Being in the right place at the right time can mean the difference between winning and losing. For Brittany Force, making it to the finish line in a session when most of her peers went up in smoke could mean a first round victory really equates to two.

Force ran a 3.725 elapsed time to land No. 1 in the NHRA Keystone Nationals' only qualifying session, and with a first round victory over Dave Connolly could gain an automatic semifinal berth courtesy of a second round bye run mandated by a 14-car field, even though 16 cars were in the pits.

Terry McMillen, one of the two racers not credited with a run in the lone session, lost control of his car and clipped a cone, thus drawing a disqualification. Chris Karamesines didn't even attempt to run the session.

Nonetheless, Force captured her first No. 1 qualifier of the season and the fourth of her career. In gaining the three bonus qualifying points, she unofficially moved around Larry Dixon in the points to enter Sunday as the third-ranked point earner.

“It is definitely tough going into tomorrow with only one run under our belt," said Force. "It is not just our team but everyone out here.  Everyone will battle that. Like Robert (Hight) said, we would like to have more runs but these are the conditions we all had to work with. We put down an awesome run in this Monster Top Fuel dragster."  

Force has been on a roll of late, reaching the semifinals at three of her last four events.

“We drove right through the shake zone and put an awesome number up on the scoreboard," Force said. "We set a career-best record which we broke from our time and speed here last year. We like Reading and we went all the way to the final last year. We are hoping to take it all the way this weekend.”

Force knew her Monster Energy dragster was on a strong pass at the stomp of the throttle.

“I could tell that run was a good one because it just felt fast," Force said. "Sometimes you know it is on a killer run. That run it just felt fast and clean. I knew it was a good one, but my radio came unhooked, so I was trying to talk with my guys to see what it ran. I didn’t know what it ran until I hoped out at the top end. Everyone was cheering when we rolled up so I knew it was something good.”

Force faces a familiar opponent in Connolly, having already beaten him twice in three races this season. Her two wins came in first round match-ups. Most recently, Force dropped a semifinal race to Connolly last weekend in St. Louis.

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