Brittany Force turned a bleak beginning to her Countdown into a promising prospect for her second NHRA Top Fuel championship Sunday with her victory at the Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

After four straight second-round defeats, the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Dragster driver rebounded to regain the points lead. 

She used her No. 1 qualifying position for a bye run, then beat key challenger Antron Brown, eight-time champ Tony Schumacher, and another top-five contender, Mike Salinas, to take a seven-point advantage over displaced leader Justin Ashley. 

Force’s .034-second reaction time enabled her to score a holeshot victory in the final over Salinas, with a 3.705-second elapsed time at 332.34 mph that topped Salinas’ quicker 3.702 seconds at 324.90 mph. 

Salinas improved to third place, 66 points back, as the Camping World Drag Racing Series moves to Pomona, Calif., for the Nov. 11-13 Finals at Auto Club Raceway. 

“It shows you that Pomona is going to be exciting,” Force said. “I knew it would come down to Pomona, and it's going to be just a thrill for everybody. Going into it, we feel good. We're leaving in the best position that we can. We dominated this weekend. We did great. We struggled the entire Countdown and we started to make ground last weekend, and I screwed up. And so coming in this weekend, we really turned it around. We've had solid runs, picked up a ton of bonus points during qualifying, got that No. 1 qualifier [and] bonus points there, and we wanted to win today. We chased it down, and we got it done.” 

She said the poor results from Reading, Charlotte, St. Louis, and Dallas weighed on her. 

“I'll tell you, it's a fight to leave on a mark like that and to feel like you’ve let your team down. My guys, every single one of them, David Grubnic, Mack Savage, every single one of those Flav-R-Pac guys, they're such hard workers. They put everything in that car. And then to feel like I held them back when we're in the hunt for the championship, there's no worse feeling,” she said. 

“So it's about going home and putting in the hours, putting in the time. I’m practicing everywhere I can to be better when I get out here. And staying positive, really putting it behind you, stop thinking about it and moving forward is the biggest key for me, and we were able to accomplish that. Again, I was a little off today, but I found it in the final round,” Force said. 

The victory, she said, “is huge. It's giving it back to my guys for all the times they've carried me. So it's a thank-you to them. Again, I give it up to every single one of my guys. They're incredible. There’s no one else I'd rather be going into the hunt for this championship with than those guys. 

“It gives us a lot of confidence. This is our career best season: five wins, and it's been a little while since we've been in that winners circle. And, I mean, we didn't come close in the Countdown, so today was a big turnaround for our team to get us back to the number one qualifier points, move us up and end up in that winner circle.” 

Ashley lost to Clay Millican in the opening round, but Force said she paid no attention to that race two pairings behind her. 

“Honestly, I don't look at what's going on. I don't care what anybody else is doing. I only care about what our team can do, what I can do as a driver, because I can't control what the other guy in the lane next to me is doing. I actually didn’t know that he went out until we were back [at the hauler],” Force said. “My focus is once I’m in that car, once I’m in the staging lane, once I’m at the starting line, it’s only that. I don’t look around me, because it’s another distraction, and you don’t need distractions when you’re trying to cut a light and turn a win light on.” 

Millican apologized to Ashley for upsetting his plan to open a bigger lead on the field, then said, “I know Justin is in a fight for the championship, but I’ve got to turn win lights on. That’s what Parts Plus sends me money for. Justin will be fine. He ain’t out of this.” 

Ashley said, “Of course, you’re disappointed” with a damaging first-round exit. “I’m happy for a guy like Clay My Phillips Connect team has been working so hard. We knew coming into the Countdown that it wasn’t going to be easy. This is the emotional roller coaster we talk about. I said we’re not going to ride those waves. No matter what happens the rest of the day, we’re going to be in it come Pomona. We’ll regroup and be back in Pomona, ready to rock.” 

Brown, Force’s second-round casualty, knew he was in for a monumental match-up, once again, with her. He called the Round 2 race “rough” and said, “Brittany was a juggernaut all weekend in qualifying, and we were just a tad too aggressive. Our Matco Dragster was trucking early, but the track just wouldn’t hold it. It’s tough.” Alluding to the points-and-a-half format that will be in place at the Finals, now-fourth-ranked Brown said, “We’ve still got a shot going into Pomona in two weeks, and that’s all you can ask for.” He’s 78 points behind Force. 

Her John Force Racing teammate, Austin Prock, took out reigning class champion Steve Torrence in the second round. That put a significant dent in his hopes for a fifth consecutive crown, but he’s still in contention in fifth place with an 87-point gap to fill. 

Torrence said, “The door was open, but we just couldn’t get through it,” taking a realistic view at his hopes for a repeat championship. “If we just had to catch Brittany or Justin, that would be one thing, but there are two other drivers ahead of us now. We’ll just go to Pomona and try to end it strong and build some momentum.  I’m really proud of these Capco Boys.  We had some issues this year, but we kept our heads up, and we’re ending the season with a strong car. It’s definitely not how we drew it up. 

“This can be a very humbling sport,” Torrence said.  “We struggled early. But credit Justin and Brittany and AB [Brown] and Mike [Salinas] – in fact, credit everybody in Top Fuel.  There are no more easy outs in this class. And when you’re the champ, you get everybody’s best. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it should be.” 

Force said he’s ready for the final right now. 

“I wish we honestly went right into Pomona. If it were up to me, that's how we would do it because it's just this gut-ache that you carry, the what ifs, and just thinking of every scenario, I honestly I don't know how other drivers are. I can't go home and relax and enjoy the weekend. I'm just counting down the days until we get to Pomona,” she said.