Antron Brown raced his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to the provisional No. 7 qualifying position Friday evening at Brainerd International Raceway. The 18-time NHRA winner used a run of 3.929-seconds to finish seventh in the order on the opening day of qualifying at B.I.R.
Entering the 16th race on the 24-race NHRA schedule ranked second in the POWERade Top Fuel standings, Brown opened qualifying at the Brainerd race with the second quickest pass of the session. The four-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at B.I.R. used a tune-up from crew chief Lee Beard to power the Matco Tools rail to a run of 3.929 seconds at 303.43 mph, the fastest speed of the first qualifying session. On his second run of the day, the New Jersey native used a consistent Beard tune-up to clock a pass of 3.951 at 304.46 to finish seventh in the 16-car order.
“Our first run was good,” Brown said. “We were happy with that opening run. It was just slow on that last run. It’s ok, our Matco guys made two strong runs today and we’ll get it figured out tomorrow and on race day. We’re consistent and we’re in the show.”
Professional nitro qualifying resumes Saturday afternoon at the Brainerd track with sessions scheduled for Noon and 3 p.m. (CT). Brown qualified 11th on his Suzuki at the Brainerd NHRA last August. His teammate, Rod Fuller, qualified eighth on Friday at 3.933-seconds.
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