Bristol: John Force Racing final summary

FORCE FALLS IN FINAL OF O'REILLY THUNDER VALLEY NATIONALS

John Force again was denied his first win of the 2006 season, dropping a narrow .019 of a second decision to POWERade points leader Ron Capps in the final round of the sixth annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

For Force and his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, it was the third final round disappointment of the new season and it increased Capps' advantage to 122 points with 17 races remaining.

Force's teammate, Eric Medlen, was the No. 1 qualifier at Bristol Dragway for the second straight year, lowering the track record to 4.755 seconds at the wheel of the Castrol SYNTEC Ford. Unfortunately, Medlen, too, ran afoul of Capps, losing to the Dodge driver in round two.

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TEAM CASTROL Details:

JOHN FORCE, 56, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang

Qualifying position and performance: 3rd at 4.766 seconds, 323.19 mph.

Race results: Beat Cruz Pedregon, Jim Head, Whit Bazemore; lost to Ron Capps.

Notable: Extended qualifying streak to 375 consecutive races dating back to 1988 and reached the final round for a record 190th time.

Quotable: "It was a good weekendm- until the final. Bottom line, we didn't do the job. At Atlanta (this week's Summit Racing Southern Nationals), we just have todo better." -- JOHN FORCE.

ERIC MEDLEN, 32, Castrol SYNTEC Ford Mustang

Qualifying position and performance: 1st at 4.755 seconds, 306.53 mph.

Race results: Beat Del Worsham; lost to Ron Capps.

Notable: No. 1 qualifier for the second consecutive season and for the second time this year and moved from seventh to fourth in points.

Quotable: "We had a chance to help John out (against Capps) and we didn't get it done, but this just makes us more determined. We'll go back to work this week and we're gonna find a way to turn it around and go 1-2-3." -- ERIC MEDLEN.

ROBERT HIGHT, 36, Team Castrol/Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang

Qualifying position and performance: 7th at 4.808 seconds, 320.58 mph.

Race results: Lost to Phil Burkart Jr.

Notable: Slipped to sixth in POWERade points.

Quotable: "We're just in a situation right now where we're not doing anything wrong, but we're not getting results. It's frustrating, but all you can do is to keep going back out there and eventually it'll turn around." -- ROBERT HIGHT.

-johnforceracing