As they say in sports, the best competitors shine brightest on the biggest stage.

And that has certainly proven true for J.R. Todd.

Todd has saved some of the biggest accomplishments of his career for the biggest stages in the sport, including winning at the U.S. Nationals last year. And on Friday, Todd was once again back at it, powering to the top of the Funny Car charts and heading the field after one of five qualifying sessions at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway.

And if the time holds, it will be his very first No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car.

“It would be huge. I have never been No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car. We have never really been a top qualifying team since I started driving,” Todd said. “When they had Del (Worsham) driving, they were ripping No. 1 qualifiers left and right and I think we are finally getting back to that. The changes that are being made are going back to those days. It’s huge for me to be the No. 1 qualifier at the U.S. Nationals. Now we just have to finish this deal.”

Todd drove the DHL Toyota Camry to a 3.910-second pass at 325.45 mph in the one and only session on Friday and the only scheduled night session of the weekend. Bob Tasca followed just behind with a 3.928 at 322.65 mph, while Matt Hagan was third with a 3.943 at 324.05 mph.

Tommy Johnson Jr. (3.948) and Tim Wilkerson (3.952) rounded out the top five. 10-time No. 1 qualifier and points leader Courtney Force is currently 11th.

“Listening to Todd (Smith) and Jon (Oberhofer) back in the pit before that run, they weren’t expecting to run that well,” Todd admitted. “They were worried they were going up there not tuned up enough because of the weather. I’m guessing the air got better as the night went on which kind of tunes the car for you.

“When Tasca went out there with a 92 that is when I saw Todd run back and make some adjustments. As a driver, whenever you see that, it gets you pumped up. For us, three-second runs have been hard to come by up until Brainerd. Finally, in the semifinals, we ran a 97 and we kind of saw the light at the end of the tunnel. We really hadn’t run that well all season long, so that gave us a lot of hope coming into this event.”

And, most importantly, coming out of the box with the quickest pass sets the team up well for the rest of the weekend, especially as the heat brings elapsed times down and may prove tough for others to topple Todd’s time.

“The Friday night run is key for qualifying. It is more just putting on a show for the fans, but it is important because it is going to be hot the rest of the weekend and it is going to be hard for teams to improve on what they did tonight,” Todd said. “For me, I struggle driving at night. I was driving all around that run and when I saw the 91 come up on the scoreboard, I was like, ‘holy crap.’ It is a testament to those guys. They are a badass group.”

As Todd looks at a possible repeat victory at the U.S. Nationals, a rare feat in the professional categories, the added points-and-a-half also allows Todd an opportunity to potentially make up more ground in the title hunt entering the Countdown to the Championship.

“I hadn’t been back here until last Wednesday and when I went through the gate, it brought back a lot of memories. And the cool part is, everyone announces you as a U.S. Nationals champ,” Todd said. “Last year we kind of went through the same thing we are going through now, struggling in the summer and then turning it around and now here we are again.

“I like where we are at points wise coming in here and I am hoping we can win this thing and gain some more points on the cars in front of us. We are not all that far out of third and my goal at the beginning of the year was being top five coming into the Countdown. We are right there.”