Toyota swept the final rounds in both Top Fuel and Funny Car in Sunday’s event at zMax Dragway in Charlotte. The Toyota Top Fuel dragsters of Antron Brown and Justin Ashley faced off for the win while GR Supras of Ron Capps and Alexis DeJoria went head-to-head to capture the Wally. Brown would capture the win over Ashley on a holeshot running a 3.672 to Ashley’s 3.671 to claim his second win of 2022. Capps would get the funny car victory of DeJoria by only two hundredths to claim his third win of the season and put him within 27 points of the Funny Car point lead.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series
zMax Dragway
Race 18 of 22
TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS
Name |
Car |
Final Result |
Round-by-Round |
Antron Brown |
Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster |
Winner |
W. 3.691 vs. 3.778 (Prock) W. 3.733 vs. 5.252 (Force) W. 3.687 vs. 3.699 (Millican) W. 3.672 (holeshot) vs. 3.671 (Ashley) |
Justin Ashley |
Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster |
Finals |
W. 3.688 vs. 3.814 (Laughlin) W. 3.697 vs. 3.725 (Torrence) W. 3.691 vs. 7.778 (Kalitta) L. 3.671 vs. 3.672 (Brown-holeshot) |
Doug Kalitta |
Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster |
Semi-Finals |
W. 3.710 vs. 3.731 (Langdon) W. 3.696 vs. 3.720 (Salinas) L. 7.778 vs. 3.691 (Ashley) |
Steve Torrence |
Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster |
Round 2 |
W. 3.690 vs. BYE L. 3.725 vs. 3.697 (Ashley) |
Shawn Langdon |
DHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster |
Round 1 |
L. 3.731 vs. 3.710 (Kalitta) |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS
Name |
Car |
Final Result |
Round-by-Round |
Ron Capps |
NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car |
Winner |
W. 3.889 vs. 4.535 (Alexander) W. 3.885 vs. 8.251 (Tasca III) W. 3.899 vs. 3.915 (Force) W. 3.967 vs. 3.985 (DeJoria) |
Alexis DeJoria |
Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car |
Finals |
W. 3.878 vs. 4.192 (Todd) W. 3.918 vs. 3.924 (Hight) W. 3.887 vs. 3.893 (Hagan) L. 3.985 vs. 3.967 (Capps) |
J.R. Todd |
DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car |
Round 1 |
L. 4.192 vs. 3.878 (DeJoria) |
TOYOTA QUOTES
ANTRON BROWN, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, AB Motorsports
Final Result: Winner
What did you have to bring to the finals to beat Justin Ashley today?
“You gotta bring it all. That car was running strong, but this Matco Tools, Lucas Oil, SiriusXM Toyota – all the people that help us out all the time. Brian, Mark and all of our Matco boys put in the work. But Justin (Ashley) is no joke and that team does a really good job. We were driving for a higher purpose. Thank God for my Grandma, for her, for Abby Booker. She was flying with us today. Booker family, we love you and she’s an angel up there. What a day.”
RON CAPPS, NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports
Final Result: Winner
What happened in the final round matchup with your Toyota teammate, Alexis DeJoria?
“She’s (Alexis DeJoria) been driving her rear-end off all day and I didn’t want to be victim number three. Look who all she took out today. It was incredible and she was cutting good lights and her car was hauling the mail. Del, Nicki and those guys. Sometimes you just think no matter how good your car is running, it’s just their day and I’m going to be the next victim. We both went up there, we both staged and the light came on, I felt like I had a good light and Guido made a joke that this car was so glued that I might try to run this thing like an .83 or .84. And I looked outside and saw the sun popping out and thought it would be cool to pull that in the final round, but I think he tried that because we left and I didn’t see her car and mine bowed up and lifted the frontend and I’m sure the G-meter is probably half a G higher than any other run we’ve made. It just started grunting and taking off and I had to hang onto it. Then it just quit and I’m listening. I didn’t want to hit the button on the parachutes or press anything, I just wanted to be like Fred Flintstone and push my feet through the bottom and do anything I can because you don’t know where they’re at and I couldn’t hear her so obviously something happened and I was just staying away from everything and my light came on and she just went whizzing by me coasting and I thought that would be fun to watch later. We high-fived at the top end and I’m not even sure how close it was.”
JUSTIN ASHLEY, Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Davis Motorsports
Final Result: Final Round
What were the round wins like en route to another final round appearance?
“The two round wins over Steve (Torrence) and Doug (Kalitta) were huge for this Phillips Connect team. Those are guys that have so much experience and race wins. When you get a win light against either one of those guys you know you have done something special. I have to thank Mike Green, Tommy DeLago and Dustin Davis plus the crew for all their hard work. Every win light is the result of a pit full of guys working together.”
What does it mean to extend the points lead after the second race of the Countdown?
“We were able to extend our points lead and that was our goal coming into this race. We have a long way to go before this season wraps up, but this was a good weekend for this Phillips Connect Toyota Vita C Energy team. There are so many tough competitors out here. I am proud of our effort and we will be turning our focus to St. Louis.”
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