It didn’t take Antron Brown long to find the winner’s circle in the 2024 NHRA season.

Brown, the NHRA Top Fuel champion in 2012 and 2015-16, won the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout on Saturday. He defeated Brittany Force in the final round of the special event, which is held during qualifying for the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals.

For his performance, Brown earned an $80,000 payday.

“It is very, very special. And I tell you what, we didn't start out with the best car, but thing about it is, we just never quit,” Brown said. “And we've been working through some things, like a brand-new chassis we got, and the car's running great.”

Brown claimed the lucrative win by defeating Shawn Langdon, Steve Torrence and then Force.

In the finals, Brown clocked a 3.709-second elapsed time at 332.43 mph to edge Force, who crossed the line in 3.730 seconds at 328.70 mph.

“Once we got the first round, we figured we had some things worked out, and we went out there and hit it, and we were trying to run a low 70,” Brown said. “And Langdon and ourselves, we both have identical 60 foots, and we knew it was going to be a grudge race, and he got me off the tree. It was like .052 and I was .062, so we got us off the tree, we ran dead even to a 330, like 213 with a six, which is good enough to run like a 71, 72.

“And that's what we thought we were going to have to do. And the cars just didn't hold down after that rain. The track wasn't moist, it wasn't just as good. And snuck through there with a 3.90, and then Steve-o (Torrence) calls out for the second round, and, man, it's the best of the best. And we went out there, we put our head down, and we went to 76 to his 76, and we didn't even make it on all cylinders. We dropped two holes before the finish line. We went 322 when he went 329.”

After winning consecutive rounds, Brown was ready for battle against Force.

“We got to the final, and our guys got the chance to keep picking at it, keep picking at it. And we knew it was going to be a tough round against Brittany, world champion. I mean, everybody we raced against was a champion,” Brown said. “Steve's a four-time world champ. And then we raced Brittany, two-time world champ there in the finals.

“I didn't know she blew up. So, I looked back once I got off the racetrack, and I saw a car on fire, and that's what happens when you're pressing. If you want to win out here, you got to press hard. And we're all pressing that envelope right now.”

Brown no doubt wanted to win the Callout, but he also needed to move up the qualifying ladder for raceday at the Gators on Sunday.

“We had the added pressure that we had to step up and qualify,” Brown said. “We're No. 15. … So, go out there and do what we did. We got out there on a 70 with a nine, and moved up into number four, and get this Pep Boys All-Star Callout is pretty special. And I got to thank … Pep Boys, and all the staff for just sticking and doing the things in this sport that we need, like these, especially races like this, that brings a lot of excitement with the rain all day. The fans stuck in the stands. They stuck in the stands from early this morning … so, my hat's off to them. That's why we love these fans so much and to put on a great show like that. Man, I'm beside myself.”

Brown’s focus now is continuing to turn on win lights Sunday.

“This momentum can go into (Sunday), so it'll going to be a tough first-round matchup (Sunday),” Brown said. “Don't know who we got yet. And hopefully, we can just parlay that and get better tomorrow.”

Brown qualified No. 6 and is scheduled to meet Tripp Tatum in the first round.

“The main thing is that we can get better each lap. That's when you get dangerous,” Brown said. “My focus is on, and the boys are giving me a hot rod that can do the job, and that's what it takes. It takes every piece of the puzzle to make something like this happen, and we have an incredible team, and we're looking forward to this 2024 season.”

Brown wasn’t the center of attention during preseason testing.

“We didn't show all of our cards in testing, but we did a couple runs,” he said. “I mean, we went a 3.67 only at 304 mph. The car was on a 65 run, so we went 294 flat at 298 mph. In testing, it actually went 339. So, we put some blazing trails out there in testing, it's just that we had that one first round, like everybody else did, where the track got tricky in the middle of the day in the sun, and we didn't show our cards, and we qualified in the top four.”

The point of testing is getting the right tune-up plan moving forward, and Brown felt he accomplished that in testing during the PRO Superstar Shootout in Bradenton in February.

“We did what we wanted to do in testing, and we're gaining. When we went there, we tested a lot of stuff at that race,” Brown said. “We didn't go out there and say, ‘Hey, this is a race set up. We're going to come here ...’ And we came in here working on stuff. We didn't get the testing we wanted to get, and we used it. And sometimes when you do things, it doesn’t go the direction (you wanted), but you learn so much from it. And we're still growing, and we're going to keep growing because we got to start turning over some new leaves to get something that gets ahead of the field, because the field is tight.

“We want a 70 with a nine. We're No. 4. If you run 72 or slower, you're like No. 9 or No. 10. So, if we want to get up there, I think right now it's that we got to start running mid-60s on a routine basis if you want to say that you're doing something, you know what I mean? The field is just stacked really tight, and everybody's looking for that, and we're not going to stop looking.”

Winning is intoxicating, and Brown would love nothing more than to keep the same script rolling.

“The thing about it is that right now, that builds momentum, but the thing about it's we can't get complacent and think about what we just did. We're going to enjoy it tonight, but the boys have a lot of work tonight to get prepared for (Sunday),” Brown said. “And tomorrow's a new day, and we got to get after it. And the weather's going to be cooler, brisker, everybody's going to make power better, especially if it gets a little drier. And if that happens, you're going to see some monumental runs. You're going to have to run 60s to get past first round. And that's what we got to gear up to do. …

“I've been working out every day. I've been training. The boys been working on the cars, they've been doing stuff. We've been putting the work in, and it is starting to show. We just want more of it to show. And if it does, we should be in a really good spot this year. This is just the start for us. And we're hungry, and a lot of these other teams are hungry, and they're doing the work too.”

Brown acknowledged he takes a different approach to racing now that he’s a team owner.

“Well, one thing I have learned is that I lean on all the people that we have at ABM. I have a solid core group in the front office that manages the operation,” Brown said. “The first year was a little hairy because we had very minimum people, and everybody was doing... They were doing five jobs. What I've learned by what AB Motorsports is, is that you get the right people, and you have to get them to be a team. And once you get them to be a team, it makes things a lot easier.

“I've learned to come to the racetrack, I got to switch off the owner hat and I got to put on the racer hat.”