Qualified: No. 9 (4.030 E.T. at 309.42 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 4.046 E.T. at 293.22 MPH defeated by Greg Carrillo 3.860 E.T. at 316.23 MPH
Race Recap:
A two-time winner in the previous eight events, Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/Toyota Top Fuel team were seeking to celebrate crew chief Brian Corradi’s 25th NHRA anniversary weekend with a win at the facility where Corradi got his professional start in 1996.
After qualifying ninth, Brown faced Greg Carrillo in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday morning. The three-time Denver winner nabbed the starting line advantage but encountered issues early on, while Carrillo pulled ahead into the lead by the time they drove past the tree, never trailing for the win. Brown maintains his No. 2 ranking heading to Sonoma Raceway, the next stop on the NHRA Camping World Series tour.
Quotable:
“Not the Denver outing we wanted. ‘Thunder mountain’ kicked our butts this year. We’ve finished on top of it numerous times, but this year it was just tricky for our whole Matco Tools team. Denver is definitely the most challenging stop on the tour with the altitude, but we learned a lot this weekend, and we’ll have a game plan and be right and correct to conquer the mountain next year.
“We’re going to suck it up, we’ve still got two more races of this Western Swing with Sonoma and Pomona coming up, so we’re going to get our car back together, get it re-set for sea-level racing, and prepare for those races. As always, qualifying well is our first order of business, and then we’ll focus on taking it one round at a time.”