Qualifying better will be key
Richmond, VA. -- Two weeks ago at Memphis Motorsports Park, Antron Brown qualified his Matco Tools dragster in the No. 9 position at 3.871 seconds. The pitted him against No. 8 qualifier and two-time series champion Larry Dixon. Dixon earned the narrow win posting the quickest lap of the round at 3.877 seconds to Brown’s run of 3.881 in the Matco Tools dragster. It was just Brown’s fourth opening-round loss of the season.
Brown has made a seamless transition from the Pro Stock Motorcycle class to Top Fuel this season. The 18-time NHRA winner became the first racer in NHRA history to win races in both Top Fuel and PSM by winning in his fourth career Top Fuel start (Houston). Brown has two wins in five final rounds this season, along with three poles. He also clocked low E.T. of the meet twice and top speed of the meet three times this year.
“We’re heading into Richmond and we want to go out there and qualify well," said Brown. "We want to qualify in the top five and get a good starting spot. We need to do well and go some rounds for all of our Matco Tools distributors and get back to second in the standings.”
“We need to start qualifying better," agreed crew chief Lee Beard. "That’s been our biggest problem at the last two races. We feel we have a good handle on the tune-up of the Matco Tools car and we want to make the right calls on race day and have a strong showing to improve in the Countdown (to 1) standings.”
The Pro Stock Motorcycle category has not competed at Virginia Motorsports Park since Brown’s rookie season of 1998. In his only appearance a the Richmond race, Brown qualified his Suzuki in the No. 11 position and advanced to the semifinals where he fell to three-time champion Angelle Sampey.
Brown has qualified for 166 consecutive NHRA events and hasn’t missed the cut since the Gainesville race in 1998, his first career race. It is the second longest qualifying streak in the professional ranks (Angelle Sampey—181). He has an average qualifying position of 5.24 this season with three poles.
