It may not be the sweep of the Western Swing that she had hoped for, but it is still something.

Brittany Force placed her Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster in the top spot at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona on Saturday, giving her three No. 1 qualifiers in a row and a clean sweep of the pole positions at the three races making up the NHRA’s Western Swing.

Traditionally, a great deal of attention and elation is given to drivers that complete a three-peat of wins at the trio of midseason west coast races on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule and, while they aren’t wins, it is still an impressive feat for the John Force Racing squad.

“It is pretty exciting for my team, especially here at Pomona, my home track,” Force said. “I’m glad to be back home racing here again. I hadn’t really thought about a sweep of the No. 1 spots on the western swing so this is pretty neat.”

Force nabbed the top spot in dramatic fashion Saturday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com, overcoming two poor sessions to start the weekend with a blistering 3.714-second pass at 330.72 mph in the third and final qualifying session of the weekend. Force’s run took the top spot away from provisional No. 1 qualifier Leah Pruett, whose 3.780 at 321.88 mph from Friday night placed her second on the ladder.

“This weekend was actually tough for us,” Force said. “In Q2 we didn’t even leave the starting line and in Q1 we also didn’t get down there. So this was our first pass that we actually went down the track, but a 3.714 is awesome for this team.”

Mike Salinas qualified third with a 3.790 at 318.09 mph, while Steve Torrence (3.808) and Shawn Langdon (3.854) rounded out the top five.

Torrence’s fourth place effort equaled the worst qualifying position of the season for the Top Fuel points leader and is only the second time all year he has qualified outside of the top two.

For Force, Saturday’s top qualifier award proved a major relief for the team after two difficult sessions. The former world champion struggled to get down the track Friday night in difficult conditions with a 5.429 placing her sixth on the ladder, and then failed to get down the track at all in Q2 on Saturday.

“It was pretty much the same thing that bit us in Sonoma in E2. Our safety system came in and automatically disconnected the throttle cable from the injector so I stepped on the gas and we didn’t even budge,” Force said. “Last weekend in Sonoma was the same thing. The boost came up too high and the safety jumped in. We should have had it removed on race day, but we didn’t. Down at the finish line I was hanging my foot in that throttle pedal and I had no power. I was coasting to the finish line. There is no worse way to lose than that.

“That was tough for us, but we learned what not to do and we won’t make that mistake again. I have the greatest group of guys around me and we are looking forward to race day tomorrow.”

For Force, Saturday’s effort continued a trend of top qualifier awards in 2021 - having qualified at the top of the field in half of the races run this season - but none of those strong starts have translated into wins. On Sunday, her focus will shift to trying to turn another pole position into a win - having gone nearly two years without visiting victory lane.

“We have been going back and forth with our strategy. Our problem is we qualify really well. Typically in Q1 we grab the No. 1 qualifier which holds throughout the weekend, but we struggle on race day,” Force said. “And lately it has been the smallest mistakes that cost us the runs on race day. It is simple mistakes that we need to figure out before we get in this Countdown.

“Race day is going to be tough, but we are in the best position. We are No. 1, but we’ve only got down the track in the cool temperatures. Now we are going into the heat tomorrow. But with David Grubnic, Mac Savage and the team, I always put my confidence in them. We are ready for a win. It has been too long and we are looking to win this thing.”

With only 13 cars qualified in Top Fuel this weekend, Force will get a bye in round one. She will face the winner of Justin Ashley and Buddy Hull in round two.

But even with a free pass in round one, Force is certain that her team will not take it easy.

“With Grubnic, he never seems to play it safe. He always goes for the killer runs every time,” Force said. “He wants lane choice and I believe he will want to put up the best number on the board that he can.”