TOYOTA’S BROWN MOVES INTO TOP FUEL POINT LEAD WITH RUNNER-UP SHOWING IN ENGLISHTOWN

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – Antron Brown took over the Top Fuel point lead by advancing to the finals in his Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota dragster in today’s NHRA Summernationals at the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.

Brown reached his fifth final round in the last eight races before falling to Steve Torrence when he had a hole out when he stepped on the throttle. He had earlier defeated Blake Alexander and Brittany Force to set up the match-up with Torrence.  Brown, who earned his first pole position of the season on Saturday with a record-setting run, is now seven points ahead of Torrence in the points chase.

“We had a great weekend coming home to Englishtown,” said Brown. “We qualified number one and then we had a great E.T. in the first lap and then we ran low E.T. of the semi-finals. Going into the finals, we just put it in ‘rinse and repeat.’  We knew we had a great car and it was a bummer. We dropped a hole at the step of the throttle.  That’s what happens when you’re running these types of conditions.  We learned a lot that we can apply for future races in the heat.

“We only have two wins right now, but we should have a lot more, but the finals didn’t go our way. The key is we’re going rounds and that’s what wins championships. We’re heading in the right direction and we’re improving every weekend. It was hilarious because people were making comments that we’re a consistent car, but we’re not the quickest car, so this weekend it was good to come out here and qualify number one and go some rounds and take over the point lead. So we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and let the results speak for themselves.”

Doug Kalitta also had strong day in Top Fuel, reaching his fifth semi-final of the season with victories over Dom Lagana and Tony Schumacher before falling to Torrence.  Kalitta registered the quickest pass of race day with a 3.762-second run as temperatures climbed into the 90s.

The day didn’t go as well for Kalitta’s teammates as Shawn Langdon and Troy Coughlin both lost in round one.

In Funny Car, both Cruz Pedregon and Alexis DeJoria advanced to the second round with each having a trip to the semi-finals narrowly slip away.  After defeating John Force in the opening round, Pedregon lost to Jack Beckman, 4.285-4.286, while DeJoria had Funny Car point leader Ron Capps beaten before a hole out pushed her car across the center line resulting in a disqualification. She had knocked off Tim Wilkerson in round one. Pedregon, who qualified fifth on Saturday, has now climbed to 11th in the Funny Car point standings, just seven points out of the final berth in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Both Del Worsham and J.R. Todd were eliminated in the opening round.

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is back in action next weekend at the Bristol Dragway for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, June 16-18.