Brown, DeJoria Lead Toyota in Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Qualifying

BRAINERD, MN – Antron Brown qualified sixth in Top Fuel, while Alexis DeJoria placed ninth in Funny Car to lead Toyota in qualifying for Sunday’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.

Brown improved his qualifying time in each of Saturday’s sessions, earning one bonus point in the day’s first session for running the third-quickest time. In the final session, he ran a 3.752-second pass at 328.22, matching Justin Ashley for fifth overall, with Ashley getting the advantage on speed by just .08 mph.

For the second week in a row, Brown will open with fellow Toyota driver Shawn Langdon in round one after Langdon qualified seventh with a 3.774.

Doug Kalitta qualified ninth and will square off with Clay Millican in the first round of eliminations.

DeJoria opened the weekend by running the second-quickest time on Friday with a 3.963 to earn two bonus points, before eventually placing ninth after Saturday’s runs.  She will match up with Blake Alexander on Sunday.

J.R. Todd ran a quick time of 3.970 to earn the 11th spot, setting him up to open with Paul Lee in eliminations.

Sunday’s NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series eliminations will be televised live on FOX at 3:00 p.m. (ET).

Quotes:

Antron Brown, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster: “It was a good day today here at Brainerd. We’ve been working on so many things and we’re looking at turning that corner. We’re real pumped up for race day with the way this Matco dragster ran today. We’ll have a real tough Toyota matchup with Shawn Langdon, again. We always look forward to racing the best. We’ll stay focused and go out there and our car is looking very sporty this weekend. We had two consistent runs today and the track here at Brainerd is very, very good. We’re looking forward to picking up the performance just a bit. We’ll need it against that DHL car. I’m very pleased with the team and what we’re learning and getting prepared for the Countdown (to the Championship).”

Notes:

– Shawn Langdon became the fourth Toyota driver to clinch his berth in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs by qualifying seventh today. He joins Antron Brown in the Top Fuel playoffs, while both J.R. Todd and Alexis DeJoria clinched their spots in Funny Car last weekend in Toyota. Doug Kalitta could clinch his berth in Sunday’s eliminations.