Dallas: Antron Brown Friday notes

BROWN RACES MATCO DRAGSTER TO NO. 10 SPOT FRIDAY AT DALLAS

ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 19, 2008) -- Antron Brown drove his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to the provisional No. 10 qualifying position Friday evening at Texas Motorplex at 3.897-seconds.

Brown, who enters the second race in the Countdown to 1 ranked second in the NHRA Top Fuel standings, used a solid tune-up from crew chief Lee Beard to race the Matco Tools car to the fourth quickest pass of Friday's opening qualifying session. Brown's bright blue dragster clocked a pass of 3.897 seconds at 309.06 mph. On Friday's second session, under the lights at Texas Motorplex, a Billy Meyer-owned facility, Brown's Matco-backed rail overpowered the race track as the two-time Top Fuel winner pedaled to a run of 4.936 at 155.31. He sits in the provisional No. 10 qualifying position.

"We made a really good opening run with this Matco Tools car," Brown said. "That allowed us to really stand on it for the night run and the track just didn't hold it. That happened a lot. My teammate, Hot Rod (Fuller), didn't make it and the U.S. Army car smoked the tires too. We're ok. The night run is just for show. We'll make some good runs on Saturday and get this Matco car in the top half of the field."

Professional nitro qualifying resumes Saturday afternoon at Texas Motorplex with sessions scheduled for Noon and 3:15 p.m. (ET). Brown earned his first career NHRA win at Texas Motorplex in 1999 (def. Angelle Sampey).

-credit: dpm