Toyota Gazoo Racing North America NHRA Brainerd Post-Qualifying Report – 08.17.24

TORRENCE CLAIMS NO. 1 QUALIFIER AT BRAINERD; THE 40TH OF HIS CAREER
Antron Brown captures Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 17, 2024) – For the third time this season and the 40th time in his legendary NHRA career, Steve Torrence claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot heading into tomorrow’s eliminations at Brainerd International Raceway. Amid cool conditions during the Friday night qualifying session, Torrence powered his CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster to a 3.688 elapsed time, which tied with Tony Stewart by the night’s end. Because Torrence had the faster speed (335.32mph) on his run, he earned the No. 1 qualifier. Torrence’s strong qualifying is the fifth consecutive No. 1 qualifier for Toyota in Top Fuel.

Additionally in Top Fuel, Doug Kalitta claimed the fourth overall qualifier and Shawn Langdon is the No. 5 seed. Antron Brown captured the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win Saturday evening, defeating Torrence for his second challenge win of the season. The challenge triumph by Brown is Toyota’s fourth-consecutive win in the challenge and its eighth overall this season in in the Top Fuel category.

In Funny Car, Ron Capps earned the No. 4 qualifying spot, posting a 3.881 time on the Saturday evening session. Alexis DeJoria qualified 5th and J.R. Tood will be the No. 9 seed tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s eliminations at Brainerd International Raceway begin at 11:30 a.m. EST with live TV coverage beginning at 3 p.m. EST on FOX.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
Brainerd International Raceway
Race 13 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

STEVE TORRENCE, CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing

TF Qualifying Result: 1st

How were your runs on track today knowing how strong you were last night?

“Yeah, we had two good runs yesterday and one this morning. That one there (last run), chalk it up to a mechanical failure. Went out and broke the rear end and unfortunately, we threw a monkey wrench to the rest of the day with the cars behind us, so we apologize about that. Otherwise, really confident and feel good about the race car I have right now. This probably the most consistent it’s been in quite a while, so we’ll just go back and fix it and get it ready for tomorrow and see what we can do. We need to go four rounds.”

Do you feel the intensity of competition changing as we near the Countdown to the Championship?

“For certain, this is the time you get up on your A-game and start to go win a championship. We have here (Brainerd) and Indianapolis left, and then everyone will be swinging as hard as they can to try to go out and win a championship. We’re right in the thick of things and need to capitalize on every opportunity that we have to stay a top-three car and start the Countdown strong.”

ANTRON BROWN, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, AB Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 11th

How does it feel to have one win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge already this weekend heading into tomorrow?

“Absolutely! The thing about is, you always go to be good on Saturday night as we go out there and party in ‘The Zoo’ a little bit, but we keep it under cover. Not too late, go have some fun with the people and fans, but we get to bed early tonight and come out early tomorrow morning. The weather will be right and tight in the morning, first pass at 10:30 a.m. We have to go out there and let it burn, man. Have them Goodyears stay hooked up and try to turn on win lights. That’s what it’s all about. I got a great team to do that with.”

RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 4th

“Yeah, I talk a lot about being able to adapt and it’s huge in drag racing. These crew chiefs are, in my eyes, are gods to watch the way they can adapt to the changes and conditions. And today, the swing with the oil down in front of everybody, nobody went back to the pit area and normally, you go back and change compression and do a lot of things. That last session, Guido (Dean Antonelli, crew chief) and Jimmy Prock (crew-chief, Austin Prock), I’m sure made major changes and things they normally don’t to run that well. And Guido almost called it on a button, said we were going to run a 3.87 or 3.88 and sure enough, it did. It’s all about adapting and it’s why I love this team so much, they’re so good at it. So, our NAPA Auto Care guys obviously did a great job getting the car ready. The reward is, the defending world champion, Matt Hagan, in the first round. It is what it is. We do get lane choice, but that’s not a car you ever want to race Sunday morning. And I’m sure we’ll be the marquee matchup once again.”

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