Courtney Force is poised to win her sixth No. 1 qualifying position in 10 Mello Yello events with crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Dan Hood after their Advance Auto Parts Camaro set track records of 3.983 seconds and 323.35 mph with Friday’s only sub-4-second run on opening day of the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park at Dinwiddie, Virginia.

“When we went back up there Corradi and Hood wanted to push it hard to see if we could get our No. 1 spot back,” she said. “We watched a lot of teams ahead of us make some phenomenal runs. I saw (John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight) run that (4.039) so I knew it could handle it.

“Corradi got on the radio and said we’d run exactly what he said we would.”

Force has earned five of this year’s first nine Mello Yello Funny Car poles and could make it six during Saturday’s last two qualifying sessions. She padded her championship points lead by six points after also being the quickest in the first session with a time of 4.058.

“It was a sigh of relieve when we ran that solid 4.05,” said Force, who has won three of this year’s nine titles.

“It’s a brand new track and I didn’t really know what to expect," she said. “They’ve done a done a phenomenal job (here).”

She is trying to become the second member of the Force family to win an NHRA Wally Trophy at Virginia; her father John has won four times at the track about 40 miles south of Richmond.

“The last memory I have here was my seventh birthday with my dad in the winner’s circle I was wearing a Virginia is for Lovers T-shirt.”

Her elapsed time broke the record held by brother-in-law and reigning world champion Robert Hight at 4.005 in 2008. Her speed mark topped the speed record set by older sister Ashley Force Hood’s 311.27 in 2009, which was the last year the Mello Yello Series was contested at Virginia.

The NHRA Mello Yello Series returned to the Virginia Motorsports Park for the first time since 2009 and under ownership of Tommy Franklin.

An opening for Virginia resulted from legendary Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey deciding to shut down its drag racing schedule. Franklin, a Virginia native and drag racer, jumped at the opportunity and within two weeks was on the 24-race schedule.

In February, the asphalt and concrete was replaced with a new concrete surface and guardwalls.

But the fresh surface combined with a hot, 130-degree track surface, high humidity and NHRA’s new less “sticky” track preparation to keep times and speeds less impressive than the final qualifying times at its Mello Yello event in 2009.

In the first session, four Top Fuel dragsters were in the sub-4-second range with four of 14 reaching 300 mph while Funny Cars produced three 300 mph passes with three in the 4-second range.

But when the track cooled to about 120, performance improved with nine Funny Cars in the 4.0-second range and 10 runs over 300.