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Bit by bit and race by race, Antron Brown and his Top Fuel team have been making improvements.

It hasn’t been overly spectacular and it hasn’t led to an abundance of wins — yet — but it’s proven to be highly beneficial for Brown’s championship aspirations. He hasn’t won since Atlanta, but Brown and his team have been impressively productive, advancing to one final round and three semifinals since early May in his 11,000-horsepower Matco Tools Toyota dragster.

It’s kept the three-time Top Fuel world champion second in points behind Steve Torrence and while it’s a distant second for the moment, Brown is laying the groundwork for what he hopes will be a memorable finish to 2021. That starts this weekend in Topeka for the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by PetArmor, as Brown continues to be impressed by his team.

“We've been gradually getting better and better, and that’s what it takes to win,” Brown said. “We've been going to the semis, like as a normal occurrence, but for us, we have a few races that we should have won that we let slip away. That being said, it’s allowed our team to grow. I've been learning getting better. (Crew chiefs) Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald, they’ve been pushing hard and our team as a whole, we just been getting stronger and better.

“I'm just so proud of every one of our guys is because we've been coming together as a whole in the little time we've had together. We’re only getting better, so I'm looking forward to the second half of the season kicking off here in Topeka. We want to keep on putting our right forward, keep getting to some final rounds and turn them into race wins.”

Brown praised a team that has incorporated several new crew members this season. They’ve meshed extremely well and Brown is confident the payoff will come in the form of victories this season.

He chalked up at least three missed opportunities for victories thus far in 2021, including both four-wide races, and Epping, where he lost a close second-round race to eventual winner Billy Torrence. But that’s only motivated everyone, Brown included, to keep pushing forward.

“We've learned a lot from those races to get to where we're at now and it pushes them,” Brown said. “What we're shooting for is��to go down the racetrack every lap and not throw things away. That’s what it takes to win out here. Now you’ve got to be up there in the top three with the quickness and also put the laps in. That's why Steve (Torrence) has been so successful. We know that's what it takes to win and we're very capable of doing that.”

Torrence has been a model of winning consistency and it’s a level Brown is trying to reach this year. He’s proven to be a worthy adversary to his close friend, beating him in the final round at Atlanta and ending his bid for a sweep of the Western Swing two weeks ago in Pomona.

Brown is now focused on performing well in Topeka, where he greeted a large crowd with smiles and a strong run of 3.828-seconds at 320.280 mph in the second qualifying session Saturday. It was the second-best run of the round, drawing a big ovation from the fans in Topeka who were more than ready to welcome the NHRA and Brown back to the track after the pandemic wiped out last year’s race.

“When we go back and you see the fans come out, they're starving for us, and we're starving to see them, trust me, so that’s a good feeling to see,” Brown said. “The coolest words you hear are, ‘We missed you all so much.’ It’s like a part of the family they haven’t seen. And this place has a great NHRA drag racing-rich heritage out here. They’re ready to go and that’s exciting.”