Courtney Force is determined to keep her chin up and her eyes locked on the prize as the Countdown to the Championship gets underway this weekend.

No longer is she worrying about how fast Fridays and Saturdays - including six top qualifier awards and a qualifying position inside the top four at every race but one this season - have led to zero success on Sundays. Instead, Force is putting all of her effort into these final six races and keeping the Advance Auto Parts team right in the middle of the championship picture.

“I am just staying positive and looking forward,” Force said after qualifying Friday in Charlotte. “My team is confident and I stand by them. It is all about finding consistency and I feel like we are going in that direction.”

And Force got to take that newfound confidence out for a spin Friday at the 10th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals, driving her Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car to the provisional top spot at zMAX Dragway with a 3.891-second pass at 330.07 mph.

“I feel like we are starting to get a pretty good handle on things. Sometimes you fix one problem and you create a new one,” Force said of her season-long struggles. “Obviously after Indy, that wasn’t the performance we wanted. So coming out here, making a solid pass with all the candles lit, feels pretty good.”

U.S. Nationals event winner J.R. Todd is currently qualified second with a 3.898 at 329.18 mph, while Tommy Johnson Jr. sits third with a 3.901 at 325.06 mph. Jack Beckman (3.906) and Alexis DeJoria (3.910) round out the top five.

Force actually struggled off the trailer, spinning the tires during the first round of qualifying, but bounced back with a potential seventh No. 1 start of the season.

“In Q1 we spun the tires and I had to get out of it. I wasn’t too worried, I have Dan Hood, Ronnie Thompson and all of the Advance Auto Parts guys working on the car and it is great to have such a great team behind me,” Force said. “I knew we would be back out there going for it on that run and to run a 3.89 was great. What’s even better, I feel like we have even more than what we showed on the race track.”

More than anything, Force was thrilled to start off the Countdown to the Championship with the first points available for the weekend, admitting that every point counts as the season winds down.

“To be in that top spot, it is very important kicking off the Countdown to be raking in some of these points,” Force said. “It’s only a few, but every point counts for us. I am really excited about tomorrow. We are happy about the performance today, but we will see if it hangs on for tomorrow.”