Antron Brown raced his Don Schumacher-owned Matco Tools dragster to the No. 3 qualifying position Saturday afternoon at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The seven-time Top Fuel winner posted his quickest qualifying lap on his final attempt at 3.834-seconds.
After racing to the provisional No. 7 qualifying spot on Friday evening at The Strip at LVMS with a pass of 3.868 seconds at 314.09 mph, Brown’s bright blue Matco Tools dragster overpowered the hot LVMS strip on Saturday’s first run clocking a pass of 4.978 at 141.89. That moved the 23-time NHRA winner to eighth in the 16-car order. Brown saved his best for last when he powered the Brian Corradi/Mark Oswald-tuned dragster to the third quickest run of the weekend at 3.834 at 317.42. It was the quickest run of the session and earned Brown and the Matco-backed team three bonus points. It is the second time Brown has qualified third this season (Phoenix). There were 26 Top Fuel dragsters attempting to make the field for the ninth annual Las Vegas NHRA Nationals. Brown’s DSR teammates Tony Schumacher and Cory McClenathan finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Top Fuel order.
“That was an awesome run,” Brown said. “We struggled a little bit, but Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) did an awesome job tuning this Matco Tools dragster. That 3.83 was an outstanding pass and we’re fired up to go some rounds on Sunday. The last time we qualified third was Phoenix and we won the race, and that’s the plan this weekend here at (Las) Vegas.”
Brown will face off against European star Stig Neergaard in the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations at 11 a.m. (PT) on Sunday at The Strip at LVMS. Neergaard is making his first career NHRA start. Brown has a record of 46-17 in 63 rounds this season.
