Brittany Force and the Monster Energy team secured their 11th No. 1 qualifier of the season, 21st of Force’s career Saturday at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex just outside of Dallas. Robert Hight led the charge in Funny Car landing the AAA Texas Chevrolet Camaro SS in the No. 1 spot for the second time in 2021 and 53rd time of his career. Greg Anderson and Steve Johnson also held their top spots from Friday and will enter Sundays finals in the number 1 sports respectively.
Brittany Force:
“We missed our mark on what we were aiming for in Q3, and that track is a little tricky when it heats up," she said. "We have it figured out cooler conditions and hot conditions we struggle a little bit, but we made up for it in Q4.
“We made some good passes this weekend. We actually came into Texas early to do some testing so I definitely like that helped us out and we laid down some pretty good runs, especially that run last night because I grabbed the No. 1 qualifying spot and set us up.”
Robert Hight:
“We’re pretty excited,” he said. “I's our first race with four qualifying runs, and we were low e.t. on three of the four runs, so that that gives you a lot of confidence going into Sunday. Tonight we were only a hundredth off last night’s run in the heat. That's still a great run for us.
“[In Q3] it slipped a lot more than we thought it would. It was way too fast leaving; we just pushed too hard. And sometimes that's a good thing, because that's really the conditions that we're going to face tomorrow in the middle of the day, and we definitely know what not to do now.”
Greg Anderson:
“We had a small hiccup today and again broke part [a rocker arm] on the burnout in the first run but that's OK; we're in good shape, right where we want to be,” he said. “Missing the morning run kind of screwed us a little bit for tonight so we missed a little bit, it’s OK.
“It's been an awesome weekend. I've just had a great car all year long and guys have done a fantastic job and they've given me a horse to win with every race. Unfortunately, I haven't handled that horse that well, but I'll get it tomorrow.”
Steve Johnson:
“I'm so excited because I feel like I drove really, really good today,” not like I did last night,” he admitted. “It’s exciting because to start from the No. 1 spot clearly gives you a mental edge I'm from Alabama now. So the Alabama teams are all about preparation, and if you understand the preparation, and you administrate that into doing your job, then the results will be everybody's happiness, because we're preparing the right way. And when you hit No. 1, clearly you've prepared. Nick Saban says it way better.”
Eliminations at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex are set for Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage continues with a second qualifying show Sunday at 2 p.m. ET followed by eliminations coverage at 3 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1).
Check out what Phil Burgess had to say about Saturday's action:
John Force Racing PR:
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