On Friday, the Top Fuel drivers only made one qualifying pass at the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals.

That’s because the second round of Top Fuel qualifying was cancelled by NHRA officials because they didn’t believe the round could be completed before the 10 pm strict curfew at Infineon Raceway.

Well, Larry Dixon’s lone run Friday of 3.839 seconds at 317.79 mph in his Al-Anabi dragster was the best in the class for the weekend and won him his fifth pole of the season.

“It was nice to get this pole,” said Dixon, whose 317.79 mph on that pass also was a track record. “I think all of the Top Fuel drivers certainly would have liked to have had a shot at the Friday night session to improve their numbers. But, having two more sessions during the day and getting more of a realistic feel of what race day will be like is better for your Sunday racing.”

On Friday, the Top Fuel drivers only made one qualifying pass at the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals.

That’s because the second round of Top Fuel qualifying was cancelled by NHRA officials because they didn’t believe the round could be completed before the 10 pm strict curfew at Infineon Raceway.

Well, Larry Dixon’s lone run Friday of 3.839 seconds at 317.79 mph in his Al-Anabi dragster was the best in the class for the weekend and won him his fifth pole of the season.

“It was nice to get this pole,” said Dixon, whose 317.79 mph on that pass also was a track record. “I think all of the Top Fuel drivers certainly would have liked to have had a shot at the Friday night session to improve their numbers. But, having two more sessions during the day and getting more of a realistic feel of what race day will be like is better for your Sunday racing.”

On Saturday, Dixon, who is the season points leader, made qualifying passes of 3.950 seconds and 3.887 seconds. Antron Brown’s 3.863-second run Friday kept him in second on the qualifying ladder. Hot Rod Fuller had the best run Saturday at 3.873 seconds, which secured the third spot for him.

“I thought our car ran good Saturday,” said Dixon. “It was fourth quick in the first session and second quick in the second session, so all-in-all it was a good day and it has been a good weekend so far.”

A year ago, Dixon qualified No. 2 at Infineon, but was upset in the first round by Mike Strasburg. Dixon’s last win at Sonoma came back in 2003.

“We just need to make good runs Sunday,” said Dixon, who is coming off a second round loss to Shawn Langdon last Sunday in Seattle. “We need to see what the conditions are for the track itself and how it is prepped and hopefully we can make four good runs. I know everybody on the Al-Anabi team feels good about the day (Saturday) and we’re just getting ready for race day Sunday.”

When Dixon has advanced to the final round, he has been perfect winning all seven times.

Dixon has advanced to at least the semifinals in 10 of the 14 events so far this season, and he also has qualified in the top three at 13 of the 14 races.