With every driver in the Pro Stock class taking aim at the dominating KB/Summit Racing trio of Jason Line, Greg Anderson, and Bo Butner, West Texan Chris McGaha said, "I want to be the guy who finally beats the KB Racing cars. I want to be the guy who kicks the leg out and watches the chair fall. I want to be that guy."

But another Texan, young Alex Laughlin, of Granbury, near Fort Worth, got to be that guy Saturday.

The Gas Monkey Energy Chevy Camaro driver, gathering force like a Panhandle twister in his first full season, made his move in the final session of qualifying for the NHRA's Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

Running side by side with resurgent Erica Enders in the class' last pairing of the day, Laughlin knocked her off the top spot with a 6.926-second elapsed time at 199.02 mph on the suburban Denver quarter-mile course.

She countered with a 6.933, but it wasn't enough for her 19th career No. 1 start. Laughlin earned his first, also holding off No. 3 Shane Gray, his Pro Stock mentor, who was only four-thousandths of a second behind Enders.

Maybe it’s that Lone Star State swagger, but Laughlin was no meek newcomer Saturday. He said that "honestly, yes," he knew he would put up No. 1 numbers on that last qualifying run.

"I even contemplated after the burnout putting my hand out and putting the No. 1 sign up in the air," the normally polite, well-mannered young man said. "But I didn’t want to seem too proud or cocky. Man, we've just had the best car this weekend. We tested her last week, and that made all the difference in the world. Our guys have worked so hard for this. We'll see what happens from here."

One thing that will happen that he is certain about is that he'll reach at least the quarterfinals Sunday. He has a bye in the field that's short a car.

He said late Saturday, "I'm not even worried about tomorrow right now."

Back in April, as Laughlin prepared to race in his home state, at Houston, he said, "It seems like our goals keep changing. First it was to win a round, but now that we’ve done that, ultimately I would love to end up getting a No. 1 qualifier and winning a race. That would be incredible."

It would be quite a story if he could parlay this triumph over the class' toughest competitors, including Anderson, Line, and Butner, who are 4-5-6 in the order. Those three have hogged not only every victory but every runner-up finish, except for McGaha's at Phoenix and Allen Johnson's at Epping, N.H.

Can he deny the KB/Summit team a 14th consecutive runaway victory?

Laughlin wasn't making any predictions Saturday, although he was brimming with confidence, now that his car has stopped behaving what he called "super-consistently inconsistent."

He said, "There's just something about our car – knock wood. It's been flawless lately."

Laughlin said he's looking beyond even a victory. Early on in the season, he said, "One of our primary goals is to make it to the Countdown. Being in the Countdown is definitely our No. 1 goal."

He and Enders are fighting for the 10th and final berth for the six-race playoff that starts in September in the NHRA's return to Charlotte. Right now he has it and she wants it. Enders, the two-time and current champion, entered this race just eight points behind Laughlin.

Laughlin said, "We're just plugging away. We have some more stuff in the shop we can still bring out to the track."

The Gray Motorsports team and currently sidelined Pro Stock veteran Larry Morgan have supplied advice this season for Laughlin, who competed at seven races in 2015.

"I think I would have just been completely lost if I would have just jumped right into these EFI engines," Laughlin said. "Getting in the car last year definitely helped me. Gray Motorsports has been a huge help. Those guys definitely know what they’re doing. Even in January, we didn’t really know where we were going to be. To be where we are now, we definitely can't complain."

He certainly wasn't complaining Saturday evening, not even after waiting out yet another rain delay. He became the second straight driver to swipe the No. 1 spot away from a KB challenger. Gray did at the previous race, at Chicago.

Moreover, he led Friday's first session with a 6.990, then lurked in third place provisionally by the end of the opening day and again after Q3 Saturday.

Erica Enders, meanwhile, in the Elite Motorsports/Mopar Dodge Dart, is hoping to capitalize, too, on a milestone.

"This race marks the 10-year anniversary of my first race with Mopar, back in 2006," Enders said. "Pretty cool deal." At that time she was a teammate to her now-husband Richie Stevens, as well as to Shaun Carlson and Gene Wilson.

The group of No. 1 qualifiers included Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Courtney Force (Funny Car), and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

"The Hemis have run well on the mountain for years and years and years. I've raced up on the mountain for the last 12, 13 years, so hopefully my experience comes into play. Hopefully, this can be a turnaround weekend for us."

Enders described what it is like for a Pro Stock driver in Denver's thin air.

"It's very different as a driver," she  said. "Pro Stock being a naturally aspirated class, we're the ones who are most affected by the thin air. We're the ones who probably run the slowest, according to class. From a driver's standpoint, the clutch feels completely different, your shift points come at a completely different time, and the way the motor accelerates is very different. Driving with your ear is completely out of the question."

 What's not out of the question is some gritty performances Sunday as she and Laughlin continue to duke it out for points and a precious spot in the playoffs.