True to her form this season, Courtney Force has her Advance Auto Parts / CarQuest Chevy Camaro at the top of the Funny Car order.

She didn’t top her year-old zMAX Dragway elapsed-time record of 3.851 seconds Friday during qualifying for the NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Concord, N.C., but Force grabbed the provisional No. 1 qualifying position.

She relied on her opening-session 3.873-second run on the 1,000-foot course at a 332.92-mph speed that was faster than Spencer Massey’s six-year-old Top Fuel track record of 332.18.

Force will be trying Saturday to earn her third top-qualifying position of the season’s six races so far. She led the fields at Phoenix and the West Coast four-wide race at Las Vegas. She has had a pair of second-place starts and has begun eliminations from no worse than fourth place this year.  

Moments after she clinched the provisional lead in Funny Car, older sister Brittany Force claimed the tentative No. 1 spot in the Top Fuel lineup at a quicker 3.689 seconds but a slower 318.39-mph speed in her Monster Energy Dragster.

Looking toward her first victory at zMAX Dragway, Courtney Force has a little extra incentive this weekend.

“There are a ton of people out from Advance Auto Parts, since Charlotte is their headquarters. It would be huge for us to end up in the winners circle at the end of the weekend,” she said. “It is great to know that we have a great race car that qualifies really well. That is a testament to what this Advance Auto Parts team is capable of doing. We have been running fast and just need to get it fixed up on race day. It is a whole different ballgame on Sunday. It is nice to get that green hat as the No. 1 qualifier, but it is more important to get that yellow hat for winning the race.

“We did it all in Phoenix. We were the No. 1 qualifier, top speed, low ET and won the race. I feel like I have the confidence in this team that we can do that every weekend,” Force said. “[Crew chiefs] Danny Hood and Brian Corradi have been doing a great job, giving me a fast race car. We just need to get more round wins on Sunday.”

The class has two more qualifying chances before the field is set for Sunday’s eliminations.

Force dropped from second place in the standings to fourth with last Sunday’s first-round loss to Jeff Diehl at Royal Purple Raceway, and she said she wants to gain some of that lost ground back this weekend.

Having had a four-wide tune-up two races ago at Las Vegas is making this event smoother than ever before, she said.

Moreover, she hinted that it doesn’t really matter whether she’s a four-wide fan. She pointed to the fans’ apparent interest as the key factor in the argument between two-lane traditionalists and the thrill-seekers who crave 40,000 horsepower on display at one time.

“It’s unique,” Force said of the format. These races are selling out, And that’s the most important thing. That’s the whole point why [track owner] Bruton Smith does something crazy and new. It’s a big challenge for drivers and teams and crew chiefs. It’s an opportunity for crew chiefs to flex their muscles. [As a driver], you have to figure it out quick.”

She did. And quick was the operative word Friday.