BROWN TOP TOYOTA IN ATLANTA NHRA QUALIFYING

PLANO, TX – Antron Brown placed third in Top Fuel as the highest qualifying Toyota for the Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals at a sold-out Atlanta Dragway, Saturday.

The three-time world champion’s performance marked the sixth time in seven races this season that he has qualified in the top three. After Friday’s sessions were washed out, Brown placed second in Saturday’s first run and third in the final qualifying session to earn bonus points for each pass. He enters Sunday’s eliminations looking for his fifth Atlanta victory.

Doug Kalitta qualified fifth to make it two Toyota Top Fuel cars in the top five, while Shawn Langdon placed seventh and Troy Coughlin came in at number 14. Coughlin will match up with Brown in Sunday’s opening round.

In Funny Car, Chad Head, filling in for Alexis DeJoria for the second consecutive week, was the top Camry qualifier in both sessions. Head placed fourth in the day’s opening run and finished eighth overall. Head and pole-sitter Courtney Force were the only two Funny Car drivers to make it down the track in 4.02 seconds or better in both runs.

Del Worsham placed 12th, with J.R. Todd in 13th and Cruz Pedregon in 15th as none of the three were able to make a clean pass in the difficult track conditions.

Today’s qualifying can be seen tonight on FS1 at 1:00 a.m., while Sunday’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. (EDT) on FS1.