NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Brittany Force, Cruz Pedregon, and Camrie Caruso are the qualifying leaders after the opening day of the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at newly rechristened In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Reigning world champ Force, who qualified No. 1 at the season-opener in Gainesville, is back in her familiar spot leading the op Fuel field after riding her David Grubnic tune-up to a 3.712 in her Flav-R-Pac dragster.

"Honestly, it didn't feel like a great run to me, so when we got out on the top end, and they told me it was a .71 and we were currently low, It was exciting, but it surprised me a little," she said. "It kind of rattled, and half-track to the 1,000 feet it vibrated the whole way down and I just thought any second this thing's going to pop behind me. It's going to get in trouble. It just felt like it was coming undone.

"And then right before the 1'000 foot, it shut off. I thought it was [Grubnic] if that shut it off. So we're looking into it trying to figure out what the issue was but the car did shut off, so we did have a little more in it. We could have gotten a little bit further and it would have improved the run by a little bit, but still, a 3.71 That puts us low right now. It's a good solid run to come right into qualifying."

Justin Ashley, the defending event champ and winner of last weekend’s NHRA Arizona nationals, has the Phillips connect dragster in the No. 2 spot with a  3.729, just a thousandth of a second ahead of Antron Brown’s 3.730 and .002-second in front of Gatornationals winner Mike Salinas’ 3.731.

Four-time world champ Steve Torrence (3.737), eight-time titlist Tony Schumacher (3.762), 2013 champ and Arizona Nationals runner-up Shawn Langdon (3.764), and Pep Boys All-Star Top Fuel Callout winner Josh Hart (3.769) round out the fast half of the 16-car field.

Pedregon, who has had a disappointing start to the season with two first-round losses after winning the season finale in Pomona in dominating fashion, fired back impressively with a strong 3.865 from his Snap-On Tools Dodge to be the provisional low qualifier in Funny Car on Friday.

"I think going from dominating to disappointing in the first two races has humbled us a bit," he said. "I was joking with the guys I think we sat around and admired our handiwork a little too much over the winter. it wasn't the start we wanted in Gainesville or Phoenix, but I think we're notoriously slow starters.

"Truth be known there was a little left on the table even on that run. I clicked it a little early because I've been trying really hard to keep the car in the groove. It's been wanting to dart and wander all over the place in Gainesville and in Arizona, so I really would just focus on keeping it in the groove and I just lost a little bit of sight of where I was on the track and I right as I closed the throttle I saw the the the [finish line] placards there on the wall. It was a great run and think put me back in the seat. The numbers were better than any of the numbers we had run even at the Finals in November."

Alexis DeJoria, who won the inaugural Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge in Phoenix, qualified her Bandero Premium tequila Toyota No. 2 with a 3.883 just ahead of Pomona favorite and Arizona Nationals winner Robert Hight’s 3.892 in the AAA Chevy and the 3.938 of Tim Wilkerson’s Scag Power Equipment Ford.

Paul Lee (3.957), Gatornationals champ Matt Hagan (3.962), Chad Green (3.990), and Funny Car rookie Alex Laughlin (3.993) round out the top eight and the three-second performers on opening day.

Caruso carried the momentum of her breakthrough first career win last weekend at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Pomona and sits in the No. 1 spot after the first of three sessions with a 6.519.

"That was just awesome," she said. " I knew we were gonna run good because Pomona has always been good to us in the past, but to go No. 1 right after Phoenix was super special. 

"Right here before we ran I told my guys, "It's such a relief to get that first win, and they said 'We all knew you can do it. You just had to prove it to yourself,' and that's exactly what it was coming into a team that's been so successful.  I didn't want to hold them back and not let them win. So it's been really awesome. And I'm happy that we got that out of the way."

Matt Hartford, who appeared to have the car to beat on Sunday in Phoenix, put his new GETTRX Camaro into the No. 2 position with a 6.524 with former rookie of the year Dallas Glenn third at 6.528 and Aaron Stanfield fourth at 6.530.

Arizona Nationals runner-up Bo Butner (6.533), class stalwart Greg Anderson (6.534), Phoenix low qualifier Cristian Cuadra (6.534), and Gatornationals champ Troy Coughlin Jr. (6.539) round out the quick eight.