NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Brittany Force came within a hundredth of earning pole position at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, continuing a strong start to the season for the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team. Force left the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com as the NHRA Power Rankings leader thanks to her incredible elapsed time average and bettered it in Phoenix.

Her pair of passes Friday (3.707, 3.680) put her .009-second away from taking pole position from defending Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence. It did at least put her in position to chase it again in the sole qualifying session available Saturday afternoon. Force averages an elapsed time of 3.724 and, perhaps more impressively, a Success Rate of 76.3 by getting down the track quicker than 3.9 seconds 76.3 percent of the time.

Those stats include her last 38 runs, including the last five races of the 2019 season where the 2017 Top Fuel world champion came up just short from earning her second title. She enters the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in the early stages of her fight for another title, while Grubnic is looking for his first title in his second season at John Force Racing. 

“It’s day one out here at the Arizona Nationals and I ended the night in the No. 2 spot with Flav-R-Pac. The car looks awesome,” Force said. “We went to the No. 1 spot earlier with a 3.70 and improved on that second run with a 3.68 so we’re feeling good and I’m just really excited for this Flav-R-Pac team. They’re our new sponsor and our plan is to go rounds on race day and get them in the winner’s circle Sunday.”

Force started the season with Monster Energy back on board and reached the semifinals, eventually falling to 2019 Top Fuel runner up Doug Kalitta. She earned pole position at the Winternationals and currently averages the fastest speed in the category (327.37-mph). All of that puts her in a terrific position early in the season -- with that necessary caveat.