Memphis: Antron Brown Friday notes

BROWN RACES TO PROVISIONAL NO. 2 SPOT FRIDAY AT MEMPHIS IN TOYOTA/MATCO TOOLS CAR

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Oct. 2, 2009) - Antron Brown raced his Mike Ashley-owned Toyota/Matco Tools dragter to the third fastest speed in 1,000-foot racing at 318.99 mph en route to earning the provisional No. 2 qualifying Friday evening at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Brown enters the third race in the Countdown to 1 ranked fourth in the NHRA Top Fuel standings trailing Tony Schumacher by 65 points. On his first try at the Memphis strip, Brown used a tune-up from crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald to power the Toyota/Matco Tools dragster to a lap of 3.900 seconds at 312.50. It was the second quickest pass of the session earning Brown two bonus points. On Friday's second qualifying effort, Brown blasted to a lap of 3.836 at 318.99 to post the second quickest pass of the day. The run earned the MAR team another two bonus points. Larry Dixon, who earned the provisional pole at 3.810-seconds, also ran 318.99 mph. Brown is the only driver to exceed 319 mph at 319.75 (Bristol) and 319.22 (Indianpolis).

"Those were two awesome runs for this MAR Matco Tools team," Brown said. "This was great for Toyota and Matco (Tools) and it's great to get things back on track. Our car hauled today on both runs. This is good for our team. We need to get it going again and start going some rounds in the Countdown (to 1). We're not out of this deal yet. And we got four bonus points today and believe me, we're counting those bonus points."

-credit: mar