It took four qualifying tries, but Antron Brown makes it to the number 1 spot.

Brown, Matco Tools team shoots to second straight pole
at Las Vegas spring race, look for efficient Sunday in eliminations

LAS VEGAS (March 29, 2014) - Antron Brown and his Matco Tools Top Fuel team would like to extend at winning streak at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday after championship eliminations of the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals.

And they took a step toward that by winning their second straight pole in the Las Vegas Spring race and 35th of his career.

Antron used his last of four qualifying runs to earn his first No. 1 qualifying spot in the past 13 events going back to last year's U.S. Nationals a few miles from his home in Pittsboro, Ind. His best run was 3.768 seconds at 325.14 mph, which is the fastest through two days of qualifying.

"Our class right now is just incredible," said Antron, who has owns 42 NHRA titles. "I saw the ignition box come out, the Matco guys went into the (electronic) management box with the clutch flows, the fuel flows and everything started changing and I said 'Uh-oh, here we go, this is when it gets good.'

The Matco Tools team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with car chief Brad Mason and the Matco crew produced a consistent dragster at Las Vegas and they continue to be the hottest Top Fueler over the past seven Mello Yello events.

After advancing to last spring's championship round, the Matco team returned in the fall to win the event title.

"We are truly blessed to have the team we have. It's going to be a fight like this all year long. You don't have to be the fastest car, you have to be the most efficient car. I think we have our stuff together to go out there on Sunday and get the job done with the Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota car.

"We want to be efficient and efficiency pays off. We just want to be there. We want to run strong each round. So that's our goal this year, to be more efficient. Our deal is we just want to get better week in and week out."

TOP FUEL
No. 1 Qualifier: Antron Brown (DSR), 3.768 sec., 325.14 mph

ANTRON BROWN, Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 1
CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATIONS
First Round: BROWN vs. Mike Strasburg
QUALIFYING
FRIDAY: 4.579 sec., 166.39 mph, (Session 1); 3.797, 322.96, (Session 2)
SATURDAY: 3.816, 320.97, (Session 3); 3.768, 325.14 (Session 4)
 

About Matco Tools

            Since 1979, the mission of Matco Tools has been to provide professional mechanics and auto enthusiasts with all of the premium tools, storage and equipment they need to get the job done, while also offering best-in-class service and customer support. The company's network of 1,500 premier independent mobile distributors is focused on developing and maintaining trust-based relationships with its customers and has increased its revenues by an average of 8% in each of the last three years. Ranked among the top 30 in Entrepreneur Magazine's 2014 Franchise 500®, the company continues to expand throughout the United States and Canada, adding several hundred mobile stores each year.  For more information, please visit www.MatcoTools.com.

About Don Schumacher Racing

     Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields seven professional NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the 2012 NHRA Top Fuel world champion Matco Tools dragster driven by Antron Brown and the Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster driven by Spencer Massey; and in Funny Car, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Valvoline MaxLife Dodge Charger R/T, 2011 world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots Dodge, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.

     DSR has won 220 NHRA national event titles and 11 world championships.