Antron Brown and his David Powers-owned Matco Tools team maintained its second-place position in the NHRA Top Fuel standings Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway. The 18-time NHRA winner was defeated in the opening round for just the third time this season.
Brown, a four-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at the Brainerd NHRA race, qualified seventh on Saturday with an elapsed time of 3.929-seconds and was matched-up against Morgan Lucas. It was the 14th time in 16 races that Brown started in the top half of the 16-car field. Lucas got the slight starting line reaction and it was a good race until mid-track where the Matco Tools car lost traction and slowed to a pass of 4.234 seconds at 247.47 mph. Lucas cruised the B.I.R. 1,000-foot track in 3.926 at 298.21 to advance to the quarterfinals. Brown is now 1-1 against Lucas this season with a round-record of 25-14.
“We came out to Brainerd and struggled a little bit this weekend,” Brown said. “We’re leaving with our heads high and I’m looking forward to going back east towards my hometown at Reading (Pa.). We’re not down because we learned a lot this weekend.”
The next NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event is the 24th annual Toyo Tires Nationals, Aug. 14-17, at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. Brown earned the pole at Maple Grove Raceway in 2004 and posted a runner-up finish the ’04 Reading NHRA race.
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