Antron Brown raced his Mike Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster to the No. 6 qualifying position
Saturday at Texas Motorplex in the second of six races in the Countdown to 1 playoff. Brown's best
qualifying lap at the Billy Meyer-owned facility came on Friday evening at 3.878-seconds.
A day after racing to the provisional No. 6 qualifying position with a pass of 3.878 seconds at
314.61 mph Friday evening under the lights at the 24th annual O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall
Nationals, Brown finished in the No. 6 spot racing under sunny skies and a hot race track in the
Lone Star State. On Saturday's first attempt, Brown raced the Matco Tools/Toyota car to a run of
4.673 at 162.84 to remain sixth in the 16-car order. Brown's bright blue Matco Tools/SpongeTech
rail then raced to a performance of 3.973 at 301.27 on its final qualifying attempt as the Matco
Tools flagship driver finished six in the Top Fuel order. There were 19 Top Fuel dragsters
attempting to make the cut for the Dallas race this weekend. Brown now has an average qualifying
position of 3.5 in 20 races this season with seven poles. Brown has now qualified in the top half
of the field at 19 of 20 races with Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald calling the tuning shots for the
Matco-backed rail.
"The last run was really good for our MAR Matco Tools team," Brown said. "That was good for us to
get down the race track in the heat. We haven't raced in hot conditions like we have here at Dallas
since the Western Swing at Sonoma (Calif.) and we did okay there. It dropped a hole (cylinder) on
that pass and still made a strong pass. It's all good. We're excited to go some rounds on Sunday
here at Dallas."
Brown will face off against No. 11 qualifier Terry Haddock in the first round of Top Fuel
eliminations at 11 a.m. (CT) on Sunday at Texas Motorplex. Brown is 1-0 against Haddock this
season. The Matco Tools car raced to a second-round finish at the Dallas race last September.
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 Systems, 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
