BROWN PACES TOYOTA IN QUALIFYING FOR ROUTE 66 NATIONALS
JOLIET, IL – Antron Brown qualified second in Top Fuel to lead Toyota in preparation for Sunday’s Route 66 NHRA 
Nationals at the Route 66 Raceway in suburban Chicago.
Brown ran a 3.753-second pass at 320.74 mph on Friday night to secure the second starting position and then followed that up with the quickest run of the day on Saturday with a 3.715/328.14 mph. The three-time world champion has advanced to the finals twice in the last four events. He will open Sunday’s eliminations with Brittany Force.
“These Matco Toyota boys have done a great job,” said Brown, who matched his best qualifying effort of the season. “They’ve just kept grinding and we keep improving each week. Tomorrow is going to be a challenge with the conditions changing, but we’ll just stay focused and try to go rounds. We have a tough first-round match-up with Brittany Force, but there are no easy match-ups in Top Fuel.”
Rounding out the Toyota Top Fuel contingent, Doug Kalitta qualified fifth with a 3.764 and will square off with Shawn Reed in the first round, while Richie Crampton ran his best pass of the weekend in round four to jump up to 11th. He faces Austin Prock in round one.
A long rain delay pushed the scheduled afternoon Funny Car session into the evening and resulted in major changes in the field. Leading the way for Toyota was Shawn Langdon, who ran a career-best 3.896 at 332.84 mph on the way to a season-best fourth in his Camry. It marks the fourth straight race that he’s qualified in the top six. He will race Jeff Around in round one.
Langdon’s Kalitta Motorsports teammate J.R. Todd ran the quickest time of Friday night’s session to place second heading into Saturday, but eventually slipped back to sixth during the late session despite running his quickest pass of the weekend at 3.904. He will take on John Force in Sunday’s eliminations.
Four of the five Toyota-sponsored drivers earned bonus points for qualifying in the top three of a session with Brown leading the way with five points, followed by Todd with three, Kalitta with two and Langdon with one.
Tonight’s qualifying will air Sunday on FS1 at 11:30 a.m., while tomorrow’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations will be televised on FS1 beginning at 5:30 p.m. (EDT).
