Every full-time team in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel class has been chasing the same thing this year — a championship. But time has almost run out for the dragster drivers to secure the title.
Mathematically, there are only five drivers who have a chance entering this weekend’s Auto Club NHRA Finals, but the two rivals most likely to triumph are Brittany Force and Justin Ashley. After struggling through the first half of the six-race Countdown to the Championship, Force has climbed back to the top.
“Our Countdown got off to a rocky start. It was four races in a row that we weren’t performing as we had been all season long,” Force said.
The 36-year-old John Force Racing driver was on a hot streak through the regular season, picking up four wins as she kept a tight grip on the points lead. She also continued her trend of breaking records and now owns the 10 fastest speeds in the history of Top Fuel — seven of those runs have come this season.
But when the tides shifted and the points reset for the Countdown, Force stumbled. Due to some costly mistakes and early elimination exits, she was second in the standings and 82 points behind Ashley entering the fifth round of the playoffs.
However, when the Flav-R-Pac team pulled into Las Vegas for the NHRA Nevada Nationals on Oct. 26, Force felt renewed.
“We’ve always had luck in Vegas,” Force said. “We all felt that energy going into it and we turned it around and got back up there.”
Force made a stunning recovery as she fought her way to the finals and lit the win light against Mike Salinas.
With one race remaining in the Countdown, Force regained her long-lost lead and enters the final event of the season seven points ahead of Ashley.
But the points lead also brings a target with it.
Not only will Ashley be aiming for Force this weekend, but there are three other drivers who have their eye on the prize — Salinas, Antron Brown and Steve Torrence are all within 87 points of Force.
With a points-and-a-half structure at the event, any of the five could snag the title.
“The things that you least expect end up happening and I’ve seen it done before in Pomona,” Force said. “Our team did it back in 2017, doing the unimaginable on race day when you need to. It’s still anybody’s game.”
In 2017, Force entered the NHRA Finals second in the standings, 20 points behind Torrence. On a fateful Sunday in Pomona, Force performed flawlessly, earning the No. 1 qualifier and the event victory. More importantly, she collected her first Top Fuel title.
Five years later, Force is knocking on the door of her second Top Fuel championship.
Phillips Connect driver Ashley is Force’s chief competitor as he eyes his first career NHRA title.
“The easiest thing to do is to get caught up in all the ‘what if’s’ and different scenarios,” Ashley said. “But we just have to focus on doing the very best we can, controlling our own destiny. That means taking it one round at a time and running each lap as fast, quick and straight as we can.”
The same goes for Force.
The plan is to keep her head down, move on from her past mistakes and rely on the momentum her Flav-R-Pac team gained in Nevada.
“We want to repeat, we want to do it again,” Force said. “On those weekends where you have tough weekends, it’s about your recovery as a team. Not just as a driver, but crew chiefs and crew guys. It’s how you recover from it and show up to the next event.”
Top Fuel qualifying sessions for the Auto Club NHRA Finals begin Friday, Nov. 11.