No matter the season, Top Fuel competitors can never sleep on Antron Brown.

Brown, a three-time NHRA world champion in 2012 and 2015-16, proved that once again Sunday.

Brown bested the competition to win the Pep Boys Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania, the first race in the six-race Countdown to the Championship. In the finals, Brown clocked a 3.798-second elapsed time at 327.27 mph to edge Shawn Langdon’s 3.803, 332.02 mph at Maple Grove Raceway.

Brown, the owner of AB Motorsports, now has four wins this season in his Matco Tools/Toyota dragster, and his 62nd career Top Fuel Wally. He also has 16 career Wallys in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

“Well, it started off with qualifying. On Friday we didn't qualify in the spot that we wanted to, but then on Saturday we got some confidence going in because we picked it up where we ran low of Q3. And we were second quickest of Q4 where we picked up some crucial points there that really helped us out,” Brown said. “Then when we went to race day, we knew when it got hot, we're going to have something, but the track got a little bit trickier than we thought it was. We thought that we were going to go and run kinda like we ran Sonoma because it's kind of set up to those kinds of temperatures.  

“But the track got a little bit more medieval out there. A lot of people started spinning the tire. We made it far enough down the track where … like (co-crew chiefs) Brian Corradi, Mark (Oswald) and all the Matco boys, they gave me a car that went the distance where we were just better than everybody that we raced at that time.”

Brown ousted Jasmine Salinas, Tony Schumacher, Dan Mercier and Langdon during his victory march.

“When we got in the final, we knew it was going to be a monster match-up. First round, we went out there and we raced Jasmine, and you got to worry about Rob Flynn and Arron (Cave) on that car because they could drop low ET on everybody. That car runs well,” Brown said. “So, we didn't leave nothing there. We ran 3.72, I think, which was low for the round. It really helped the momentum for the race day.

“Then some of the heavy hitters went out first round because of how tough the track was. When we got in that final, we're like, ‘Alright.’ I saw Brian and Mark going to work, and we made some big moves between second round, the semis, and we made some moves to make our car go down the racetrack. I had all the confidence where they go, ‘Alright, we're going to get this thing right on down through there,’ to run a high 70 … (and) let the chips fall where they fall.”

This was Brown’s third win of his career in Reading to go with those he captured in 2015-16. That places him second on the Maple Grove all-time Top Fuel victory list behind Tony Schumacher, who recorded five wins at the track from 2003-14.

Brown used a .043 reaction time compared to Langdon’s .062 to do his part in the win.

“I knew where Shawn was, and they were going to run about the same ET. Then it was going to be who can leave the starting line,” Brown said. “Lo and behold, I was able to keep my head down, and we got a little bit off the line, and the car outran them. So, it was one of those deals where we got the win and the car was just smooth down the racetrack; never got in trouble. It felt really good when that win light came on because we needed to start (this way if) we want to be in this race to win this championship.”

After the opening event of the Countdown, Justin Ashley leads the way with Brown one point behind and Langdon just six off the pace.

“Well, I think now, the way our field is so stacked, you don't take anybody lightly. Nobody takes Dan Mercier lightly because he went to the semis a few races ago. I think it was Seattle or something like that, where he was destroying people. He didn't get there by luck, he was outrunning people, you know what I mean?” Brown said. “On the hottest part of the day at a couple races, he dropped low ET, you know what I mean? Where he went 79, 78 and we were all running to 82 trying to get down the racetrack. So, when you see that going on, you got to go up there and say, ‘Alright, look, we got to run a good lap down the racetrack. This racetrack can hold a 78. We got to run a 78.’ That's what we were trying to run when we raced him. The track wasn't trying to hold it at that time. I mean, we went down there, and our car was going down there right where the clutch starts coming together.

“We actually pulled him up — it was super safe early — and then pulled him up and we're like, ‘We got to make another adjustment.’ That was the deal. We snuck by him and then we got in the final, we had another shot at it. When you give our guys three shots at the racetrack, they're going to get it right. Trust me. So that's one thing I like being on our race team is that we get enough shots at it, we can get it where it needs to be.”

Brown, a native of New Jersey, clearly enjoys racing on the East Coast and at Maple Grove Raceway.

“It is extremely very, very, very special because this is hometown for me and so many hometown fans, and I'm a hometown boy. I think they were cheering so loud because they saw me waving,” Brown said. “I always played a joke like that. People say, ‘Hey man, did you see me?’ I say, ‘Yeah, I was waving right at you.’

“But it's a lot of fun when you come to a place like this, and when you can win in front of your family, and your closest friends, your high school  (friends). I even had somebody I went to kindergarten with that I graduated high school with. He goes, ‘You remember me?’ I'm like, ‘Oh, my God. Yes, I do.’ It makes it so special. This is what the sport's all about. The access, the NHRA access where they come down between the rounds and they come in the pit, no matter where you're at, they're there cheering you on.”

It was quite the memorable weekend for Brown all the way around.

“This whole weekend it felt so good. I knew I was home because my pit had an abundance of people wrapped around it, stretched out all the way to the other pits,” Brown said. “People were like, ‘What is this here?’ I said, ‘(It is) home.’ I miss home. It makes it feel so much special and truly blessed to have that kind of support when I come home like that.