MADISON, Ill. (AP) - Antron Brown raced to his sixth Top Fuel victory of the season Sunday, winning the NHRA Midwest Nationals to increase his championship points lead.
Brown beat championship rival Spencer Massey in the final round and moved 21 points ahead with three races left in the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Brown had a run of 3.766 seconds at 325.22 mph, while Massey trailed with a 3.812 at 324.05.
``It was a stressful day where we matched up against some great competition,'' said Brown, who beat Bruce Litton, Steve Torrence and Brandon Bernstein in early rounds. ``Matching up against my teammate (Massey) in the final was big. We've been back and forth in the points. It's great to have six wins, but right now they're all in the past. We need to go back to the shop and get focused on these last three races. It's just so competitive out here and this points race is going to go down to the last race.''
Jack Beckman won in Funny Car, Erica Enders in Pro Stock, and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Beckman moved within 30 points of Funny Car points leader Ron Capps by racing to his third victory of the season. Beckman took the final over a red-lighting Matt Hagan.
Enders earned her fourth victory of the season and first in the playoffs by using a reaction-time advantage to beat points leader Allen Johnson. She powered her Chevy Cobalt to a 6.540 at 211.79 to finish inches in front of Johnson's Dodge Avenger, who posted a quicker, but losing run of 6.538 at 212.13.
Krawiec claimed his seventh Pro Stock Motorcycle victory of the season and increased his points lead to 33 over final-round opponent and teammate Andrew Hines. Hines fouled on his Harley-Davidson.
