Brittany Force Leads Opening Round Quals at Indy

Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) posted the quickest elapsed time in their respective classes during Friday's opening round of qualifying for Monday's 59th Annual U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.

Friday marked the first of five qualifying sessions to be held this weekend, with two sessions to be held both Saturday and Sunday prior to Monday's eliminations.

Force ran a 3.820 at 313.44 mph to earn the top spot in Top Fuel, followed by Spencer Massey and Doug Kalitta. Among those still not in the field are points leader Shawn Langdon and third-place points driver Tony Schumacher.

In Funny Car, Tasca posted a run of 4.085 at 312.28 in his Ford Mustang to lead all qualifiers. Defending Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson ran 6.661 at 207.02 mph to take the provisional pole in that division, while Matt Smith ran a 7.010 at 192 mph to lead the Pro Stock Motorcycle bracket. Pete McCole