Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Mike Edwards secure their holds on the No. 1 positions in their respective ladders during Saturday’s final qualifying rounds for the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Eliminations get underway Sunday at 11 a.m. PT.
Brown's Friday pass of 3.780 seconds (320.43 mph) earned him his first No. 1 of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and 33rd of his career. He will face Brandon Bernstein in the first round of eliminations. Clay Millican, Tony Schumacher, Shawn Langdon and Khalid alBalooshi round out the top five in Top Fuel.
“We’re going to put our hats down and hit it hard tomorrow,” said Brown. “We got one win here in 2011, but we’ve been to the final round so many times that it feels like we’re due.”
Hight’s Friday pass of 4.053 seconds (315.19 mph) also held up in Funny Car, giving him his 44th career No. 1 and the fourth at this event. He’ll be up against Jeff Arend in the first round. Courtney Force, Jack Beckman, Johnny Gray and Cruz Pedregon complete the top five.
“It’s been a long 19 races,” said Hight. “It’s been longer than that since we won a race. I’m proud of our car and the way our team worked to get back here. Seeing the elapsed time slips this weekend has been good for the morale of the team.”
Edwards improved on his fast pass from Friday with a pass of 6.642 seconds (208.26 mph) to take his fourth consecutive No. 1 in Pro Stock. Edwards faces Larry Morgan on the first round on Sunday. Allen Johnson, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Rickie Jones and Erica Enders-Stevens have spots two through five on the pro Stock ladder.
Follow Sunday’s action at www.nhra.com and on the NHRA Twitter page.
Quotes in this piece provided by the NHRA.
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