Larry Dixon is back in the groove and if his history this season stays true to form; his No. 1 qualifying spot is a strong indicator he'll spend some time Sunday celebrating a victory.

Dixon was happily recounting the days events when he was reminded he has yet to lose from the No. 1 qualifying spot in 2010.

“Thanks for bringing that up,” responded Dixon with a laugh. “The pressure is on.”

The pressure to perform to a gold standard has been hovering over Dixon ever since he left Don Prudhomme Racing to become the driver of the Al-Anabi dragster in 2009.

Larry Dixon is back in the groove and if his history this season stays true to form; his No. 1 qualifying spot is a strong indicator he'll spend some time Sunday celebrating a victory.

Dixon was happily recounting the days events when he was reminded he has yet to lose from the No. 1 qualifying spot in 2010.

“Thanks for bringing that up,” responded Dixon with a laugh. “The pressure is on.”

The pressure to perform to a gold standard has been hovering over Dixon ever since he left Don Prudhomme Racing to become the driver of the Al-Anabi dragster in 2009.

Up until last week at Bristol, Dixon has been a virtual machine this year, capturing poles and winning races. Still, it hasn't been as easy as it looks.

“It's really tough,” admitted Dixon as he talked about qualifying. “You have to hit that Friday night session just right. You know you are going for the pole. It's like a long ball contest in golf. Friday night you swing for the fences and hope it sticks. For us, ours was the one that stuck the best last night.”

Typically, Dixon and the Al-Anabi team swing for the fences on Friday night and then look to Saturday to fine tune a set-up for eliminations on Sunday. At Norwalk, the pattern held true to form.

“I thought our team, the Al-Anabi team, did a good job today,” Dixon said. “We had two runs, the first one an .87, Q3, and then, Q4, came back with an .85. Good runs for the middle of the day.”

Exactly the conditions teams are expecting on Sunday. However, according to Dixon, the forecast could always change.

“Forecast-wise, the forecast is similar to what you saw today. Obviously a chance  of rain, we hope not. There is a chance you might have cloud cover, you might have sun, heat humidity and all that. You just have to be prepared for everything. Our team is trying to do the best they can. Overall, I thought a good day for the team.”

A good day for the team and the driver just did his job flawlessly, like he has all year long.