The more things change in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, the more they stay the same. 

Second-generation drag racer Brittany Force stands on the cusp of qualifying No. 1 at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals, and if her 3.666 second elapsed time, coupled with a Maple Grove track record 335.57 mile per hour pass holds, it will mark her ninth No. 1 qualifying performance this season. 

“I’ll tell you, that run felt fast,” Force said. That finish Line came up quick. So it’s get the chutes out, turn the fuel off. But it feels good to be able to run like that our first qualifying pass of the night, and to grab that number one currently gives confidence to the entire team, and it helps us feel strong going into tomorrow. So every point, everything is on the line right now. We have to do that. We have to repeat that the rest of the weekend.”

Force isn’t the only racer getting reacclimated with Maple Grove; the pandemic forced the 2020 event to be canceled. A huge Friday crowd was evidence that Force and the rest of the NHRA stars were missed. 

“I love it here,” Force said. “Being here with the fans in the stands. I’ve had luck here in the past. I won here back in; I think 2017. I set the ET record in 2019. So we’ve had some luck here, and we want to repeat and expand on that.”

Force believes the time to get errors out of the way was during the 13-race regular season. Now, there’s no margin of error for the seven-event shootout known as the Countdown to the Championship. 

“It’s learning from the mistakes that we’ve made this year is what it is,” Force said. “And that’s every single guy top to bottom on this team, including me as a driver especially, but it’s putting those mistakes behind us and really learning from them. Making sure you don’t repeat them again. Because at this point, every little thing we do is going to matter. 

“There’s only seven races left. Just one bad week, and you could drop right to the bottom. One good week and you can jump right up to the top. Bringing all our hard work that we put into the car all season long, it’s bringing it up there, every single run.”

Being No. 1 in qualifying is one thing, but being No. 1 in eliminations is a whole new ballgame; just ask Force. 

“That is the tricky part because we put down the number ones in the best conditions, and then on Sunday, it’s completely different conditions,” Force said. “So for us, it’s just being consistent. Keeping our car going down the race track every single run, keeping our confidence, keeping motivated, and pushing especially when we get to race day.”