Memphis: Antron Brown Friday notes

BROWN QUALIFIES NINTH FRIDAY AT MEMPHIS IN MATCO TOOLS CAR

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 26, 2008) -- Antron Brown drove his David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster to the provisional No. 9 qualifying position Friday evening at Memphis Motorsports Park with an elapsed time of 3.871-seconds.

The first-year Top Fuel standout raced the Matco Tools rail to the fourth quickest lap of Friday's opening qualifying session as Brown used a tune-up from crew chief Lee Beard to clock a run of 3.915 seconds at 303.30 mph. Friday evening under the lights at the Memphis track, Brown used a burst of 3.871 at 310.05 in the bright blue Matco Tools car to finish in the No. 9 provisional qualifying position. Brown enters the third race in the Countdown to 1 ranked second in the Top Fuel standings trailing points-leader Tony Schumacher by 97 points. Schumacher qualified sixth on Friday evening. Brown's teammate, Rod Fuller, qualified 11th in the Caterpillar dragster at 3.909-seconds.

"We had a good qualifying day," Brown said. "We have a good race set-up with the Matco Tools car. We're looking to make two good runs in the sun on Saturday in real race conditions and this Matco Tools team continues to do great."

Professional nitro qualifying resumes Saturday afternoon at Memphis Motorsports Park with sessions scheduled for Noon and 3 p.m. (CT). Brown won the Memphis NHRA race in 2004 (def. Matt Smith).

-credit: dpm