Antron Brown raced his Mike Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster to the provisional No. 3 qualifying
position Saturday evening at O'Reilly Raceway Park. The current NHRA Top Fuel point's leader used
an elapsed time of 3.852-seconds to clock the third quickest pass of qualifying at the 55th annual
U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.
Brown, a two-time U.S. Nationals Pro Stock Motorcycle winner, entered the day in the No. 5
qualifying position after running 3.912 seconds at 306.75 mph Friday evening under the lights at
the historic Indianapolis drag strip. On Saturday's first attempt, Brown's bright blue Matco
Tools/SpongeTech rail overpowered the track and slowed to a lap of 4.887 at 147.29. Brown then used
a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to blast the Matco-backed car to a
performance of 3.852 at 314.39 mph to finish third in the 16-car order. It was the third fastest
run of Top Fuel for the fastest racer in 1,000-foot racing (319.75 mph). Brown's average qualifying
position in 17 races this season is 3.59. Larry Dixon earned the provisional pole at 3.850-seconds
and Cory McClenathan, a Matco Tools Racing driver, was second at 3.851.
"That was a good run," Brown said. "I'm glad we were in the left lane for that night run. We just
missed it by a couple of thousandths (of-a-second). Brian (Corradi) was teasing me saying I should
have staged just a little bit shallower, but it's all good for this MAR Matco Tools team. We're
solidly in the show and we can work on our race day setup in the sun on Sunday. This team is ready
to win another race."
Professional nitro qualifying is scheduled for 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday at O'Reilly
Raceway Park. Funny Car will run first followed by Top Fuel. Brown raced his Matco Tools dragster
to a semifinal finish at the U.S. Nationals last September after qualifying eighth at
3.878-seconds.
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.
