It was a good day to be a part of John Force Racing at the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals. 

One of drag racing’s most iconic nitro teams scored a double-up in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty, with Brittany Force winning Top Fuel and Austin Prock winning again over John Force. 

Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the specialty race at the ninth of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Saturday's win during the busy single day of qualifying at Virginia Motorsports Park marked the first Mission Foods Challenge win for Force, as she ran 3.966-seconds at 316.97 mph ito defeat Tony Schumacher in the finals. She is the defending event winner in Richmond, breaking track records in 2022, and again found success at the facility on Saturday.

“This is big for us, just because we’ve been struggling for so long, and to be able to win this Mission Foods Challenge is huge for our team,” Force said. “We need it just to keep us moving forward, keep us pumped up. We’ve stayed motivated for all of it through last season and coming into this season. Every week, we come out here we you know, we push as hard as we can, and we still feel like we’re going to win this thing. To be able to bring home this win for this team is huge. We all definitely needed it and we’re excited about race day tomorrow.”

Prock continued to run a red-hot pace in Funny Car winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for the third time this season and the second straight race, again stopping John Force, in the final round with a run of 4.037 at 315.93. He also doubled-up two weeks ago in Bristol and will try to do the same on Sunday.

“We definitely struggled as an organization last year in this (Mission) deal, so this is nice to see, it kind of changes the tide to be racking up a lot of points,” Prock said. “I’ve been having fun racing, my boss. He’s got me one or two times, and I think I’ve got him two times and it’s always good when it’s an all-JFR final round because you know you’re going home with the tortilla chips.”

Greg Anderson won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Pro Stock for the first time in his career, knocking off longtime rival Erica Enders in the final round of the specialty event with a run of 6.626 at 206.80 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. Anderson had a brilliant .004 reaction time and held off Enders’ 6.627 at the finish line to pick up the bonus points and bonus purse with the win. He knocked off Dallas Glenn to reach the finals against Enders. It was a thrilling moment for Anderson, who will now try to win a national event at Virginia Motorsports Park for the first time in his career.

“I’m not quite sure how I pulled off that reaction time but I’ll take it,” Anderson said. “Obviously, it’s fantastic. Racing on Saturday is so exciting to us and it’s like qualifying becomes kind of a second act for us, so it’s making me very competitive, and that feels great. I love racing this (Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge) deal and I just wish I’d done better in the past but doesn’t matter now: I finally got a win.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Matt Smith earned his second straight in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, defeating Richard Gadson in the final round with a solid run of 6.767 at 200.86 on his Denso Auto Parts/Matt Smith Racing Buell. The six-time world champion disposed of both Vance & Hines bikes on Saturday, defeating points leader Gaige Herrera in the semifinals before getting past Gadson a round later. Smith, who is also the defending event winner at Virginia Motorsports Park, will look to carry that momentum into Sunday, where he’s looking to win for the first time this season and end Herrera’s NHRA record-tying streak of nine straight wins.

“We knocked off Gaige (Herrera) in the first round and then we beat the other Vance & Hines bike with Richard (Gadson), so all in all great weekend so far,” Smith said. “I just keep rolling and trying to do the best I can to keep the momentum going, but we’ve got a really good bike. This Denso bike is strong. and it’s mean. We’ve been working on bike but it’s hard to control the tire when it gets hot but we’re doing a pretty good job of it so far.”

Eliminations for the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals begin at 12 p.m. on Sunday at Virginia Motorsports Park.