With any form of motorsports, tensions are high within title-chasing teams.

While drivers and crew members may not talk about it out loud, all they can think of is whats at stake.

During the NHRA Finals at Californias In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, tension reached an all-time high in Top Fuel as title contenders Justin Ashley and Antron Brown had to wait to face each other in the first round due to a more than two-hour delay for a plane crash near the top end of the race track.

An added element prior to their battle is their close-knit bond. Someone was going to miss out on a championship, however, both drivers were actively rooting for one another.

It was some high emotions on that deal because Ive been with Justin for so many years and watching him grow and becoming a young man and also becoming into the driver that he is, Brown said. Hes a championship driver.

Brown won the battle and was greeted by Ashleys father, Mike Ashley, at the top end of the race track with one motivational sentence AB, you better win this damn championship, Brown recalled. 

The chase was only beginning for Brown as hed endure high stakes races the rest of the afternoon from knocking out title contender Shawn Langdon one round later to holding off Brittany Force in the semifinals to clinch his fourth Top Fuel title. 

After we got past Shawn and we got to that semifinal round and we beat Brittany, that was lights out, Brown recalled. So for us, man, it was really like a deal that was unexpected.

While always a threat, Brown was perhaps overlooked for the title as he was fifth in the standings when the Countdown to the Championship began.  

Nonetheless, Brown and his AB Motorsports team reeled off two straight wins to kick off the Countdown and put themselves into a title-winning position before knocking out Doug Kalitta in the finals in Pomona to put an exclamation mark on their season. 

The team may have put itself into position in Pomona with consistency in the Countdown. However, it ultimately, came down to one race.

It came from the work that you did the whole year, but that one race was everything, Brown said.

It was great for TV, it was great to write about, but it wasnt great for the racers that were involved, because Ill tell you what, it took five years off my life, Brown laughed. 

But, besides that, it was truly a blessing and its a tribute to how strong of a team that we have and I believe in every one of our people on our race team, each and every day and we never faltered. 

So thats why I went into that race day locked in, head down and they gave me the car and they gave me the vehicle what it took to get to get the job done. My hats off to them and without them, I wouldnt be here today.