MORRISON, Colo. – Antron Brown met his Matco Tools team at Bandimere Speedway and was introduced to his newest associate.
The latest addition to the Don Schumacher Racing team has been stellar so far at the track on the Rocky Mountains near Denver.
The newcomer is the latest Top Fuel chassis built by the talented fabricators at DSR headquarters near Indianapolis, and put together by the Matco team led by assistant crew chief Brad Mason for crew chiefs Mark Oswald and Brian Corradi.
“The new car is great,” Brown said. “This is a great place to shake it down because everything is so different in the high altitude. It’s been shining so far. We’ve just been fighting off a few new gremlins. It’s been good. I think we’re going to be ready for race day tomorrow.”
“Today was a tough day. The thing about it is we are just getting our bearings right for tomorrow. Our car made really nice early numbers on the last lap, and I feel confident. I’ve been in the (racecar) transporter with Brian, Mark and the boys and we’ve talked about it and are just going to slow it up a little bit on Sunday. We should be right where we need to be. The car was on pace to run like it did Friday night and that was just a little bit too fast for today’s hotter conditions.”
The Matco dragster qualified No. 2 and in the first round will face Rob Passey, a part-time racer who qualified 15th.
The only dragster faster than Brown’s was the one driven by teammate and points leader Spencer Massey, who also is driving a new DSR car for the first time.
The following are qualifying results and notes:
Antron Brown, Matco Tools DSR dragster
Qualified: No. 2
First round opponent: Rob Passey
FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 4.073 sec., 304.19 mph
Session 2: 3.923, 305.98
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 3: 4.644, 179.44
Session 4: 4.449, 190.22
DENVER NITRO SCHEDULE
SUNDAY: 11 a.m., championship eliminations
ON ESPN2
SUNDAY: 7-10 p.m. (ET), delayed
WEATHER.COM FORECAST
Sunday: High of 91; 30 percent of rain showers