The shine of Brittany Force’s 2022 NHRA season shows no signs of wearing off. 

Force, who arrived first in the points standings on the strength of three wins, kept flexing her muscles at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Friday through Sunday in Norwalk, Ohio.

Force qualified No. 1 with a track record elapsed time at 3.666 seconds at a track record speed of 333.08 mph.

If Force stays No. 1 after Saturday’s two qualifying sessions it will be the third of the season to go with the ones she captured in Pomona, Calif., and Richmond. This would be the 35th No. 1 qualifying spot in her career.

“We always chat right before going into the run,” said Force about the discussions she has with her crew chief David Grubnic. “After that run earlier, we knew we had a shot. We really pushed. We were back in the field, so we knew we could watch all the other cars go out ahead of us and see what they were capable of running. And we based it off that. So, we did some fine tuning back here in the staging lanes. And I figured it was going to be a high 60. 66, no, I was not expecting that. I thought 69, 68, but it was incredible, a beautiful run. And a really great way to end the night with all the fireworks.”

Force took a moment to talk about her stellar season at this point.

“Looking back at last season, we didn't win until Topeka (Kan.),” Force said. “And that was our only win of the season when we doubled up with my dad. And this season, we already have three wins under our belt. We're just way ahead of ourselves and we've been carrying that No. 1, we're in the points lead. It's a great position to be in. We want to stay there all season long until the end of this thing, but we just keep chipping away weekend after weekend. And you don't want to fall too far behind because then it's hard to catch up.”

As good as things have gone for Force, she isn’t taking anything for granted.

“The crazy thing is in one weekend, everything could change on you,” she said. “Everyone's so close in points. One bad weekend could really set you back. We're just focused on, when we come in each weekend, not looking at everything overall as a whole picture, but really just one weekend at a time.”

Force acknowledged putting her name in the storied record book in Norwalk Friday night was special.

“It was pretty awesome, to be able to share that with my entire team,” Force said. “It's all of us that put that run on the board. It's David Grubnic, Mac Savage. Every single one of these Monster guys, they put in the hours, they put in the hard work. We actually stayed last week in Bristol and did an entire day of testing. 

“They definitely put in the hours. To be able to come out here and make two runs. And then to be able to put a 3.66 on the board, makes us all feel pretty good leaving. But the weekend's not over. We have two more (Saturday). We're hoping to lay two solid runs down, that'll set us up for race day. And we want to go out and win this thing.”

Force doesn’t think the conditions Saturday will be ripe for another record.

“Yeah, I don't think so,” said. “We're running a little bit earlier and I think it's going to be hotter tomorrow. Really, our focus is going to change. We're not worried about putting a killer number on the board. Our focus is going to be just making solid, clean passes, getting that car down the racetrack.

“Those little (qualifying) points in the very end of this thing, they all add up. Championships have been won and lost, they've come down just two, points. We want as many as we could get. Again, comparing last season, we had so many number one qualifiers but we struggled on race day. Our focus this year is more on race day, getting us set up for race day. Yeah. Luckily, we put that awesome number on the board, but you're not going to see that tomorrow. We're going to be getting ready for Sunday.”