Qualified: No. 12 (3.832 E.T. at 322.96 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 4.254 E.T. at 301.07 MPH defeated by Leah Pritchett 4.060 E.T. at 304.39 MPH
Race Recap:
Antron Brown has been a final round contender at the NHRA Heartland Nationals for the past two years in a row. The defending event champion started race day with a tough draw against his Army Racing teammate Leah Pritchett en route to what he had hoped would be his first win of 2018 and 50th of his Top Fuel career.
Brown and Pritchett were machine-like off of the starting line, with 0.048 and 0.047-second reaction times, respectively. Tricky track conditions gave way to a pedalfest with both drivers skillfully stepping on and off the throttle in an effort to get their rails to regain traction. Pritchett was able to recover first and crossed the finish line before Brown.
Quotable:
“We went out there and we just shook. The track was tricky in that right lane and we just knew going in that it was going to be all about lane choice. We didn’t have lane choice. It was still good enough to get the race win because (the Schumacher Electric team) struggled in the left lane, but (Leah Pritchett) just did a better job getting back on it quicker than I did. Hey, that’s how this racing is going right now. We’re just going to keep working.
“We’ll go back and get ready for our next race and try to do a test session in Indy between now and then. We’ll come out with our guns blazing. We’ll keep our heads down and keep on working and just get our car back on track where we need it to be. That’s our main focus right now.
“We made some strides here. I pedaled the car and it did not tear up, it did not blow up. We made three of four qualifying runs down the track, so we’re making progress. Are we where we want to be? No. So, let’s just go ahead and keep working hard until we get to where we want to be.”