Antron Brown, who looks to become the fifth Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to sweep the grueling
Western Swing this weekend at Infineon Raceway, raced his Mike Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster to
the provisional No. 4 qualifying position Friday evening at the Bruton Smith-owned Sonoma facility.
Brown enters the 15th race on the 2009 NHRA schedule coming off consecutive wins at the Denver and
Seattle races. The 22-time NHRA winner owns a 137-point lead over six-time series champion Tony
Schumacher in the Top Fuel standings. Brown, who has four wins this season in a category-best seven
final rounds, opened qualifying at the 22nd annual FRAM-Autolite Nationals with a lap of 3.956
seconds at 304.39 mph placing him fourth in the 16-car order. On Friday's second qualifying
attempt, Brown used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to power the Matco
Tools/Toyota dragster to a pass of 3.844 at 311.05 to earn the provisional No. 4 qualifying
position. Brown, who has five poles this season, has not qualified fourth this year.
"We made two good runs today," Brown said. "Any time you can be in the top four, you're doing
something right. Our goal is to stay consistent and go down the race track and put ourselves in a
position to do well. Mark (Oswald) and Brian (Corradi) have a great handle on our Matco Tools
dragster and we're excited about working on the race day setup on Saturday afternoon."
Professional nitro qualifying is scheduled for 12:30 and 3 p.m. (PT) on Saturday afternoon at
Infineon Raceway. Top Fuel will run first followed by Funny Car. Brown earned the the No. 1
qualifying award the the Sonoma NHRA race last July with an elapsed time of 3.805-seconds. It was
his quickest 1,000-foot pass of the 2008 NHRA season. He is a two-time Pro Stock Motorcycle
finalist at Infineon Raceway.
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 www.healautismnow.org
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Q1 3.956 ET, 304.39 MPH No. 4
Q2 3.844 ET, 311.05 MPH No. 4
