Brown’s Third Leads Toyota in NHRA Gatorationals Qualifying
GAINESVILLE, FL – Antron Brown qualified third in Top Fuel with a 3.831-second pass at 320.36 mph to lead Toyota in preparation for 
Sunday’s Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.
Brown jumped to the top of the field with his run in Saturday’s qualifying final session before eventually placing third, just .003 seconds out of the second spot. He will open up Sunday with a match-up against Cameron Ferre.
“The first lap it just dropped a hole (cylinder) at the step and we just shut it off,” said the three-time world champion, who registered his best qualifying result of the season. “The second lap was just what we were looking for with that .83. It puts us in the thick of things right where we want to be at. We always come out and want to qualify in the top three. Tomorrow we’re going to take off like what we did in qualifying and make a good first round lap and take it one round at a time. We’re here at the Gatornationals and we want to have some fun. This is where it all started for me way back in ’98 (in Pro Stock Motorcycle). I remember it like yesterday, the start of my career. And tomorrow we want to get our year started and go some rounds and maybe end up in the winner’s circle. I’m really pumped up and excited.“
Top Fuel point leader Doug Kalitta qualified sixth and will face off with Terry McMillen in round one. His Kalitta Motorsports teammate, Shawn Langdon, who won the most recent NHRA event at the prestigious U.S. Nationals, finished one spot behind in seventh. Langdon will take on Justin Ashley in a match-up of two of the top six in the Top Fuel point standings.
Tony Schumacher was unable to make it out for the final round of qualifying and fell to 13th and will race against Steve Torrence in round one.
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria’s Toyota Camry ran the third-quickest pass of today’s second session with a 4.088, jumping up to fifth overall. She’ll face Jim Campbell in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday. In placing fifth, DeJoria matches her top qualifying showing of the year.
J.R. Todd qualified seventh and will face Tommy Johnson in round one in a match-up with major championship implications as Todd enters the weekend fourth in points, just one spot behind Johnson.
Sunday’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations will be televised on FS1 beginning at 2:00 p.m. (ET).
Toyota NHRA Gatornationals Qualifying
Funny Car – Qualified/1st Round Opponent – Quick Time/MPH (Bonus Points)
Alexis DeJoria – 5th/Campbell – 4.088/269.67 (1)
J.R. Todd – 7th/Johnson – 4.107/308.64
Top Fuel- Qualified/1st Round Opponent – Quick Time (Bonus Points)
Antron Brown – 3rd/Ferre – 3.831/320.36 (1)
Doug Kalitta – 6th/McMillen – 3.869/313.19
Shawn Langdon –7th/Ashley – 3.880/315.93
Tony Schumacher – 13th/S. Torrence – 5.391/127.68
