One would think the easiest win would be the one where no one is in the opposite lane. That's what Bob Tasca III thought, but as it turned out, winning his second consecutive NHRA Camping World Series drag race, the hardest race to win was the freebie. 

For Tasca, it proved to be another challenge in a weekend where extreme heat tested the resolve of the most seasoned competitors. Tasca beat a familiar foe in the final round of the Menards NHRA Nationals at Topeka, Kan., John Force, the 16-time NHRA champion, in a battle that went down to the wire. It was the fourth time in four consecutive finals that Tasca got the best of his mentor. 

About the single run, it came in the second round for No. 1 qualifier Tasca. 

"The clutch went in the car long; there was something bent in the clutch," Tasca said. "We couldn't get the clutch set. So I get suited up, in the car in the pits, and I'm like, 'Oh my god, the only way we can lose this is either not show up or not take the tree." 

"I think we were doing 50 miles an hour going through these road courses getting to the staging lanes, and that was actually the most fun driving I did all weekend. We get to the starting line, and for me, that's the biggest anxiety. The biggest anxiety I have is the anxiety of not being able to do it. Like something goes wrong, and you're not going to be able to have the chance.

"Then the car started up and I rolled through the water box; I said, 'Oh, man." 

"I had so much tug that when I stepped off the clutch, it pulled the motor down. It was smoking the tires going through the water. And the only thing I could think about is, 'I won't be able to hold a car in the beams. I won't be able to take the tree." 

"The car comes back, and it's lurching. And I don't know; I think I had a thousand pounds of brake pressure rolling into the second bulb, just to make sure we took the tree. And I thought for sure when I hit the throttle; I was going to smoke the tires."

As it turned out, Tasca went out and ran a 3.98 on a racing surface that hung around in the 140-degree range for much of the event. 

Actually, the clutch concerns began before the team even arrived at Heartland Park - Topeka. 

Days before the event, clutch specialist Jared Stewart's father died unexpectedly, leaving the team short a crewman. David "Shafty" Karcanes, a seasoned veteran, was brought in as a substitute. 

"It was devastating news this past week," Tasca said. [Jared] Just a first-class kid, a wonderful family. His dad passed away suddenly last week, and he was brokenhearted. He couldn't come. And obviously, we feel for him; we grieve for him and his family. I told him, 'Listen, we're going to dedicate this win to you and your family." 

"[John] Schaffer, my co-crew chief, called me, and I said, 'Well, are you putting the clutch in the car? Because that is like the heart of a race car."

Tasca likened the next man up clutch mojo without Stewart to someone following the recipe of grandma's apple pie to the detail and, "It just isn't the same."

The team was able to bring in Shafty, a 20-year veteran, out of his so-called retirement and deemed him the closest they could get to Stewart. 

Tasca's team needed every weapon in its arsenal to pull off a race win, including a semi-final victory over Matt Hagan. 

"I think this is probably one of the most challenging races that I've ever competed in," Tasca said. "It was hot all weekend long. The guys were, literally, on the verge of heat exhaustion going through these rounds today. But you're seeing the consistency in this race car. You're seeing it move early. Then when it moves early, we're able to really control it through the middle, so it doesn't smoke the tires. I give so much credit to Mike Neff and John Schaffer. They really got this thing dialed in."

Then Tasca met up against the most seasoned Funny Car racer in drag racing. Forget previous successes against Force; he knew against him he'd need a performance indicative of his best ever. 

"Ol' John, I think, did a little rope-a-dope to us," Tasca said. "He had us in the left lane, and then last minute put us in the right lane. My guys are scrambling to the other side and I told Force when we won Sonoma, 'You know something, John? Even when you lose, you win against me." 

"I mean that humbly because he played such a huge role in my career early. There's things that I do in that car, every single time that I get in it, because of what he taught me.

"I went up there to do everything I possibly could to run him over and win that race because that's the way he thinks. And that's what he's instilled in me. I've maybe got a little lucky against him for four wins in the final rounds, but there's nobody I have more respect for. To see what he does at his age and these types of conditions. We thought Seattle was tough. These conditions were tougher. He's superhuman. I've said it many times and nothing but respect."

So what was it Force taught him? 

"He knows what it is," Tasca said. "He told me years ago, he said, 'Kid, I think I just created my own assassin." 

"And maybe he has."

But right now, all Tasca and his team want is respect. 

"This team is out here to earn respect from every competitor that we compete against," Tasca said. "Nobody gets it. You earn it. And I think what we've shown over the last five races, we are a contender for the championship. The only reason why we're out here, we're going to take one race, one round at a time. But we have a tuneup that will run with them when it's cool, and it'll run with them when it's warm. And that's what it takes to win a championship."