Qualifying in the top spot is nothing new for veteran Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon but the system in which he does it has changed. Seeded second in the Countdown to 1, Dixon admits the NHRA’s new bonus points have changed his view on qualifying.

“I would say before I wouldn’t really care whether I qualified first or third but now being first in a session means you get those three bonus points,” Dixon said, “It’s putting more precedence on the pole now than before.”

Dixon posted the quickest run of the weekend, 3.844 at 313.66 mph in Saturday’s morning qualifying session. His pole in the NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord, NC gives him five for the season and is the 36th in his career. This is Dixon’s first pole since the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Washington.

Dixon’s new philosophy is to separate testing from qualifying and the new bonus points tie right into this.

“We get four test sessions allowed a year so we try to do our testing then. You come in here and we’re trying to do our best in every session,” adds Dixon, “Only difference now the ones who do well are going to get points for it.”

The spread in Top Fuel qualifying for Sunday’s race from 1st to 16th is a total of nine hundredths. Dixon knows what this means for Sunday eliminations.

“I don’t know what the qualifying spread was in Pro Stock but I think ours was nine hundredths between one and 16,” adds Dixon, “You can’t pedal a car and get back in it to save nine hundredths.

“Having a field that tight from one to 16 is going to keep you honest and race hard.”

With the amount of upsets that have occurred over the NHRA season, Larry Dixon is not looking past first round opponent, Terry Haddock, on Sunday.

“Terry beat Tony earlier (this year) to snap his round winning streak,” says Dixon. 

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