Antron Brown officially secured his place in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship during qualifying at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals before racing the Matco Tools Eagle Experience team to a second-round finish Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway.
Brown, a six-time Brainerd winner across Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle, opened qualifying Friday afternoon with a 3.864-second pass at 318.47 mph to move into the provisional No. 9 position. The four-time Top Fuel world champion returned for the second session and powered straight down the racing surface to record a 3.763-secondpass at 330.55 mph, moving into the top half of the field.
Saturday’s third qualifying session also served as the opening round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Brown lined up against Doug Kalitta in a rematch of their semifinal meeting at the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals. Brown’s Matco Tools dragster lost traction early, and he shut it off before coasting across the finish line in 5.910 seconds at 114.23 mph, while Kalitta powered to a 3.673 at 332.26 to advance in the specialty race.
Brown closed qualifying with a consistent 3.775-second pass at 325.45 mph and secured the No. 8 starting position based on his Friday-night run.
In Sunday’s opening round, Brown faced Tony Schumacher. Schumacher held a slight starting-line advantage, but Brown powered past him with a 3.776-second run at 330.63 mph to earn the round win and advance to a second-round meeting with Kalitta.
Brown was first off the starting line against Kalitta, gaining a .015-second advantage at the hit. Kalitta pulled ahead by the 330-foot mark and maintained the lead through the finish, winning with a 3.742 at 326.56 mph. Brown followed with a 3.796 at 322.81 mph.
“Well, the good is that we made it to the second round and qualified in the top half, but we definitely want to do better,” said Brown. “We came here wanting to be a little more aggressive and try some things we’ve been wanting to put in the car. We have one more race before the Countdown starts, so the main thing is continuing to get better. We know where we need to be.
“We have to keep our heads down and keep rolling, doing what we do. Indy is anybody’s race. We’ll have five rounds of qualifying, and we’re going to let it rip like a potato chip. I’m getting really excited,” Brown said.
Brown and the Matco Tools team will now turn their attention to the 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, Sept. 2-7 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The sport’s most prestigious event will serve as the final race of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series regular season before the Countdown to the Championship begins.
