At the Masters Tournament, golfers play for the privilege of wearing the green jacket.

NHRA drag racers want to end qualifying with a green baseball-style cap.

Eddie Krawiec had gotten four of them in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class' previous six races. And Andrew Hines, his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate, hadn’t gotten any this year.

"Eddie has been stealing all the No. 1 qualifiers lately," Hines complained, only half-teasingly.

But Hines fixed that Saturday at Bandimere Speedway.

"It's nice to get one back for my side of the team," Hines said.

He relied on his Friday performance – a 7.161-second track-record run at 185.26 mph on the suburban Denver quarter-mile course – to set the standard for this 37th edition of the Mopar Mile-High Nationals.

This coincidentally was the career 37th top-qualifying position for Hines, who grew up a couple of hours away down Interstate 25 in Trinidad, Colo. He hopes to equal his older brother Matt's success at Denver with a fourth victory Sunday.

Andrew Hines is eyeing his second consecutive victory and third of the season, after winning in April at Charlotte and July 10 at Chicago. He'll start Sunday's eliminations against No. 16 Scotty Pollacheck.

Saturday's group of No. 1 qualifiers at the Western Swing kickoff included Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Courtney Force (Funny Car), and Erica Enders (Pro Stock).

"I have a good motorcycle. The key to that was the preparation coming into this event. It was started months ago, knowing that we wanted to come to Denver and regain our championship ways on the mountain. The preparation to come here is a long ordeal," Hines said. "We've had a lot of great success here, and my guys have given me such a flawless motorcycle that the least I can do is get to the startling line and try to put together an effort that's representative of how good our team is."

He said "a little bit of testing in the heat" Saturday assured him his bike has a strong tune-up, and he said he's ready to "reap the benefits." He said, "I thrive in the heat myself. So bring it on and we'll rumble up here on the mountain and see what happens."

Friday Hines said proudly that his No. 1 pass was "pretty good." He was right, as the closest anyone came to it was Krawiec, with his 7.177-second clocking that gave him a brief Q1 lead Friday. Star Racing's Angelle Sampey will start from the No. 3 gate. Her elapsed time was a mere one-thousandth slower than Krawiec's.

In his 15 years of racing at this venue, Hines is an accurate judge of what it’s like to race a Pro Stock Bike in these unique conditions.

"Everything takes place at different timing versus a sea-level track. We artificially rev the engines so much faster that things actually happen a little bit quicker and a little bit different. In high gear, it’s so much slower. You’re just waiting for the finish line to get there. It's kind of like you're along for the ride the last 7-800 feet of the track. Running up here is like nowhere else," he said.

Missing the field were Melissa Surber, Michael Phillips, Jim Underdahl, Steve Johnson, hometown hero Mike Berry, Lance Bonham, and newcomer Kristen Ashby.