Qualified: No. 3 (3.789 E.T. at 325.45 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.803 E.T. at 326.00 MPH defeated Luigi Novelli 4.460 E.T. at 187.08 MPH
E2: 3.768 E.T. at 329.58 MPH defeated Brittany Force 3.746 E.T. at 326.24 MPH
E3: 3.733 E.T. at 323.97 MPH defeated Steve Torrence 3.753 E.T. at 330.88 MPH
E4: 3.751 E.T. at 329.10 MPH defeated by Billy Torrence 3.756 E.T. at 329.99 MPH
Race Recap:
The most recent Top Fuel winner on tour looked poised to make it two-in-a-row this weekend at Brainerd International Raceway. Brown kicked off a strong points weekend by qualifying third with his session-best Q2 pass.
The driver of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota Top Fuel machine began his Sunday with a round-one win against Luigi Novelli. In his round-two matchup with reigning champ Brittany Force, Brown was first off of the starting line and held on for the holeshot win.
Up next was Steve Torrence, and once again, Brown left first. His 0.043-second reaction time paired with a best-of-event 3.733-second pass earned the round win for the five-time BIR champion and pitted him opposite his semifinal opponent’s father in the final round.
In his 121st final round and third of 2018, Brown squared off against Billy Torrence in an exciting side-by-side race. Unfortunately, Torrence’s slight starting line advantage enabled him to trigger the win lights before Brown.
Quotable:
“(In the finals) We just did the same light we had been running and Billy stepped up and turned a good light and ran a great lap and won it by three thousandth of a second. You can’t hold your head down for that. Our main focus right now is that we’ve been to two finals back-to-back. We won a race and we are definitely peaking at the right time. We’re only going to get better from here on out. We ran low E.T. of the whole event in the semis. We’re just going to keep building off that. We have the biggest race of the regular season coming up in Indy, and we’re going to test beforehand. We are really looking forward to the U.S. Nationals. We’re also hoping to pick up some more playoff spots with points-and-a-half being awarded at Indy. Now we just need to keep running strong and when we get to the Countdown, we’re definitely going to be competing at a high level for that championship. I couldn’t be prouder of all my Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota guys for all the hard work they’ve put in. It’s great to see everything coming to fruition for all of us together. I’m stoked.”