There was no surprises in Pro Stock qualifying Friday in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park.

 Mike Edwards, the reigning world champ of the class, once again set the pace, capturing the top qualifying spot with a 6.539-second run.

“Conditions here (at Houston) are not quite as good as they were at Charlotte a couple of weeks ago, but the track got really, really good tonight,” said Edwards, who also had the top pass of the second qualifying session at 6.550 seconds. “We left a little bit out there on the track because it definitely got better for us. Tomorrow is another day and it looks like it might be a little more humid, but we will see. I’m just real happy with my guys. They did a great job and we made two nice runs tonight. We will come out tomorrow and hopefully we can race the track and improve.”

There was no surprises in Pro Stock qualifying Friday in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park.

 Mike Edwards, the reigning world champ of the class, once again set the pace, capturing the top qualifying spot with a 6.539-second run.

“Conditions here (at Houston) are not quite as good as they were at Charlotte a couple of weeks ago, but the track got really, really good tonight,” said Edwards, who also had the top pass of the second qualifying session at 6.550 seconds. “We left a little bit out there on the track because it definitely got better for us. Tomorrow is another day and it looks like it might be a little more humid, but we will see. I’m just real happy with my guys. They did a great job and we made two nice runs tonight. We will come out tomorrow and hopefully we can race the track and improve.”

The final two Pro Stock qualifying sessions are scheduled for 11:30 and 3 pm on Saturday.

Edwards leads the points standings, thanks to winning three of the four nationals events so far this season.

If Edwards can hold down his spot atop the ladder Saturday, it would be his 20th No. 1 qualifying position since the start of the 2009 season.

Edwards, who pilots a Penhall/Young Life Pontiac GXP, says he had no plans of being conservative with today’s laps.

“We go as hard as we can go on every run, especially in qualifying on the night runs,” Edwards said. “We feel like we might have left a little bit out there tonight, but we try to get after it as much as we possibly can.”

Although Edwards won the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at the last event on March 29, he did enjoy the return to traditional two-lane racing at Houston.

“I was liking it (today),” the 53-year-old Edwards said. “It was very confusing for me over there (at Charlotte), and we were very fortunate to win that race. You feel like you have a little bit more of a feeling of what is going to happen up there now (with two-lane racing). If the fans like that deal (four wide racing), I like it. That’s what it is all about is the fans. Us racers just have to try to figure something else out if that’s what we want to do.”

Despite his dominance since 2009, Edwards is not taking anything for granted.

“We’re testing and working as hard as we can,” said Edwards, who won five races a year ago. “I feel like these guys are catching us some. Several teams are actually closing the gap on us, so we have to work twice as hard now. We’re still running good, but if you stop for a little bit and look around, they will run straight by you.”