One week after earning his third No. 1 qualifying award of the 2009 season, Brown claimed the provisonal No. 1 position on Friday at the ultra-quick Joliet facility at the 12th annual United Association Nationals. The 20-time NHRA winner opened qualifying with a lap of 4.359 seconds at 190.22 mph. The Matco/A&R Transportation dragster lost traction and Brown posted the 10th quickest elapsed time. On Friday's second qualifying attempt, Brown raced the Matco Tools/A&R/DirecTV rail to the top of the order. The four-time Top Fuel winner used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to clock the 3.826, 317.94 effort to pace the 16-car field. Brown has three pole awards this season and 17 in his career. He currently ranks second in the Top Fuel standings.

"That was an incredible run," Brown said. "I let go of the brake and both bulbs came on. Luckily, I staged shallow. We kept our cool and it was a real smooth, consistent run. We continue to run those big speeds. There's a slice in the groove in the right lane and I saw a few Funny Cars steer around it and I followed their lead. Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) got what they wanted and the run looked great on the computer. The team is stoked. There were some good cars behind us like Tony (Schumacher) and Larry (Dixon) and we knew they're capable of running some stout numbers. We weren't sure if it would hold. This is awesome though. It should be cloudy tomorrow, so we may be able to go even quicker, but we should stay in the top three and that's always our goal."

Professional nitro qualifying is scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m. (CT) Saturday afternoon at Route 66 Raceway. Top Fuel will run first followed by Funny Car. Brown qualified second at the Chicago race last June at 4.516 seconds at 331.53 mph. Brown is a two-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner at Route 66 Raceway (2000-01).

Headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., Mike Ashley Racing fields the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster driven by Antron Brown. MAR proudly represents racing partners Matco Tools, Lend America, DirecTV, BeepBeep.com, Toyota, DataDot USA, Ringer's Gloves, Go Fast Sports, Goodyear, FRAM, Autolite, Suzuki, Connexions Sports and Entertainment, and Forward Sports Marketing.

Mike Ashley Racing supports Autism Awareness through their support of the Hyperbaric Therapy Center. A 2007 Centers for Disease Control report found that 1 in 150 children in America today have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and an estimated 1.5 million Americans and their families are now affected. Autism is a national health crisis, and Mike Ashley Racing is working to help educate the public about ways they can get involved. Visit the Heal Autism Now website for more information about how you can get involved at www.healautismnow.org

Courtesy of Ted Yerzyk