B. Force Leads Qualifying, Breaks Record For Fastest Top Fuel Run

Brittany Force picked up the provisional No. 1 position on Friday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals. (NHRA photo)

POMONA, Calif. — Points leader Brittany Force made the fastest run in Top Fuel history on Friday, powering to the provisional No. 1 qualifier in record-breaking fashion at the final race of the season, the 57th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 22nd and final event in the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the sixth race in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Force went 3.641-seconds at 338.94 mph in her 11,000-horsepower Monster Energy dragster, eclipsing her own record for the fastest run in class history and giving her a perfect start to kick off a huge weekend. If it holds, it would give Force her 10th No. 1 spot this season and 42nd in her career.

More importantly, it gives Force, who entered the weekend with a slim seven-point advantage over Justin Ashley, momentum as she looks to claim her second career world title.

“It’s big to grab those points wherever we can and it’s pretty awesome to run that mph and break the record at my home track where I grew up racing,” Force said. “I love this place and that run, we planned to push the car and it worked out. But it’s going to come down to race day and we’re going to try to hunt this thing down. This is a great start for our team.”

Four-time defending world champion Steve Torrence, who started the weekend 87 points behind Force, is currently second after going 3.656 at 333.33 and Leah Pruett is third after a pass of 3.669 at 329.67. Ashley is in the seventh spot after two sessions.

After struggling for most of the season, two-time Funny Car champ Cruz Pedregon hopes Pomona can be a momentum shift heading into the off-season, making a pair of 3.84 runs, including a class-best 3.840 at 322.58 in his 11,000-horsepower Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. It would give the veteran his first No. 1 qualifier of the year and 63rd in his career should it hold up.

It hasn’t been the year Pedregon has hoped for after contending for a championship in 2021, but a win to close out the year would ease those ills going into the 2023 campaign.

“To say I’m happy and excited and relieved all in one would be an understatement,” Pedregon said. “I’ve been surprised before at the finish line but not like that. It was such a great run and honestly, the car had a cylinder out about three-quarter track on that first (run) so had we been able to put the back half of this second run with the first one I would have been a little bit better.”

Championship contender Matt Hagan moved into the No. 2 spot after his run of 3.844 at…