[67 Nova Boy]

John Force wheeled his Peak Chevrolet Funny Car to the head of the field during Friday qualifying at the Virginia NHRA Nationals. The 16-time champion, running Herculiner colors at Virginia Motorsports Park, ran a track-record 3.899-second pass at 321.88 mph to get halfway to his first pole of the season.

“My crew chiefs and other crew chiefs say this is the smoothest track on the circuit, and that’s what we live for. It was still a little warm but still ran .89, so they did a good job,” Force said. “I won the first race here [in 1995] and last year I was in the final here and lost to [daughter] Courtney, with this same car and crew with Daniel Hood and Brian Corradi and that car was fast, and her car was red and my car has Herculiner on and it’s red, too. That run won’t last [for No. 1] tomorrow; the kids all know what’s out there so they’re going to shoot for that.”

Clay Millican ran a track-record 3.749-second pass in the first qualifying session to take the lead in Top Fuel after the first day of racing at the eighth stop on the 24-race NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour. He's ahead of Las Vegas winner Mike Salinas by .005-second ahead of Saturday qualifying.

“When I crossed the finish line I looked up at the scoreboards and thought it said 3.79, which would have been a pretty good run,” Millican said. “But it also could have been a 3.74. I got on the radio and asked, but no one answered. Turns out it was the 3.74; it didn’t surprise Mike, but it did me.”

Pro Stock made its return to the NHRA circuit and K.B. Racing did so authoritatively. Four of the five K.B.-powered cars are at the top of the field with Jason Line at the top. He made the best pass in both qualifying sessions and is in the No. 1 spot on the back of a 6.563-second lap. Line is followed by 2017 champ Bo Butner, multi-time champ Greg Anderson and Denver native Deric Kramer.

Matt Smith found the cure for what ailed him at the previous stop on tour (Atlanta) and made the quickest run in both sessions. He's at the top of the Pro Stock Motorcycle heap with a 6.844-second hit. That's .006-second better than Eddie Krawiec, who is at the lead of the three-bike Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson contingent.

There will be two more sessions beginning at 12:45 p.m. Eastern Saturday.