Courtney Force had a rough day Friday at the New England Nationals, but fortunately for her there was a silver lining.

During Force’s lap in Q1, her Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro Funny Car experienced an engine explosion at the end of the run.

Force exited the vehicle under her own power and was evaluated and released by NHRA medical staff, and still managed to clock a track-record run of 3.842 seconds at 331.53 mph to capture the provisional No. 1 qualifying position.

The run proved to be even more important as she had more problems in her back-up car in Q2. As she did a burnout, the car moved toward the wall and tapped it before coming to a stop 300 feet down the track.

“It’s definitely been interesting,” said Force about her drama-filled day. “Obviously our first qualifying pass, making a great run, but we had a huge explosion and that was a first for me,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be driving a Chevy convertible by the end of the (run), but I was at 330 mph so I’m just glad I got out OK. We made a killer run and we got the top spot. A fuel line burst, which is what created the problem, and that’s just part of racing. It’s always the little things and that’s what did us in. Luckily we held on to that top spot.”

Force acknowledged that her crew was in top form getting her back-up car ready for Q2, and the last thing on her mind was having another eventful run.

“The guys were absolutely thrashing to get a new Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro ready to go,” Force said. “They were able to get it done. I pulled up there and did the burnout and was feeling pretty good and then we had our front right brake lock up and it sent me over to the wall. I was trying to get it steered to the left, but nothing was responding at that point and I was trying to get it stopped. My dad (John Force) thought it was hilarious because right before the run he told me in the last 40 years, he hasn’t had two catastrophes in a row so I didn’t need to worry and just go into the run confident. I was going in feeling confident. We were planning on making a half-track pass because it is a spare car, and we will probably end up having to do that (Saturday) just to make sure everything is going good and I’m glad this happened in the burnout rathr than at the end of the race track, because that could’ve been bad.”

Although Force had a whirlwind of emotions Friday, she is eager to turn the page Saturday.

“We are going to get the car fixed up and ready to go in qualifying (Saturday), and I’m excited for a new day,” she said. “We still have all day (Saturday) to get this fixed up.”