JR Todd just couldn't let Top Fuel journeyman Pat Dakin have his shining moment of glory Saturday at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Concord, N.C.

And the Kalitta Motorsports driver stole the spotlight in dramatic fashion on a day with only two chances to qualify, rebounding quickly from a top-end engine blow-up.

Todd rewrote Dakin's track elapsed-time record at 3.713 seconds (and 309.63 mph) on the zMAX Dragway 1,000-foot course – and swiped from Dakin the No. 1 qualifying berth by a mere two-thousandths of a second (at more than nine miles an hour slower than Dakin's best effort of 3.715, 318.84). Dakin, presumably to protect his lower-budget investment, had opted out of the last session.

The Red Line Oil / Kalitta Air driver reflected on his career-quickest pass, which put out a cylinder at the top end of the track, saying, "The thing didn't make it to the finish line under power. I thought it was going to run a 3.70, if not a (3.)69. But hopefully we get three more shots at it tomorrow and maybe maybe improve on that 71. But tomorrow it's all about win lights and not how quick we can go."

His team kicked into overdrive Saturday to fix the results of a top-end engine explosion, and Todd paid them back in the best way possible.

"We put a cylinder out the first run and blew it up big-time at the finish line," he said. "So my guys, they were thrashing between rounds to get it back together. So that was a good way to reward them, with that No. 1."

It was the four-team Top Fuel-Funny Car operation's first top-qualifier result of the season.

Todd said he's anticipating a 3.69-second pass during eliminations: "I think you can get one tomorrow, for sure." He named fellow Kalitta Motorsports crew chief Jim Oberhofer, Alan Johnson, and Morgan Lucas Racing's Aaron Brooks as a few of the tuners who might pull such a number from his sleeve.

"I was kind of mad we didn’t get to run yesterday, because we needed some cars on the track to get the rubber laid down that we need. The air the way it is and the track being new, it’s just throwing these teams a little bit of curve ball," Todd said. Looking at the weather forecast all week, I think everybody's been licking their chops to get here and run. That second session [Saturday], that could prove that there are bigger runs out there."

One of Todd's Round 1 opponents will be points leader Shawn Langdon, who bumped out Terry McMillen to limp into the show in the second and final run of the rain-shortened qualifying process with an uncharacteristic, traction-troubled 5.089-second E.T. Joining their quad grouping for the opening blast will be mid-packers Antron Brown (No. 8), the 2012 champion and 2015 Pomona runner-up, and Dave Connolly (No. 9), who's looking for a breakout performance in his rookie season in the class.

Todd said Langdon, despite his Saturday woes, "can go out there and run a (3).69 tomorrow. It's going to be a driver's game, for sure. You’re going to have to leave on time and all three of those [in his group] are capable of putting up big numbers. So it's quite an interesting quad there."

No. 3 starter Tony Schumacher established top speed of the meet so far with a 328.94-mph performance in the U.S. Army Dragster.

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