B.Force, Beckman, Anderson, Ellis Quickest in Pomona Qualifying

Brittany Force

Top Fuel title contender Brittany Force piloted her Monster Energy dragster to the quickest pass in Auto Club Raceway at Pomona history during qualifying at the 53rd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Chip Ellis (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also preliminary qualifiers in their respective categories at the final event of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

Force, who entered the race only 20 points behind first, put down a 3.667-second pass at 330.31 mph in the second qualifying session to take over the Top Fuel lead.

Southern California native Beckman raced to the top of the Funny Car field with his 3.835 pass at 334.98 in his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T during the second session.

Anderson, who is leading the championship chase in Pro Stock, raced his Chevrolet Camaro to a 6.561 pass at 210.67 in the first qualifying session.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Chip Ellis rode to a 6.805 pass at 196.53 to lead the field. Ellis was quickest in both of the qualifying sessions. Ellis is racing to secure his first No. 1 of the season and first since 2015.

Qualifying at the 53rd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals continues Saturday at 11:50 a.m. Catch the action live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) at 6 p.m.