GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 7, 2025) – Four-time and defending Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown powered to the first provisional pole of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season on Friday night at the NHRA Gatornationals.
Under the Gainesville Raceway lights, Brown took his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster to the No. 1 spot when he powered to a 3.685-second at 334.24 mph pass during the second qualifying session at the series’ season opener. Top Fuel pilot Tripp Tatum also recorded a 3.685-second pass, but Brown edged past to move to the top of the timing sheets thanks to outpacing Tatum’s speed of 326.56 mph.
“This is our brand-new car that we had in Bradenton (Fla.) from the PRO Superstar Shootout that got messed up when we cut a tire,” said Brown. “We put a new front and back half on it. We weren’t trying to go out there and kill it. We knew the track could hold a 64 or 65, 66, anywhere in the mid-3.60 range. We just wanted to get high up in the top half of the field, that was our goal. We didn’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot. It felt smooth all the way down, didn’t try to drift left or right, just went straight as an arrow. I got to the finish line, shut it off, and saw that 68 on the board, and I thought okay, that’s a good, solid run. We’ve got a good starting point.
“We were one of the first teams to run, and we had all those heavy hitters back there. You’ve got Brittany (Force), you’ve got (Steve) Torrence; Tripp Tatum threw down a stout run, we just nipped him on the mile-per-hour. As the cars were going down the track, I saw my teammate Shawn Reed go 69, I saw half the field run in the 60s. That just shows you how mean this field is right now, and it’s only going to get tougher, but it felt good that we held everyone off and my hats off to my crew chief Brian Corradi, Brad Mason, and our whole Matco Tools team. We did like we always do. We wanted to come in and qualify in the top half of the field, ideally in the top three. That’s what our goal is each and every weekend, and between here and Bradenton, we’ve done that so far.”
With two more qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday, Brown will play defense as he prepares to maintain his No. 1 position. If he can stave off the competition, he will score his 51st career pole and third at Gainesville Raceway. The fourth-year team owner will also attempt to clinch his second consecutive Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout win on Saturday after having won the specialty ‘race within a race’ in 2024. He will face former Top Fuel world champ Shawn Langdon in round one of the Callout, which will be contested during the day’s first qualifying round, scheduled for 12:15 p.m. local time.
Brown, a six-time winner in 2024, has one prior win at the facility where he made his NHRA debut aboard a Pro Stock Motorcycle in 1998.
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Under the Gainesville Raceway lights, Brown took his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster to the No. 1 spot when he powered to a 3.685-second at 334.24 mph pass during the second qualifying session at the series’ season opener. Top Fuel pilot Tripp Tatum also recorded a 3.685-second pass, but Brown edged past to move to the top of the timing sheets thanks to outpacing Tatum’s speed of 326.56 mph.
“This is our brand-new car that we had in Bradenton (Fla.) from the PRO Superstar Shootout that got messed up when we cut a tire,” said Brown. “We put a new front and back half on it. We weren’t trying to go out there and kill it. We knew the track could hold a 64 or 65, 66, anywhere in the mid-3.60 range. We just wanted to get high up in the top half of the field, that was our goal. We didn’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot. It felt smooth all the way down, didn’t try to drift left or right, just went straight as an arrow. I got to the finish line, shut it off, and saw that 68 on the board, and I thought okay, that’s a good, solid run. We’ve got a good starting point.
“We were one of the first teams to run, and we had all those heavy hitters back there. You’ve got Brittany (Force), you’ve got (Steve) Torrence; Tripp Tatum threw down a stout run, we just nipped him on the mile-per-hour. As the cars were going down the track, I saw my teammate Shawn Reed go 69, I saw half the field run in the 60s. That just shows you how mean this field is right now, and it’s only going to get tougher, but it felt good that we held everyone off and my hats off to my crew chief Brian Corradi, Brad Mason, and our whole Matco Tools team. We did like we always do. We wanted to come in and qualify in the top half of the field, ideally in the top three. That’s what our goal is each and every weekend, and between here and Bradenton, we’ve done that so far.”
With two more qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday, Brown will play defense as he prepares to maintain his No. 1 position. If he can stave off the competition, he will score his 51st career pole and third at Gainesville Raceway. The fourth-year team owner will also attempt to clinch his second consecutive Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout win on Saturday after having won the specialty ‘race within a race’ in 2024. He will face former Top Fuel world champ Shawn Langdon in round one of the Callout, which will be contested during the day’s first qualifying round, scheduled for 12:15 p.m. local time.
Brown, a six-time winner in 2024, has one prior win at the facility where he made his NHRA debut aboard a Pro Stock Motorcycle in 1998.
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