The fans at the Route 66 Nationals were buzzing Friday night over Robert Hight’s record blast, but Hight was not surprised to set both ends of the track record.

“I called it Thursday at the press conference that track records were going to fall,” Hight said. “This is a great racing surface. “The fans look for those big numbers, and we’re trying to go harder. It’s exciting.”

Taking advantage of the cooler night air in the second qualifying session at the Joliet, Illinois facility, Hight blasted a pass of 3.851 seconds at 334.73 mph.

“A lot of it is the advancement of Funny Car over the last two years,” Hight said. “There’s hardly a race track that we go to where we don’t set records. If we are able to lock things down as well as we know we can, then in the night session Saturday there is no reason we can’t improve these numbers.”

Hight is winless on the season, with just a single No. 1 qualifying spot.

Jack Beckman is currently second in Funny Car qualifying after his pass of 3.856 at 303.23 mph. Beckman drives the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge that was funded by Terry Chandler, who died Tuesday from cancer.

Backed by mechanical masterminds Neal Strausbaugh, John Medlen and Dean Antonelli, Beckman held the track record before Hight.

Beckman, who came within five-thousandths of a second of topping the Hight standard was emotional after climbing from his car Friday.

“That one was for Terry," Beckman said. “Everyone on her team here is elated with our effort, and it was for Terry. You'd love to be the quickest of the night and have a chance to flex your muscles under the great conditions. We're extremely happy with the way our Dodge ran. We're OK with someone only beating us by a few thousands. We did everything we needed to do."

Beckman lost to defending Funny Car champion and DSR teammate Ron Capps on June 18th in an exciting final in the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. After grabbing the hole shot, Capps produced a run of 4.054 at 317.05 mph while Beckman followed at 4.040 at 319.29 mph.

 Beckman has won two of the past three events, displaying courage by racing through an explosion two weeks at the Summit Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

 Courtney Force grabbed the No. 3 spot Friday with a pass of 3.880 at 331.36 in her Advance Auto Parts Camaro.

DSR's Matt Hagan is ranked fourth, with Capps in eighth.

Tommy Johnson Jr., driver of Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge jumped from 13th to sixth in the late session with a run of 3.913 at 326.00.

Qualifying for the 20th annual Fallen Patriots NHRA Route 66 Nationals continues at 3:15 and 6:00 p.m. Saturday.