John Force team hopes to return in Vegas

John Force Racing plans to return to action at this weekend's eighth annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, team patriarch and 14-time NHRA world champion John Force announced during a nationwide press conference Tuesday. The team sat out the last national event in Houston following the March 23 death of team driver Eric Medlen, who died as a result of closed head injuries suffered during a test session at Gainesville Raceway in Florida. Experts have determined that Medlen's death occurred due to a violent side-to-side shaking of his head within the cockpit roll cage.

All four race teams will go to Vegas, but only three may compete. In an unprecedented move, NHRA is allowing JFR to test at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of this weekend's race, to see if John Force Racing's reconfigured race cars are drivable. Under the watchful eye of NHRA officials, no tuning data will be gathered during the test, where Force will intentionally drive his car into tire shake to see if newly installed padding around the driver's head will help. Force is not fully committed to racing any of his cars, including the Super Comp dragsters of daughters Brittany and Courtney, pending the results of the test session.