Brown edges DSR teammate for provisional pole at Bristol

Brown edges DSR teammate for provisional pole going into last day of NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals qualifying

BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 15, 2012) - On a sunbaked Friday and near perfect evening in Bristol Dragway's picturesque Tennessee valley, each of the seven Don Schumacher Racing teams qualified in the top half of their respective categories in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

The DSR "super team" was led by Antron Brown, whose Aaron's Dream Machine/Matco Tools dragster took the Top Fuel provisional pole with a run of 3.814 seconds at 323.12 mph. Brown, whose dragster is tuned by crew chiefs Mark Oswald and Brian Corradi, also posted the fastest speed of the day.

Brown, and teammate Tony Schumacher in the U.S. Army dragster were the final pair to go down the track and Brown just edged Schumacher for the provisional pole. Schumacher was a whisker slower at 3.822 (320.66).

Spencer Massey, the current Top Fuel points leader, is seventh for DSR's FRAM/Prestone team (3.844).

The four DSR Funny Cars were led by Jack Beckman, whose Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T tuned by crew chief Todd Smith was the best for DSR in both qualifying sessions. Beckman's best run of 4.077 (310.13) in the night session earned him the No. 3 provisional qualifying position.

Within the DSR camp, Ron Capps' NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge is qualified fourth, Mopar/Aaron's Matt Hagan is sixth and NTB/Service Central's Johnny Gray, who won the last NHRA event, is eighth.