Larry Dixon saved the best run of the night for last.

Dixon, the driver of the Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Top Fuel dragster, made a 3.850-second run at 302.89 mph Friday night at the NHRA U.s. Nationals to capture the top qualifying spot. Dixon’s run came moments after Cory McClenathan’s 3.863-elapsed time. Pro qualifying continues at noon and 5:45 p.m., on Saturday.

“It’s obviously nice to be able to get your car down the track, and know you got your car in the top 12,” said Dixon, who has won five races this season. “Now, you can go into Saturday at the back of the session and see what some of the cars are doing and just try and make a run accordingly.”

Larry Dixon saved the best run of the night for last.

Dixon, the driver of the Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Top Fuel dragster, made a 3.850-second run at 302.89 mph Friday night at the NHRA U.s. Nationals to capture the top qualifying spot. Dixon’s run came moments after Cory McClenathan’s 3.863-elapsed time. Pro qualifying continues at noon and 5:45 p.m., on Saturday.

“It’s obviously nice to be able to get your car down the track, and know you got your car in the top 12,” said Dixon, who has won five races this season. “Now, you can go into Saturday at the back of the session and see what some of the cars are doing and just try and make a run accordingly.”

Hot Rod Fuller, who is driving for Bob Vandergriff at Indy, is qualified third at 3.888 seconds. Antron Brown and Brandon Bernstein came in at 3.912 and 3.919 seconds, respectively.

Dixon made his run with team owner Khalid Al-Thani watching the action from the starting line.

“I had not got past performing under the pressure of Alan Johnson, to get to Khalid,” Dixon said. “I think Khalid is a lot easier to please than Alan.”

Despite his top run, Dixon knows his team can’t rest on that time.

“I don’t believe that time will hold for the pole, and I think (Saturday night) will be the run for the pole,” Dixon said.

Dixon recorded his time in the left lane, the same lane that Luigi Novelli oiled down, resulting in a 45-minute delay to clean up the track.

“When I rolled out there after the burnout, and you’re down there and there’s not really a hard groove, because there wasn’t many cars that got down the track that far after that,” Dixon said. “The car wanted to drift a little bit to the left, and I knew being on the outside wasn’t good, so I just tried to pull her back inside and get her down there. It worked for that moment.” 

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