Brown, the most recent winner on the NHRA tour after earning his third victory of the season last Sunday at Bandimere Speedway near Denver, opened qualifying at the 14th race on the 2009 NHRA schedule with a lap of 4.031 seconds at 289.88 mph. That placed Brown fourth in the Top Fuel order after the first of four scheduled qualifying sessions. The Matco Tools/Toyota car dropped a cylinder 1.9-seconds into the run and still posted the fouth quickest elapsed time of the round. Friday evening, under the lights at Pacific Raceways, Brown used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to power the Matco Tools/Lend America rail to a pass of 3.952 at 305.84 mph. It was the fastest pass of the day for the fastest driver in 1,000-foot racing (319.75 mph). Brown has earned top speed of the meet honors seven times in 13 races this season. Brown has not qualified lower than seventh this year.

"It was a good day," Brown said. "We made two nice laps on Friday to start out here at Seattle. We would have been quicker on the first pass, but it dropped a hole (cylinder) real early on the pass. Our night run was good, we had the big speed again. We can run quicker tomorrow. It'll be cooler on Saturday and I know that Mark (Oswald) and Brian (Corradi) will tune up this Matco Tools dragster for the first run (on Saturday) and I think we can run in the 3.80s."

Professional nitro qualifying is scheduled for 12:30 and 3 p.m. (PT) on Saturday at Pacific Raceways. Brown qualified third last July at the Denver NHRA race at 3.831-seconds. It was his first career start at the Seattle NHRA race.

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, Toyota, SpongeTechR Delivery Systerms, Ringer's Gloves, Go Fast! Sports, Goodyear, FRAM, Autolite, Impact! Racing, Connexions Sports and Entertainment, and Forward Sports Marketing (FSM).

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 http://www.healautismnow.org.

Q1 4.031 ET, 289.33 MPH No. 4
Q2 3.952 ET, 305.84 MPH No. 7

Courtesy of Ted Yerzyk