Because of rain delays that repeatedly interrupted the start of the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals, the Pro Stock class had just one qualifying chance Friday, and Drew Skillman made the most of it.

The suburban Indianapolis racer from Bargersville seized the top qualifying position Friday with a 6.925-second elapsed time on the Bandimere Speedway quarter-mile and showed the consistency of his Ray Skillman-branded Camaro by matching that early Saturday. He shaved one-thousandth of a second from that later Saturday and topped the order with a 6.924. Skillman did pick up some speed in the second session, improving his 197.94-mph clocking to 198.26 and finally a 198.29.

For a young racer who claims he has “never had a game plan – We just go with it and see what happens. We play it by ear” – Skillman looked like a crafty veteran on Thunder Mountain.

And for a humble third-generation competitor who argues that “I’m not the best driver of all-time, for sure. I’m still young - not the best driver on the planet,” Skillman found a measure of confidence Saturday as he prepared to go for back-to-back victories.

“We’re going to win this thing, I think – feel good about it,” Skillman said after nailing down his first top-qualifying position of the year and fourth of his career.

He said, “Denver’s always super-consistent. It has a cold starting line [thanks to a specially designed cool pad installed several years ago]. So the track’s always really good. We have a great race car, and the track’s always awesome.”

Moreover, he said, “Confidence is key. When you come off the trailer with a good race car, everyone’s up. So everyone’s feeling good. We feel confident for tomorrow.”

He graded his driving as “consistent,” saying, “I was bad in the same areas [as Friday] and good in the same areas. Can’t complain.”

Skillman is the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ most recent Pro Stock winner, at Chicago – and his runner-up there at Route 66 Raceway, Erica Enders, happens to be the No. 2 qualifier this weekend.

Skillman will square off against Enders’ husband, Richie Stevens, in the first round of eliminations Sunday, with the chance to have a bye run in Round 2 and a free pass into the semifinals. However, he said, he isn’t dwelling on that: “Everyone in the top eight are killers.”

The class drew only 14 entries for this Western Swing kickoff in the Denver suburb of Morrison, Colo.