BROWN’S DRIVE FOR FIVE BEGINS AT GAINESVILLE
Defending NHRA world champion Antron Brown starts his quest for a fifth title this week at the 56th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. NHRA photo
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 3, 2025) – After ending his season with a fourth career world championship a year ago, Top Fuel star Antron Brown has a chance to make a resounding statement right off the bat to open the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
The year kicks off with this weekend’s 56th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, starting the season with one of the most legendary races on the NHRA circuit.
A win in Gainesville – something Brown has only done once before – is a major accomplishment for any driver, but the champ has a chance for a double-up weekend by competing in the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout on Saturday.
Brown won the big-money bonus race a year ago en route to the title, but becoming the first Top Fuel driver to win the Callout twice and adding a Gatornationals win in his 11,000-horsepower Matco Tools dragster would be an impressive start following a championship campaign.
“You just don’t know what’s going to happen (in the Callout),” Brown said. “You’re going to race the baddest Top Fuel teams on the planet. It’s eight of the best cars and it’s a feat just to get in there. To win it, you’ve got to be on point. I think we’re ready for that challenge and we’ve just got to get ready in qualifying. It’s big money and the stakes are high.”
In 2024, Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), J.R. Todd (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all won the Gatornationals to open the year. It marked the first double-up victory for Kalitta Motorsports, while six-time world champ Enders won the historic race for the first time.
Brown is the fifth seed in the specialty race, meaning there’s likely a good chance he’ll get called out in the first round. Those selections take place at 12 p.m. on Friday and the 80-time event winner is ready to roll after his stellar 2024 season.
He won six times a year ago, but the “drive for five” titles won’t be easy with a class that includes Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon, Brittany Force, Clay Millican, Steve Torrence, Josh Hart and Tony Stewart. Brown, though, is plenty motivated, especially with a chance to add a regular-season championship this year, a feat that would certainly be helped by a second Gatornationals win.
“I want to be the regular season champ and I want that ceremony, and it all starts at the Gatornationals,” Brown said. “There’s a lot at stake at all these races and it’s going to bring a whole different mindset, and that all starts in Gainesville.”
Todd earned his second Gatornationals win when he took out Funny Car newcomer Austin Prock in the final round. Enders, the winningest female in motorsports, earned her first Gatornationals win last season, finishing fourth in points.
Herrera, the reigning back-to-back champion, has been undeniably dominant in Pro Stock Motorcycle. He raced to his second straight Gatornationals win last season.
The Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals will also see the season debut in the highly competitive Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series and the Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown class, as well as a full slate of sportsman classes in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, which features some of the sport’s top drivers.
BELL WINS NASCAR CUP THRILLER IN AUSTIN
By Reid Spencer; NASCAR Wire Service
AUSTIN, Tex. (March 2, 2025) —Christopher Bell was prophetic.
After winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 23, Bell said 2.4-mile, 17-turn Circuit of Americas was a track he had circled for another potential victory.
Sure enough, after passing Kyle Busch for the lead and staving off defending race winner William Byron over the last five laps at COTA, Bell was a back-to-back winner in the Cup Series for the first time in his career, having claimed victory in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.
Bell beat Byron to the finish line by 0.433 seconds, as the reigning Daytona 500 winner raced Bell cleanly over the closing laps. Pole winner Tyler Reddick was third, followed by Chase Elliott, who made a miraculous recovery from a Lap 1 spin in Turn 1 resulting in a broken toe link.
Busch fell to fifth on the final lap after side-to-side contact with Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota during the battle for the lead which took all the juice out of Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
The victory was Bell’s first at the Texas road course and the 11th of his career.
“Whenever Kyle was leading, I was just trying to be so cautious,” said Bell, who spun Busch’s car in Turn 1 in the 2024 race. “Obviously, we know what happened last year. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to pass him clean. He was just doing such a good job at running his race, and he could get off the corners just good enough that I couldn’t get inside of him.”
“But there I started peeking a nose, and he bobbled and allowed me to get out front. Whenever I did, I’m, like, ‘Okay, just don’t beat yourself.’ Those were about the five or six sloppiest laps I’ve ever run.”
Having pitted two laps earlier than Bell during the final cycle of green-flag stops, Busch, who led a race-high 42 laps, held a 2.6-second margin over Byron and a 4.0-second advantage over Bell on Lap 78 when Denny Hamlin locked his brakes into Turn 6 and knocked Austin Dillon’s Chevrolet into a gravel trap to cause the third and final caution.
Busch took command on the restart on Lap 83, but Bell had superior tires and an arguably superior car. With a run off Turn 20 on Lap 90, Bell had the lead before the cars reached the start/finish line. At the top of the Hill in Turn 1 on Lap 91, Byron followed into second place, and Reddick soon had third.
Busch rued both the inopportune caution and the effect of the tire disparity after the final restart.
“I wish we could have had a little bit more there at the end,” Busch said. “I feel like maybe the two-lap fresher tires the 20 had was the difference… But I also hated to see that yellow that came out.”
