Brittany Force  (Ron Lewis photo)

For the fifth time in her career and the first time since the Reading, Pa., NHRA National event last season Brittany Force raced to a final round in Top Fuel. Her bid to become the eighth woman to win a Top Fuel title came up just short against New Jersey native Antron Brown when her dragster shook the tires coming off the starting line. Force qualified No. 6 and worked her way to the final round by defeating Richie Crampton, Tony Schumacher and Terry McMillen.

"Overall this was an awesome day for this Monster Energy team. I am so proud of every one of my guys. They put everything into this dragster this weekend. We went all the way to the final and I don't even know how that happened it was just a blur today. You can tell they are bummed and they really wanted to take home that win but I am so proud of them and especially my crew chiefs Todd Smith and Ronnie Thompson," said Force.

Two weeks ago Force raced to her first semi-final finish of the season and Sunday advanced to the final round. The round wins moved her up in the Mello Yello point standings from 11th place to 8th place.

"I love having back to back races. That is the best part about having some momentum. We ended on a good note and we went to our fifth final. We only have a few days off and we go right back into the next one. I like to get into that groove and so does my team," said Force, on the prospect of racing three weekends in a row: Englishtown, Epping, NH, and Bristol, TN.

Morgan Lucas, seen here against Clay Millican, had new sponsor Sig Sauer on his Top Fueler for the first time and suffered an engine explosion during the second round of qualifying. Lucas was on a good pass until just past half-track when the engine let go with a huge fireball. Lucas was charged with an oil-down, #2 for the season that cost 10 points and $2,000. (Ron Lewis photo)