Las Vegas II: Antron Brown Friday notes

BROWN RUNS TO PROVISIONAL NO. 2 SPOT FRIDAY AT LAS VEGAS

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 31, 2008) -- Antron Brown raced his Matco Tools dragster to the provisional No. 2 qualifying position Friday evening at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a blistering lap of 3.812-seconds to finish in the provisional No. 2 qualifying position.

Brown, who posted a runner-up finish at The Strip at LVMS this April (to Cory McClenathan), opened qualifying by racing his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to a pass of 3.985 seconds at 300.40 mph. That placed the 18-time NHRA winner eighth after the first of four scheduled qualifying sessions. Friday evening under the lights at the Bruton Smith-owned facility, Brown used a tune-up from crew chief Lee Beard to power the bright blue Matco-backed rail to a lap of 3.812 at 315.49, finishing second in the order. The Alan Johnson-tuned U.S. Army dragster earned the provisional pole at 3.781-seconds. Brown, who has 34 round wins this season, looks to qualify for his 168th consecutive race. It is the second longest professional qualifying streak (Angelle Sampey). Brown has qualified second once this season (Joliet, Ill.).

"That was an awesome run," Brown said. "Lee (Beard) and my guys tuned up this Matco Tools dragster. I love racing here in (Las) Vegas. We went the final round in the spring and we want to get back to that final round and get back to second in the points. This is a good way to start the weekend. We're not too far behind that U.S. Army dragster."

Professional nitro qualifying resumes Saturday afternoon at The Strip Las Vegas Motor Speedway with sessions scheduled for 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. (PT).

-credit: dpm