Force Extends Points Lead at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS - John Force qualified a Castrol GTX Funny Car for an NHRA national event for the 391st consecutive time, extending a streak that began with the first race of the 1988 season and claiming the NHRA Full Throttle Award for qualifying consistency for the second consecutive event.
John Force moved to within one round win of a record 14th NHRA Funny Car Championship Sunday even though he couldn't get his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to the winners' circle in the sixth annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After qualifying second in a 1-2-3 sweep for Team Castrol, Force beat Jim Head in round one while his closest pursuers, Ron Capps and Robert Hight, were unable to advance. As a result, the 57-year-old icon will move on to Pomona, Calif., for the season-ending Auto Club Finals leading Capps by 71 points and Hight by 73.
Hight, who drove the Team Castrol/Auto Club Mustang to track records of 4.677 seconds and 333.08 miles per hour during qualifying, was victimized in the first round by a mechanical failure that allowed Tony Bartone to advance from the No. 16 qualifying position.
After beating Head, Force's Mustang lost traction in a second round duel with the Chevrolet Monte Carlo of eventual runner-up Tommy Johnson Jr.
Ironically, the most successful of the Team Castrol entries was the one with no chance to win the season championship. Eric Medlen, driver of the Castrol SYNTEC Ford, continued his second half surge by reaching the semifinals and solidifying his hold on fourth place in season points.
The 33-year-old Californian goes into the last of the season's 23 races 74 points behind Hight and 76 behind Capps.
"That was a heartbreaker," Medlen said of his .002 of a second loss to Johnson. "No matter how you lose them, it's never easy. When they're that close it makes it even tougher. Maybe I'm saying that because that's how we lost today (but) I'm real proud of our guys. We have come a long way and they are doing a great job."
