Brittany Force ready to go back-to-back with
Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 10) – Brittany Force knows she has a good opportunity of winning back-to-back NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series races with her Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster.
Force, who won last weekend at New England Dragway, qualified No. 5 for the NHRA Summernationals on Saturday at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park – and had the fastest car in the final qualifying session.
“I do like my chances to go back-to-back,” Force said. “That’s what we’re going for. We won last weekend, and we’re ready to do it again.”
Force scored her first victory of the season in Epping, N.H., storming through the Top Fuel field before beating defending series champion Antron Brown in the final round. That win came after Force and her team bounced back from some struggles earlier in the season.
But those seem like distant memories now, as Force piled up seven bonus points through qualifying – the second most this weekend. And she moved up to No. 5 with a terrific 3.762-second pass at 320.81 mph in the fourth session.
“We have an awesome race car,” Force said. “We ended up No. 5 and had some really good runs down the race track.
“The most impressive run was Q4. We had the best race car of the sessions and ran a .76, which was pretty stout in the heat. We’ll be ready to pick it up and do it again tomorrow.”
Because of the odd 14-car ladder, Force will line up against No. 10 qualifier Troy Coughlin Jr. in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. Coughlin’s best pass was 3.800 seconds at 320.66 mph
Final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. Fox Sports 1 plans to televise three hours of eliminations coverage Sunday at 6 p.m.
4-Second Reads:
Qualifying Round 1 (Left Lane): 3.780 seconds/316.30 mph; moved to the No. 1 spot temporarily despite dropping cylinders (2nd overall in session; two bonus points overall)
Qualifying Round 2 (Right Lane): 11.671 seconds/53.66 mph; car didn’t move at green light (No. 13 of session and No. 5 overall; no bonus points in session and two points overall)
Qualifying Round 3 (Right Lane): 3.845 seconds/318.54 mph; clean pass (No. 2 of session and No. 6 overall; two bonus points in session and four points overall)
Qualifying Round 4 (Left Lane): 3.762 seconds/320.81 mph; best pass of the weekend (No. 1 of session and No. 5 overall; three bonus points in session and seven overall)
This marks the second time this season and eighth time in her career Force has qualified No. 5. She qualified No. 5 in Houston.
This marks the second time Force has qualified No. 5 at Englishtown. She made it to the quarterfinals of the 2014 race after qualifying No. 5.
Force’s matchup against Troy Coughlin Jr. marks the third time the two will compete against each other, with each of the previous two matchups coming this season. Coughlin won the first race at Baytown, while Force bested Coughlin in Epping last weekend.