NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Riding high after her Top Fuel victory in Topeka, Brittany Force is confident this is just the start.

After a steady dose of No. 1 qualifiers, the team finally broke through and finished the job for the first time this year, and Force isn’t backing down from any challenges.

When Force was asked if she believed her team could bring the fight to dominant three-time defending world champion Steve Torrence, Force answered without hesitation.

“Oh, absolutely. I think we're one of the best teams out here,” Force said. “We have one of the best cars out here, we run killer weekend after weekend, and our consistency is finally getting better. We finally stepped it up on race day.

“We're getting ready to go into the Countdown [to the Championship], so those silly mistakes we've been making, we’re putting those behind us. We’ve learned from them, and it won't happen again. You will not see us making those mistakes. Again, we're moving forward, and this is a great place to win this one right here before we go into the Countdown.”

The momentum is certainly high with Force heading into this weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd Int'l Raceway, a track where she has a victory in her career.

As thrilling as the victory was in the moment — and as memorable as it was to do it with her father, John — it could have lasting effects for the former world champion.

The team had been searching for the winning solution this year, coming close in final rounds in Charlotte and Norwalk. But they came up short in duels against Torrence, meaning the breakthrough at Heartland Motorsports Park was big in more ways than one. She finally knocked off Torrence in eliminations, chasing him down in the semifinals to give them a huge surge of confidence.

She finished the job in the finals against Clay Millican, and the team, led by standout tuner David Grubnic and Mac Savage, may have turned the corner in the process.

“That run against Steve was definitely a huge one for us,” Force said. “He’s number one in points. He's won most races this year. He's the guy that we're chasing down. We knew that was going to be a tough one for us to get past, but we had a consistent race car all weekend long. There was only one qualifying run we didn't make it down, but every other run, it was just solid passes down the racetrack consistently.”

Consistency had been the shortcoming on raceday this year, but that narrative appeared to change in Topeka. After qualifying No. 1 for the fourth straight race and sixth time this year, Force was just as impressive in eliminations. Big runs have never been a problem — and could play into Force’s favor during the cooler conditions in the playoffs — but putting it together in the heat has been problematic.

Not anymore, apparently, as Force was in the mid-3.70s throughout eliminations and went 3.783 at 324.75 to beat Millican in the finals. Of course, momentum can be a fleeting thing in this sport. Force knows that, but she’s confident the team is headed in the right direction for the rest of the season.

“Saturday was big for us when we made that run in the heat,” said Force, who has 11 career wins. “That’s always where we struggled, and that's in the heat of the day. That's the one most comparable to race day on Sunday, and that's where we'd end up going wrong. So, we finally did get a run in the heat, and that was really good. We're turning a corner at the right time.”