Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster team are sitting in the provisional No. 2 qualifying spot Friday at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevy Camaro SS team are also No. 2 in Funny Car while Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team will start day two from the No. 10 spot. John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro SS round out JFR qualifying sitting No. 16.
Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac team laid down a stellar 3.709-second pass at 333.25 mph that narrowly landed them in the No. 2 spot. Force missed the top by just .001 seconds.
“First qualifying session at the ‘Big Go’ and this Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team laid down a solid 3.709 currently putting us in the No. 2 position. That was a great start to a big weekend and this team really needed that run,” said Force who is chasing her third-consecutive No. 1 qualifying position at the U.S. Nationals. “We now feel solidly locked into the show to push this car and see where its limits are on this racetrack tomorrow and Sunday. This team needs a solid weekend, start to finish, to move us up in points and a position before everything resets for the Countdown.”
Coming into the event, Force and her Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team clinched their spot into the NHRA Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s six-race playoffs. After running the second-quickest pass of the night for three qualifying bonus points, Force officially signed her name into the Championship hunt.
Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools Chevy, who clinched their spot into the Countdown three weeks ago after the Topeka, Kansas event, were second quickest in Funny Car running 3.886 seconds at 327.43 mph. Hight is looking for his second No. 1 at the U.S. Nationals as he also competes to win the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday and the Pep Boys NHRA All-Star Callout on Sunday before heading into race day eliminations on Monday.
Austin Prock and the Montana Brand team had a clean 3.781-second run at 326.08 mph that landed them in the No. 10 qualifying spot. Prock is looking for his second No. 1 qualifying position of the year, the third of his career while trying to improve his No. 6 points position heading into the Countdown to the Championship.
John Force and the PEAK Chevy struggled off the starting line in their first try down Indianapolis Raceway Park. They’d cross the finish line at 4.862 seconds and 217.84 mph putting Force in the No. 16 spot. At the end of his runs, Force officially signed his name into the 2023 NHRA Countdown to the Championship. Force technically clinched his way into the Countdown following the Brainerd, Minnesota event. The PEAK Camaro will try to improve on their performance while also competing in the #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday and the Funny Car All-Star Callout on Sunday.
Competition at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park continues with qualifying Saturday at 3:30 and 7 p.m. that includes the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge and Sunday at 1:30 and 5:00 p.m. which will also include competition in the Pep Boys Funny Car NHRA All-Star Callout. The Callout semifinals will be competed as an additional run unrelated to qualifying at 3:20 p.m. Eliminations are slated to begin on Memorial Day Monday at 10 a.m. Television coverage of the event begins on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with qualifying shows Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET. Eliminations coverage will have two shows on Monday, the first at noon ET on FS1 and the second at 2 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcasting Network.
This story was originally published on September 2, 2023. 
