Washington State native JR Carr is no stranger to racing at the NHRA. But, behind the wheel of a large displacement Pro Stocker, he is. 

Saturday afternoon at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, the former 500-inch factory hot rod racer was able to extract a good amount of horsepower from his 800-plus inch Chevrolet to top Mountain Motor Pro Stock qualifying with a 6.273 elapsed time at 223.50 to blow by Elijah Morton and secure the No. 1 qualifying position during Saturday's Q-2 session in Brainerd, Minn. 

Carr was one of two drivers in the 6.20s, as No. 2 qualifier John DeFlorian recorded a 6.285. Mike Bell was third with a 6.304, while Dwayne Rice anchored the eight-car field with a 6.486.

This weekend's event marks the first time the Mountain Motor Pro Stocks have raced at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, meaning there were adjustments to make between Friday's hot and humid conditions to Saturday's much cooler climate. 

As for Carr, he courted Mother Nature just right. 

"Our adjustments were really good," said Carr, who runs the majority of his time in the eighth-mile PDRA series. "It's a long ways down after running eighth mile, but we made some really nice laps and the car reacted to the adjustments. The crew's been off the charts like always, and Frankie with building power. I mean, makes it look easy, but obviously it isn't easy, but we're really, really happy."

Carr says there's no doubt in feeling the difference from 500-inch to larger displacement cars. 

"The Mountain Motor deal's different than the 500 inches, for sure," Carr explained. "It's considerably more. I mean, obviously a bigger clutch, a little bit bigger transmission, bigger tire, but it's a 105 inch wheel base, so it's a handful. It's kind of like, I don't want to say old school Pro Mod, but back when Pro Mod probably had about this much power and a little bit bigger cars. So in a smaller car, it's a handful. But they're exciting to drive, because they always have your attention and they pull hard all the way through."

Carr has been a dominant driver in both short track and now a longer one. Being No. 1 and having a reputation for winning, he has a target tattoed on his back. 

"It has been all year," Carr admitted. "I let it get to me earlier, because then I wanted to be perfect instead of just good. And I basically beat myself everywhere where I went. Refocus, calm down, realized it's just another pass, obviously we take it serious and do as best we can every single time. But now that I've loosened up, I'm driving better, my reaction times are better, and I won the last two PDRA races. So, that's what it takes. I made it too hard, and now it's coming back around and we're in a good spot."

Being in a good spot means knowing what it will take to win. 

"The crew does the same thing every single time," Carr explained. "Frank [Gugliotta] sets it up the best he can every single time. And for me, I don't take nothing for granted; I don't take anybody lightly. You can't because if you do, you're going home. So I just, I try to get back to, hey, it's my lane, my tree, my car, I can't worry about or think about these other guys, what they're doing in their lane. They've got a lane, I got a lane, so my job is to do the best job I can in my lane, and hopefully, it's better than what they accomplish. It's getting a little easier, even though it's still hard. 

"I'm going to have to be really good every round, period. End of story. Shift points right on the money and good reaction times, good staging, all the shoots. Hopefully, I'm out front."