NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Brittany Force is halfway to what would be her third No. 1 Top Fuel qualifying berth of the season after making a 3.712 pass in the evening session.

Force, who struggled to a high-five-second pass on her opening lap, had all of the candles lit on her second try in the Dave Grubnic-tuned Advance Auto Parts dragster, taking the top spot early in the session and holding on despite a number of strong challenges.

Leah Pritchett made a hard run at Force’s number, but her 3.714 fell just two-thousandths of a second shy while recent Bristol winner Mike Salinas finished third with a 3.720.

Points leader Steve Torrence (3.725) and Terry McMillen (3.739) rounded out the top four.

Antron Brown, who won this event in 2014 but has had few highlight moments the last two seasons, looked string on Q1 by powering the Matco Tools dragster to the No. 1 spot with a 3.742 but was unable to improve in the second session.

Nineteen dragsters made qualifying attempts for the 16-car field and while the bump spot sits at a soft 4.929 (Lex Joon), two more qualifying passes remain Saturday.

TOP FUEL LOW QUALIFIER BRITTANY FORCE: “I’m feeling confident coming into this weekend. We stayed after in Bristol and tested all day Monday hoping to find some things for this last of four in a row.

“It felt good. We didn’t get down the first run but that second run was a beautiful run; putting a 3.70 on the board was awesome and stealing the No.1 spot. Tomorrow we’re looking for two good consistent runs, which is what we really need going into raceday.”