As a drag racing fan, you know you're in for a treat when one of drag racing's most decorated crew chiefs goes into "Secret Squirrel" mode. At least that's how Mike Salinas sees it.

Salinas' tuner, Alan Johnson, along with Brian Husen, were in full secret squirrel revelation Friday as they tuned the Scrappers Dragster to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position with a 3.752 elapsed time at 326.08 miles per hour. Salinas is .03 quicker than No. 2 ranked Leah Pruett with two sessions remaining in qualifying. 

"We're doing it at the right time, and we've been working on quite a few things, a lot of 'Secret Squirrel' stuff' trying to get this stuff ready," Salinas said. "But we want to do it at the right time and we feel that we have the package to do it."

Salinas has maintained a steady pace since pulling into the top ten following the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio. Since then, Salinas has ascended as high as sixth, recording two semifinals and one quarterfinal finish. He'd likely be higher if he didn't miss the Vegas Four-Wide event.

"It's the slow and steady pace, and you'll do just fine," Salinas said. "You don't have to win every race. But what you do have to do is focus on what you're doing. We got a game plan, we really do. We just want to make sure that what we're doing is at the right time. The car is running spectacular. It's really smooth, really fast, and there's a lot more left in it, that I can tell you."

Salinas entered the event sixth in the points, less than a round behind No. 5 Shawn Langdon and two behind No. 4 Leah Pruett. He is content with a spot at the playoff table more so than which seat he occupies. However, this doesn't mean he's uninterested in premium seating with two races left in the regular season. 

"Every part of it, it counts," Salinas said. "It really does count. So the higher up you are, if you bobble at all, you have a little bit of a breathing room, but not much."  

Salinas barely had time to conduct a post-qualifying interview on Friday for having to race to the starting line to watch daughter Jasmine make a qualifying run with her Top Alcohol Dragster. 

One has to wonder how Salinas can keep pace with his own dragster when he's pulled in so many directions, each commanding the lion's share of his attention. 

"I'm a multitasker so doing one thing is kind of boring for me," Salinas said. "That's why we brought the Pro Mod on because I have a hard time just running Top Fuel at a race and sitting and waiting. This way, I don't have to sit and wait. I could run and go do different things."

All Salinas has to do is keep his secret squirrels running in the same direction and he will be just fine.