Doug Kalitta, driver of the Mac Tools “Big Red” dragster, raced to his fifth runner-up finish of the 2014 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Kalitta’s runner-up run in Bristol was the second consecutive final round appearance for the Mac Tools team. They were also runner-up finishers at the previous event in Englishtown, N.J.

Kalitta entered the event in Bristol with the Top Fuel class points lead (103) and was able to build upon that lead, now 120 points, after defeating the second place points holder Antron Brown in the semifinals and by reaching the 74th final round of his 17-year career.

Kalitta and the Mac Tools team have one event victory on the season (Gainesville, Fla.) so far. He now needs only one more eliminations-round win to reach 500 for his career.

Chris Karamesines got the first-round win, but lost to Doug Kalitta in the second round.

Despite securing her second number one qualifying position in the last three races, Brittany Force lost in the opening round to Chris “The Greek” Karamesines.

The 2013 NHRA Auto Club Rookie of the Year had lane choice over Karamesines in the opening round. This was the first time Brittany Force and Chris Karamesines have faced each other in eliminations.

“Going into the first round today, I was definitely pumped and my team was pumped. We were so motivated to get this Castrol EDGE Dragster into the winner’s circle. It was cool to race ‘The Greek’ as he’s a legend in our sport and I went over to shake his hand before the run and he wished me luck,” said Brittany Force.

Having a better reaction time, Brittany was out of the gate first. Unfortunately tricky track conditions threw her a curve ball, as the massive Goodyear slicks erupted into a wall of smoke just past the 330-foot mark on the track, and Brittany had to shut her dragster down. About that same point, Karamesines’ supercharger exploded, and that in turn activated the parachutes to be deployed early, but he still coasted to the win.