Reading: Antron Brown preview

Antron Brown on Reading
"I'm really excited to get to Reading (Pa.) and race again at Maple Grove (Raceway) in the fall. It's going to be triple A throwdown conditions and I'm guessing you'll see a lot of people make career-best runs. We learned a lot at Dallas a few weeks back and we're ready to get back on track and go some rounds and make a move in the points."

Brian Corradi (crew chief) on Reading
"We're excited to get back to Reading and a great race track. We gained a lot of confidence in our tune-up at Dallas a few weeks back and we've had some success at Reading. We ran well there last year and qualified first and hopefully we can repeat that this season."

Antron Brown Reading NHRA Notebook
Two weeks ago at Texas Motorplex near Dallas, Brown qualified his Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster fourth at 3.812-seconds. He has qualified in the top half of the field at 18 of 20 races this season. On race day, he defeated racing pioneer Chris "the Greek" Karamesines before falling to Brandon Bernstein in round two, 3.78 to 3.84. Bernstein clocked the quickest elapsed time of his career on the pass. Brown is 0-4 against the second-generation racer this season.

Brown, who grew up attending NHRA races at Maple Grove Raceway has been competing at the Reading, Pa. track since is rookie season in 1998. Brown earned the pole at Maple Grove Raceway in 2004 with a lap of 7.057-seconds and advanced to his only final round at MGR before falling to DSR teammate Angelle Sampey. In 11 tries at the eastern Pennsylvania track, Brown has an average qualifying position of 6.58.

Last August at Maple Grove Raceway, Brown earned his sixth No. 1 qualifying award of the 2009 NHRA season. He earned seven poles last year and paced the Top Fuel field with a lap of 3.854 seconds at 315.71 mph at MGR. On race day, the New Jersey native advanced to the semifinals before falling to 2009 Rookie of the Year Spencer Massey 3.974 to 4.219.

Brown, who won a category-best six races last season, enters the 21st race on the 2010 NHRA schedule ranked seventh in the Countdown to 1 standings. He trails two-time champion Larry Dixon by 221 points. Brown has six final-round appearances this season (Gainesville, Charlotte 1, Houston, Englishtown, Norwalk and Seattle) and five No. 1 qualifiers (Gainesville, Las Vegas 1, Topeka, Bristol and Denver). Last year, Brown had 10 finals and seven poles. His average qualifying position in 20 races this year is 4.55.

-source: dsr