COURTNEY FORCE ENDS WINLESS STREAK WITH NHRA ARIZONA NATIONALS VICTORY

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 26 2018) — A weekend filled with a well of emotions ended on the ultimate high-note for John Force Racing at the 34th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Worse Pass Motorsports Park outside of Phoenix. Courtney Force will head back to Yorba Linda, Calif. with a Wally while her father, 16-time world champion John Force, will head home with another hospital visit. The drag racing legend ended his race day with an engine explosion during the second round. John Force won the round before his PEAK Coolant and Motor Oil Chevy Camaro burst into flames, went out of control, made contact with the retaining wall, and collided with opponent Jonnie Lindberg in the opposite lane. Force was transported to a local hospital for evaluation while Lindberg exited the car under his own power. Force was later cleared and returned to Wild Horse Pass after racing had ended. “My struggles continue, but I’m a big boy, I’ll fix it,” said Force who is 11th in points. “Really glad to know that Jonnie Lindberg is okay. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I think I still have another championship in me. Depending on what the doctors say, I’m gonna come out and watch Robert test his Auto Club Chevrolet tomorrow and then get ready for Gainesville.” On the opposite side of the spectrum, Courtney Force powered her Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car victory ending her 43-race winless streak. Force over powered Tommy Johnson Jr. in the final round with a 3.834-second pass at 337.16 mph. Her speed bettered the track record she set during qualifying. Johnson Jr. smoked the tires to the 6.814 at 101.57. “Every single one of my guys on the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro has been working so hard. Today was a tough day,” said Force who last won on May 1, 2016 at the NHRA SpringNationals in Houston. “We had a 40-minute turnaround in the semifinals and didn’t have lane choice in the finals but we were able to go down there and lay down a killer number. “Thanks to my guys. They helped give me the confidence to get in that car today. They make me feel safe in that car because of the amazing job they do on it,” explained Force who now has nine career victories. “Brian Corradi and Dan Hood, they’ve been unbelievable, getting us the No. 1 qualifier hat and then to top it off get the Wally at the end of the weekend. Pretty incredible. Definitely a great start to our season. Been looking for a win for a long time now. Feels like forever. This one definitely feels good and I know it will make my dad feel better.” The victory puts Force second in the points standings behind only Matt Hagan who she defeated in the second round, just moments after seeing her father’s wreck. “Hagan actually came up to me when I had to race him and told me you’re a great driver you know how to do this, just clear your head,” Force said. “I know he didn’t want me to beat him but it was really nice of him as a competitor to tell me you know what to do out here and just remember that. It’s great to have competitors out here that are so amazing and so supportive even when you have to race them.” Force also had a win against two-time world champion Del Worsham before facing Hagan. She would have raced her father in the semi-finals but instead made a solo run. “Coming from Pomona trying to get our heads on straight and focus on putting that behind us and have a fresh start when we come to Phoenix and then dad goes up and has a huge explosion in the lights,” said Force who recorded her first win at the Arizona Nationals. “That’s one of the things that’s out of your control. I’m glad to see that Lindberg’s okay. You have to just switch your focus and get back in your car. My dad and my crew chiefs are the ones that gave me the confidence to get back in my race car and battle it out all day long. These cars are unpredictable. We know that as drivers. You just have to go out there and fight hard.” Top Fuel world champion Brittany Force piloted her Monster Energy dragster to a second-round finish just two weeks after a scary crash at the season-opening Winternationals. Force put up a 4.661 run at 156.12 and was out done by Billy Torrence’s 3.723 pass at 320.74 “Overall, looking at our weekend, I’m happy with it. I’m not disappointed in anything,” Force explained. Coming back from a wreck like we did in Pomona, that first run, climbing back in that car, it’s not easy. It’s definitely tough. And especially, also doing it again in that first round. It takes you back. I think it’s a work in progress. It’s going to take some time,” said Force. “I’m happy with our Monster Energy team. We pulled out our old car, didn’t have time to test it, just took it down there and made some pretty good passes. I pulled my foot out of it on that first run. It moved around a little bit and I clicked it a little bit early. But I’d rather play it safe than end up like we did last weekend.” Force had a first-round win against Clay Millican to put her eighth in the Top Fuel points standings. Two-time and reigning Funny Car would champion Robert Hight fell in the first round to Tommy Johnson Jr. after the pair both pedaled to the finish-line. Hight’s 4.806 pass at 273.44 was bettered by Johnson Jr.’s 4.715 at 225.60. “It was a racetrack that was in the 90s (temperature-wise). We’ve run 3.79 on a racetrack in the 90s so you go up there anticipating running a low .80 to win,” Hight explained. “Obviously, we didn’t make enough changes based on what we were seeing out there with the cars not making it (down the track). We needed to make a lot bigger move than we ever anticipated we needed to. If we had gone up there trying to run 3.95, we probably could have navigated it. We’ll test tomorrow (with) some new stuff that hopefully we’ll have on our car at Gainesville and get ‘em there.”

Crazy end to a Great weekend of NASCAR Races at LVMS.

Martin Truex, Jr. recorded his eight career victory and his first at LVMS. He's the first driver to win all three stages in a race under the new points system. Truex led 6 times for 150 laps and beat pole winner Brad Keselowski by 1.495 seconds.

"We definitely had our share of races where we've dominated and gave one away and it looked like today was going to be another one of those," said Truex. "I was out of control and Brad (Keselowski) was really good on the long run. I hate that he had problems, he was strong and we weren’t going to do anything with him, but then he lost the brakes or something. A little bit of a gift, but we have given some away, so it feels good to come out on the good end for once."

Truex and Keselowski set the pace by 239 of the 267 laps between them. Keselowski was in control of the lead for the final restart with nine laps to go but fell off the pace and faded back to fifth over the closing laps.

"I just had three-quarter speed," Keselwoski explained. "And when everybody is charging behind you that's gonna cause a wreck. I got out of the way the best I could. We had a great day. We ran up front and we led a lot of laps. We were the fastest car at the end an just didn't come together. That's part of how racing works."

Keselowski's finish was good enough to push him into the points lead by a single point over Kyle Larson. With the victory, Truex moved from 7th to 4th in points. 

While Truex was celebrating his victory with the fans on the frontstretch, a brawl broke out on pit road as Kyle Busch and Joey Logano go at it. Logano gets pulled away while several members of his crew pounce on Busch. Busch was finally subdued and left the scene with a bloody gash above his right eye.

Kyle Larson - Finished 2nd - "What an awesome day for our Target Chevy team. Second in the first stage, third in the second stage and then finished second in the race.  I can't say enough about my team.  I'm so proud of them.  Our race cars are amazing right now. We are going to hopefully, keep building on what we've got and keep challenging for wins and they will come." 

Chase Elliott - Finished 3rd - "We had a really solid car all day.  I felt like we were maybe just a tick off Brad (Keselowski) and the No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) and just needed a little bit more.  I'm going to have to get back and kind of think about what we needed and where we needed to be better at.  Had a poor restart there at the end and kind of got behind, but got lucky to kind of end up where we did with what happened.  I'm really proud of the way we have performed."

 The on-track incident that resulted in Kyle Busch spinning out on the final lap spilled over onto pit road after the race when Busch went after Joey Logano.

The contact occurred when Busch and Logano were racing hard for position in the top five. Brad Keselowski’s ailing Ford only complicated matters.

"I was racing hard there at the end with our Pennzoil Ford," said Logano. "Kyle and I usually race really well together. He tried to pin me down into the corner underneath Brad (Keselowski) and we about crashed on entry. And then I was still trying to gather it up by the center and I was gonna spin out, so I’m trying to chase it up and he was there. It obviously wasn’t anything intentional."
Of course, it wasn’t so obvious to Busch.

"I got dumped," said the Las Vegas native. “He flat out just drove straight in the corner and wrecked me. That’s how Joey races. He’s going to get it.”
According to Logano, Busch wasn’t interested in discussion.

“There wasn’t much talking,” Logano admitted. “There was a lot of swinging. You see him coming. He’s wearing the same (bright yellow) color suit as me. I don’t run from conflict. You just talk about it, but he wasn’t in a talking mood. He was in a fighting mood, I guess.”

Busch got the short end of the confrontation when he ended up on the ground underneath a pile of Logano’s crew members and emerged from the scrum with a bloody face.

Logano finished the race 4th. Busch lost a lap early after a speeding penalty but made it up and was poised to record a solid top-five finish before the spin. Instead he leaves his home track with a 22nd place finish, which ironically matches the number on the side of the car driven by his newest arch enemy. (Story courtesy of LVMS)