Three-time NHRA Top Fuel World Champion Antron Brown will serve as the celebrity pace car driver for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 4.
Brown will pace the field for the 267-lap race, which is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time and will be televised live on FOX. In addition two-time NHRA Funny Car World Champion Matt Hagan and five-time Top Fuel event winner Leah Pritchett will be part of the race-day festivities at 1.5-mile speedway.
“I’m really excited about going to the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube,” said Brown, a five-time No. 1 qualifier and four-time winner at The Strip at LVMS. “It’s going to be my first experience as a pace car driver, and I’m just super stoked to go out there and drive a Toyota Camry for Pennzoil and start those NASCAR boys off the right way. Throttle down, pedal to the metal.
“I just want to get them off to a great start, and I couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity. It’s an honor to be out there with such talented drivers, and I know I’m going to really enjoy watching our NASCAR counterparts.”
Brown is no stranger to being behind the wheel of a high-powered race car. The Chesterfield, N.J., native amassed 65 career NHRA event victories through the 2017 season and is a favorite to contend for the world title this year.
Brown won his championships in 2012 and from 2015-16 and has a career-best speed of 333.16 miles per hour. His first team owner was former NFL star cornerback Troy Vincent, and Brown qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100-meter dash in 1997. He and his wife, Billie Joe, have a daughter, Arianna, and two sons, Anson and Adler.
All three drivers will appear at the NASCAR.com Trackside Live stage in the LVMS Fan Engagement Area along with MENCS driver Joey Logano from 9-9:15 a.m. before moving on to the Pennzoil Performance Pit in the LVMS Fan Engagement Area at 9:30. Brown also will be part of pre-race activities that kick off at approximately 11 a.m. on the front stretch.
Hagan’s Funny Car world titles came in 2011 and 2014, and he is a 27-time NHRA event winner. The Salem, Va., driver earned his first Las Vegas win at the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at LVMS on Oct. 29 driving his Pennzoil Funny Car.
Pritchett, a native of Redlands, Calif., has five career NHRA Top Fuel victories and three NHRA Pro Mod Series wins. She won a career-best four races in 2017 and has a career-best speed of 332.75 miles per hour.
LVMS’ first tripleheader of the year begins on Friday, March 2, with Stratosphere Qualifying and the Stratosphere 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, continues with the Boyd Gaming 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, March 3, and concludes with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 4.
Various ticket packages, fun extras and special-access passes for LVMS’ first NASCAR weekend of the year are available at www.lvms.com or by calling 1-800-644-4444.
LVMS PR/(Photo by David Allio/Icon Sportswire)
