SONOMA, Calif. (July 27, 2018) - The dominant campaign of Courtney Force continued Friday night as the current Funny Car points leader took the preliminary No. 1 qualifier at the 31st annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.
Force jumped atop the class with a pass of 3.910 seconds at 326.16 mph recorded during her second qualifying run of the day. She currently leads all NHRA competitors with nine No. 1 qualifiers on the year as she also has a category-best four wins at this point in the season.
"I knew that with these conditions during the second pass our team could really shine, so we pushed the car pretty hard and made our way to the top spot," said Force, who claimed the Funny Car crown in Sonoma in 2014. "That run felt great, so I was really excited to do that for our sponsors, and even though we still have that pass tomorrow it feels great to be on top at the end of night one in Sonoma."
Clay Millican (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also preliminary No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the 15th of 24 events on the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.
Millican powered to the preliminary top spot with a run of 3.700 at 327.98 in the last qualifying pass of the night. Millican is chasing his seventh No. 1 qualifier of the year as he also looks for his first career top spot at Sonoma Raceway.
Anderson currently leads the Pro Stock class after driving to a 6.515 at 211.16 during his second pass of the day. The four-time world champion is chasing his ninth No. 1 qualifying spot of the year as he sets his sights on back-to-back race wins to start off the Western Swing.
The defending world champion Krawiec currently leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle class after a 6.780 at 198.76 during his first pass of the day. The four-time world champion is chasing his second consecutive No. 1 qualifying spot of the as he also looks to expand upon his category-best three wins in 2018.
Qualifying continues at 1:10 p.m. on Saturday at Sonoma Raceway. For more information, visit www.sonomaraceway.com or call 800-870-7223. Tickets are available for purchase at the gate.
