Brown earns NHRA Top Fuel win in Vegas

LAS VEGAS - Antron Brown piloted his dragster to the Top Fuel victory Sunday at the 18th annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Brown, who won the event in 2016, raced a 3.747-second pass at 321.04 mph to defeat Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher, who ran a 3.809 at 325.14. This is Brown’s 46th career Top Fuel victory and first of the season.

“Today was tough battles,” Brown said. “When you race two of your teammates you know you got a battle on your hands.

“And when you go up there you have to throw everything at it. Especially with Tony he hasn’t been an eight-time champion for nothing, buddy. He knows how to race. We had to push hard.”

Tommy Johnson Jr. (Funny Car) and Tanner Gray (Pro Stock) were also winners at the fourth event of 24 on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

Johnson Jr. claimed his first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since 2001 when he outran rookie Jonnie Lindberg with a 3.933 pass at 323.66 in his Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car. It is his 15th career win and first of the season. Lindberg pushed his Toyota Camry to a 4.016 at 302.14 in his second consecutive runnerup effort in 2017.

Gray, who is only 17 years old, became the youngest Pro Stock winner in NHRA history when he raced his Chevrolet Camaro to a 6.681 pass at 206.61 to defeat Bo Butner on a holeshot in the finals. Butner raced to a 6.678 at 206.76, but his reaction time of .088 at the start was too slow for Gray’s .010.

NASCAR short-track star Sam Ard dies at 78: Sam Ard, a two-time champion of NASCAR’s second-tier series, died Sunday. He was 78.

Ard died in South Carolina. NASCAR called Ard “a tough-as-nails racer” in a statement confirming his death, but gave no details.

Ard won titles in what is now known as the Xfinity Series in 1983 and 1984. He won 22 races in three seasons — just 92 career starts — and his average finishing position was an impressive fifth.

— Wire services