Antron Brown drove his Mike Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster to a runner-up finish and regained the Top Fuel points lead following 10 of 24 races on the 2009 NHRA schedule.

A day after earning his fourth No.1 qualifying award of the season and 18th career pole, Brown defeated veteran racer Luigi Novelli, former teammate Hot Rod Fuller, and longtime Matco Tools Racing driver Clay Millican before falling to NHRA rookie driver Spencer Massey in the final round. Brown now leads six-time series champion Tony Schumacher by 18 points in the NHRA standings. Brown also record low elapsed time and top speed of the meet honors for the fifth time this season.

Rod Fuller returned to competition this year in a Vandergriff Motorsports dragster with sponsorship from Patten Cat, a Caterpillar dealer headquartered in nearby Elmhurst, Ill. Fuller made it to the second round before bowing out.

Shawn Langdon suffered a rare first-round loss due to parts failure, which allowed Brandon Bernstein to take the win with a 3.918 at 308.78 mph. After ceding a slight headstart to Bernstein, Langdon quickly pulled even and appeared to be steaming away for the victory when his Lucas Oil/Dixie Choppers dragster suddenly went silent. Upon closer inspection at the top end, it was determined that the throttle cable broke.