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Baytown: Antron Brown preview

Antron Brown on Houston "Our Matco Tools dragster is running great, we just have to get passed this second round jinx. Lee (Beard) has the car haulin' in qualifying. He's done well at Houston, so I think this could be the race where we go some ...

Antron Brown on Houston

"Our Matco Tools dragster is running great, we just have to get passed this second round jinx. Lee (Beard) has the car haulin' in qualifying. He's done well at Houston, so I think this could be the race where we go some rounds on race day."

Lee Beard (crew chief) on Houston

"We're excited to go to a track we've been successful at in the past. We're hoping that Houston is the breakout race for us and we can help give Antron (Brown) his first win as a Top Fuel driver."

Brown Houston Notebook

Brown enters the fourth race on the 24-race 2008 NHRA schedule ranked fifth in the Top Fuel standings with 167 points. He earned the pole at the season-opening Winternationals, the 12th of his career, and hasn't qualified lower than fifth this season. Brown has advanced to the quarterfinals at each of the first three races.

Brown qualified sixth at Houston Raceway Park last spring with a pass of 7.043 seconds at 190.67 mph on his Suzuki. He advanced to the second round before fouling out against Tom Bradford.

In 10 career races at Houston Raceway Park, Brown has an average qualifying position of 3.8 on his Suzukis. He earned the pole at the Baytown track in 2001 with a run of 7.167, 187.23.

Brown has qualified for 148 consecutive NHRA events. He hasn't missed the cut since the Gainesville race in 1998 after being disqualified for bad fuel at his first career race. It is the second longest qualifying streak in the professional ranks (Angelle Sampey--167).

Brown became the eighth different driver that crew chief Lee Beard has tuned to the pole award. It was Beard's 56th No. 1 qualifier.

Beard is a two-time winner at Houston Raceway Park: 1993 (Ed McCulloch) and 1989 (Gary Ormsby). He also has five poles at the Baytown track with four different drivers (Whit Bazemore, Kenny Bernstein, McCulloch and Ormsby).

-credit: dpm

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