BRITTANY FORCE RIDES STRONG LAST PASS TO NO.1 TF QUALIFYING SPOT IN LAS VEGAS
After competing in just two races in 2020 and parking for the rest of the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic Brittany Force is thrilled to be back racing again.
Force is trying to repeat history this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Force will start in the No. 1 qualifying spot for the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals thanks to her 3.732-second lap at 320.66 mph in the final qualifying session Saturday in her Flav-R-Pac Top Fuel dragster.
“We made a big jump on that run,” Force said. “We were 76 in Q2 and moved up to a 73. This is the first No. 1 qualifier for the Flav-R-Pac Monster Energy dragster. We are pumped to be here today and be in Vegas. (Crew chiefs) David Grubnic and Mac Savage said they going to step it up and they did that. (Sunday) our focus is obviously winning. We got today behind, and we are moving into Sunday and going after a win that’s our primary focus.”
This is Force’s 21st career No. 1 qualifying spot in her Top Fuel career. The last time Force competed at the Strip in Las Vegas it went well for her.
It was back in the fall of 2019, Force clocked a 3.652 second track record lap, at 334.73 mph to defeat three-time and reigning world champion Steve Torrence in the finals for the 10th win of her career and her most recent. Force also set the national speed record during qualifying of the event when her dragster hit 338.17 mph adding to the national elapsed time record of 3.623-seconds she set at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Penn., earlier that year.
Force qualified fifth at the season-opening race – the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 14 and was upset in the first round by Justin Ashley.
“I have lots of confidence,” Force said about Sunday in Vegas. “In 2020, we stepped out for the season and to return with the entire Flav-R-Pac Monster Energy team speaks a lot for itself. It shows how much loyalty this team has for John Force Racing and they stood by us and we returned together, and we are stronger than ever.
“I feel like we picked up where we left off. I’m so excited to be out be out here at the racetrack with my team doing what we love.”
Force has reached victory lane in the Four-Wide format. In 2016, Force became the first woman to win in the four-wide race at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte and in the spring of 2019, she was runner-up at The Strip to Mike Salinas who recorded his first win.
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