NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

John Force has a shot at his 150th career victory at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol. The 16-time champion defeated Jack Beckman in the semifinals and will race Bob Tasca III in the final round at Bristol Dragway. 

Force ran a 4.125-second pass at 316.38-mph after deep staging against Beckman, cutting a .027-second light in the process. That didn’t matter in the end, as Beckman got out of the throttle early and coasted to a 7.532 at 97.47-mph. 

Related: Funny Car Ladder

That pits Force against Tasca, who formerly drove at John Force Racing. Tasca is racing in his second final since returning to full-time NHRA competition. His last final was at the 2018 NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, where he lost to Ron Capps. He got a little bit of revenge by defeating Capps in the semifinals. It’s the first final since bringing Jon Schaffer on board as the co-crew chief alongside Eric Lane. 

Tasca ran a 4.048 against Capps’ 4.216 as Lane got the better of his old boss and mentor, tuner Rahn Tobler. Now the team will have to take down the winningest driver in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing history. Schaffer came over to the Ford Motorcraft Funny Car team from John Force Racing, adding another layer to an already exciting matchup. 

You can catch the final live on NHRA.tv or by tuning in to FS1.