Tony Schumacher scored his second low qualifying effort of 2009 and the timing couldn’t have been better.

Schumacher heads into the final day of the season with a one point lead thanks to a low elapsed time effort on his final nitro qualifying run of 2009. He scored a back-up for a potential new world record with a 3.772 elapsed time at 320.58 miles per hour.

Dixon, the second quickest Top Fuel qualifier, also has a back-up for a new record. The current record is 3.771 seconds held by Schumacher.

‘That’s exactly what we needed and exactly where the U.S. Army team needed to be headed into Sunday,” said Schumacher of Saturday’s run. “Going into the final day with a one-point lead … we couldn’t have asked for any more. If that’s not Army strong, there will never be another term like it.

“That was perfect, flawless, dark and foggy but man, was that fun.”

The three-day battle of wills between the nitro titans whittles down to Sunday’s final eliminations and both drivers could potentially meet in the final round. If that scenario plays out, it will be the fifth time in Top Fuel history that a championship has been decided on the final run of the season.

“I’ve been blessed with many championships that came down to that last run to win,” Schumacher explained. “That’s a gratifying win, not one where you go out early and that one point determines it. That would be great to win but I don’t think the fans would look forward to that. I don’t think either one of us want that. We anticipate and plan on digging down deep to crown a world champion.”

Dixon isn’t about to claim the final round as a foregone conclusion for the championship to be decided.

“You might better ask those 14 other drivers in the field,” Dixon said. “They are racing for a trophy and cash. There are good cars out there. Neither one of us are looking past first round.”

Sunday, who’s under more pressure, drivers or tuners?

While Schumacher believes it’s an equal amount, Dixon is assured that his team owner/tuner Alan Johnson isn’t stressed.

“I think Tony knows that Alan Johnson isn’t going to lose any sleep tonight,” Dixon answered when asked the same question. “After years with Tony and then Gary [Scelzi], and in 1995 with Blaine [Johnson's brother] where he beat me to win his first race and set low ET, he’s got a lot of laps at this race track and he’s been doing this a long time as does Mike Green. All that data you get through the years … we didn’t make a good run [Saturday night], but it’s still good information and we’ll learn from it.”

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