Nothing new to see here.

After racing to a mind-numbing 12 top qualifier awards last season, Brittany Force began the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season exactly the way she raced much of last year - at the top of the mountain.

Force raced to her 33rd No. 1 qualifier Saturday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com, using her third and final pull to overtake Justin Ashley for the top spot as she has now sat atop the Top Fuel ladder in 11 of the last 14 races.

“It feels awesome just to be back out here at my home track starting a new season with the Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pac team,” Force said. “I’m excited to be back with all of them doing what we love. And it is even better to go No. 1 in our first race of the season. It pumps all of us up. We are excited to get going and see what we can do this weekend.”

Cooler conditions at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona on Saturday shook up much of the ladder in the premier nitro categories, with no one benefitting more than Force.

Force improved upon her 3.722 from Friday night with a blistering 3.661-second pass at 333.91 mph in her Monster Energy machine to leapfrog provisional top qualifier Justin Ashley. Ashley had an opportunity to improve upon his time, but was unable to do so and slotted in behind the former champion with a 3.676 at 331.45 mph in his Phillips Connect Dragster.

Mike Salinas placed his Scrappers Racing machine in third with a 3.677 at 329.02 mph, while Austin Prock (3.711) and Doug Kalitta (3.720) rounded out the top five. Defending world champion Steve Torrence qualified uncharacteristically in sixth with a 3.725, ending a streak of top five qualifying efforts dating back to October of 2020.

“(Crew chief David Grubnic) doesn’t say much, but that is when I know we are going to run pretty well,” Force said. “He has so much going on in his head, so when he doesn’t say anything I know what that means - it is usually a ‘hold on tight, you know what I am going to do’ moment. We were in safe with our run last night so it gave us the opportunity to push and take some chances. We screwed up on that first run today, but we made up for it with a good run in our last qualifying pass.”

Saturday proved a big relief for Force and her John Force Racing team, including crew chiefs David Grubnic and Mac Savage, after a lengthy test session one week ago brought about more questions than answers. But after a solid run on Friday, and then another trip to the top of the heap on Saturday, Force was excited to see it all come together when it mattered most.

“It has definitely been a buildup. If you look at Phoenix testing, we were out there testing for three days and I think we made nine or 10 runs and it was a little bit of a struggle for us,” Force said. “Testing wasn’t easy, but we learned what we needed to. We only made one full pull, we were making halftrack runs most of the time and we struggled quite a bit. We were out there just trying to find our routine again. Getting in the car, warming it up, doing a burnout and going to 60 feet is really all that you need. Typically, testing is all over the place and never as planned.

“And then we came out here and we only have three qualifying runs and struggled on a couple of them. It felt good to have a solid pass down the track before going into race day tomorrow. I’m pumped about it. I give it up to David Grubnic, Mac Savage and all of our guys.”

While Force has become known for her qualifying prowess, the former world champion and 11-time race winner does not have a win at the premier Winternationals, a race she would love to win more than any other.

Force will try to earn that elusive trophy on Sunday beginning with an opening-round tilt with Ron August.

“I grew up at this racetrack. I love it here. It is a very special track to me because this is where my love of drag racing began,” Force said. “I have so many great memories here, so to do it at the season opener, that is what we are going for. That is why we are here. And we have lots of friends and family here cheering us on.”