the skill of our crew chiefs Mark (Oswald) and Brian (Corradi) and the whole Matco team. And some luck.

 

"The way our Top Fuel class is right now, any of the top 12 teams can win on any given Sunday."

 

Last Sunday, it was Brown and Matco time.

 

Brown qualified second to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Spencer Massey in the horsepower choking mile-high altitude of Bandimere. In the championship round, Brown was trailing Brandon Bernstein for most of the run before Brown won by inches. Brown was a little quicker off the starting line and his winning time of 3.957 seconds (308.21 mph) just edged out Bernstein's 3.959 (307.58).

 

"Brandon was on his game. We just had a great, old drag race and won by one-hundredth. That's pretty strong."

 

It was Brown's second win in the last three Denver finals.

 

His third title through 13 events this year helped him move around Schumacher into second in the Full Throttle standings. Brown trails points leader Spencer Massey, another DSR mate, by 11 points

MAVTV driver Brandon Bernstein falls inches short of first win of season

Brandon Bernstein and the MAVTV/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster are so close to a victory in the NHRA Full Throttle Series, they can taste it.

Bernstein finished runner-up at Sunday's Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, the second time this season he has fallen just short of winning the Wally trophy. Sunday's race was especially excruciating because he fell short of beating Antron Brown by approximately 3 feet.

"The MAVTV team did an awesome job all weekend and I felt I was on my game, too," said Bernstein, who also reached the finals in Englishtown. "It's unfortunate we were on the wrong side of a good drag race. All you can say is that it's a good day, good weekend."

In the final, Brown got off the line .008 seconds quicker than Bernstein, but the race was side-by-side all the way down the 1,000 feet to the finish line. Brown crossed the line in 3.957 seconds at 308.21 mph while Bernstein crossed in 3.959 seconds at 307.58 mph.

"It was a good drag race," Bernstein said. "It's what we do - we drag race. We would have loved to have won. On the bright side, we've got three in a row coming up here and if we keep knocking on the door like this we're bound to break through."

On the way to the final, Bernstein beat David Grubnic, Scott Palmer and Spencer Massey.

"As the day wore on, I had the feeling that today was going to be it, just because of the way things were going," Bernstein said. "We're going to pick it up and carry the momentum into Sonoma next week."

Bernstein took a 3-2 lead in the Bernstein vs. Grubnic season series by running a 3.975 second pass at 300.06 mph. Grubnic crossed the line in 4.004 seconds at 302.82 mph. 

Palmer's car broke at the line and was pushed off, so Bernstein got a free pass into the semis. Bernstein's solo run was a 4.654 at 171.49 mph. 

Against No. 1 qualifier Massey, Bernstein got off the line second but was able to use horsepower to cross the stripe first. Bernstein's winning lap into the finals was a 4.015 at 300.00 mph, while Massey finished with a 4.059 at 296.11 mph.

For its efforts on Sunday, the MATV crew was award the Full Throttle Hard-Working Crew Award.  

"The results today show we've got the car and the crew to beat anybody out there," Bernstein said. "Now we've just got to go out there and win these things."  

Bernstein didn't take much time to savor his strong finish as he rushed to the airport for a flight back home to Indianapolis to spend some time with his five-day old son, Landon Russel, before hitting the road again for the July 27-29 NHRA Sonoma Nationals in Sonoma, Calif.