With a stunning final-session pass Sunday that pushed Justin Ashley from his No. 1-qualifying position and rewrote both ends of the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park records, points leader Brittany Force and her Monster Energy Dragster team excelled under pressure to lead the Top Fuel field into Monday eliminations for the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals.

She regained her footing from a shaky start Friday and Saturday and burst to the front of the quickest field in Top Fuel history. Her 3.640-second elapsed time to Dan Mercier’s 3.758 represented the smallest spread from Nos. 1 through 16 since she led the 2019 line-up at this race. That was when she was No. 1 starter with a 3.645-second E.T., and T.J. Zizzo anchored the field with a 3.775.

Other top qualifiers were Ron Capps (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Unqualified through the first two sessions of the NHRA’s marquee race, Force made the field in advancing to the final round of Saturday’s Pep Boys All-Star Call-Out. She made her audacious move Sunday for her seventh top spot this season and 39th in all.

After a second rainstorm of the day wiped out the remainder of the fifth and final qualifying session Sunday, Force said, “This is the biggest race. It’s ‘The Big Go.’ It's the one race everybody comes to because they want to win. They come in with this extra motivation, and it's just Indy. Everybody wants to accomplish something here.

“We grabbed that No. 1 qualifier. We made a killer run. We struggled every lap and finally got it figured out in that one qualifying run,” she said. “So that [3].64 was outstanding. They said it was a track record, which was pretty cool to be able to do that. And then they announced earlier today that it's the quickest field. So, to be a part of that is that history right there, and to be a part of that with 25 cars is pretty outstanding. To be able to come here to Indy and take that No. 1, we're just excited. It's definitely a big one for our entire Monster Energy team, everybody on board, tuner David Grubnic, assistant crew chief Mac Savage, and all the Monster boys.”

But she has no time – or desire – to sit back and soak in the accomplishment yet.

“We can't relax until tomorrow [Monday] is over. Tomorrow's a really important day. That's where we really need to dominate on the racetrack, going rounds and making sure we stay in the points lead leaving here, because the Countdown is here now.”

The six-race sprint to what she hopes is her second Top Fuel championship will begin in two weeks at Reading, Pa.’s Maple Grove Raceway, with the Pep Boys Nationals. The sanctioning body will compress the standings following the conclusion of the U.S. Nationals. The No. 1 Countdown seed will have a 20-point advantage over the No. 2-ranked driver, but the other title-eligible racers will be separated by only 10 points.

“Everything resets,” she said, admitting that getting that No. 1 designation “is our main priority. But yes, to be able to lead, you always want to leave your mark somewhere, and we've done that at multiple tracks when we got track record and leaving our mark until next year. It's a pretty cool deal to pull off.”

And that was about all the celebration she would allow herself Sunday night.

“It's a long weekend and it hasn't even started yet. We start fresh tomorrow,” Force said. Monday, she said, is “a big day, so [key to winning is] staying locked in the game. It's just keeping our focus, keeping our head in the game. Really, just not being overwhelmed by it all but looking one round at a time, moving to the next one, trying to get lane choice and just one run as it comes, and we move to the next one. It has to be everyone involved. I need to be there as a driver, every single guy on the team, Grubnic, and all of us. We’re planning to deliver.”

The entire journey through Indianapolis has been nerve-wracking for her.

“I think we were all nervous. We didn't know if the rain was going to get us, and we didn't know how many qualifying runs we were going to get. And going into the Call-Out, we had nothing under our belt here,” Force said. “You try to focus on getting in the Call-Out, Pep Boys All Star Callout win, but also making sure you get qualified in the show in case today rains out. So there was a lot of pressure. There was a lot going into it.

“And then Dave Grubnic pulls out the run that he does, and I don't even think he was that happy about it,” she said. “I think they interviewed him, and the guy said he wanted it to run better. It was supposed to run better. That's just Grubby for you. But overall, awesome run for these guys. I wish we would have gotten one more tonight, just to have backed it up.

“When you’re on the outside looking in and you see the [rainy] forecast, your nerves go through the roof. And it's not just me. You can see it in our whole pits, it’s all the guys. There's so much going on, there's so much packed into one weekend, and that's what makes it so much fun for the fans and a challenge for all these teams. But the good thing is our guys are all very positive, Grubnic’s positive, and he'll come out and he won't just say, ‘Get in the show.’ He wants to go to the top. And we're like, ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ But this whole team, they're awesome. They support me, and I support them. We always try to keep that positive, just a positive feel in our pits, always.”

She knows full well that she has had more competition than usual and that each team rises to its potential at this historic facility that has hosted this event since 1961.

“Everybody wants to win here. That's why every driver's out here, every team, every crew chief. Everybody wants to win Indy. It's on everyone's bucket list,” Force said.

“I've stood in many winners circles, my dad's winner circles since I was a baby,” the daughter of five-time Indianapolis Funny Car winner John Force. Her older sister Ashley won here multiple times, and, she said, “It's just one of those bucket list things everyone wants to check off. ‘The Big Go,’ Indianapolis, biggest race of the season. Two events in one. There's nothing like it. There's nothing like this race. And then the crowd that it's brought in so far is just outstanding. It's exciting to be here, to be a part of it, but really we want to take home and win we're in a great position. We're No. 1.”