Robert Hight can’t help his sentimentality. The defending Funny Car world champion breathed a sigh of relief following the disqualification of Cruz Pedregon following the final qualifying session at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals. Because the NHRA disallowed Pedregon’s run, which would have placed him in the field, Hight’s original opponent John Force was moved up in the qualifying list.

“It is hard for me especially to race John because it is hard to have the same ‘go for the throat’ feeling as you do for the other competitors,” admitted Hight, who retained the top spot on the strength of Friday’s 4.067. “If it wasn’t for him I would not be sitting in that race car. He gave me this opportunity. You do have to blank all that out. You have to go up there and when we race my team wants to beat his team and they want to beat us. You just have to put all that out of your mind and focus on the tree.”

First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the 13th annual United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by Miller Welders at Route 66 Raceway, the tenth of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.  Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.

For the third time in the last four years, the team from Bob Lang’s Northeast Division (Division 1) claimed the overall team title at the Jegs Allstars. Following a heated battle, the teams from Divisions 1 and 5 finished in a dead heat with 1,300 points each. Using the tie-breaker method, the win went to the Division 1 squad, which has now won seven championships in the 26-year history of the Jegs Allstars competition. The Division 6 team finished third with 1,000 points.

Jack Beckman raced the new DSR chassis in the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car to No. 5 in qualifying for the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

He recorded a 4.151-second pass at 297.29 mph in his first run down Route 66 Raceway in Friday's only session because of a rain delay. The pass was good for No. 3 at the time. In today's two rounds, he posted a 4.159/287.78 (No. 4) and finally a 5.154/147.20, to earn No. 5.

Pro Stock racer had reason to celebrate following Saturday’s first qualifying session at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals. In his first race after being forced to the sidelines three years ago, the Louisiana-based Stevens was called over to speak to ESPN2’s Gary Gerould.

Veteran drag racing journalist Ian Tocher is in Orangeburg, SC., for the first event on the Outlaw Door Slammer Series promoted by George Howard and Roy Hill. He'll bring you the behind-the-scenes action throughout the weekend.

Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com is the title sponsor for this event.

Pro Stock Bike rider Craig Treble held on to the top spot through the final two qualifying sessions at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

Treble ran 6.960 seconds at 190.27 mph to claim the top spot during Friday’s lone session and improved during Saturday’s second run with a 6.932, 188.

This marked Treble's first No. 1 of the year, and the fourth of his career. His last No. 1 came in 2003 at the Pomona, Calif., season finale, where he won the event.

"It was a lot wetter last night and today it started drying out after the rain finally subsided," said Treble of the weather changes. "And you could ride the bike up there to the staging lanes and not have to dodge all the puddles all the way up there, so that was kind of nice. We saw the humidity dropping and this morning it was a lot better than last night, obviously. Everybody picked up a little bit and, man, I still can’t believe it.

Larry Dixon strengthened his points lead in Top Fuel as he raced to the No. 1 qualifier at the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

Robert Hight, Mike Edwards and Craig Treble also took the top spots in their respective categories at the 10th of 23 events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Dixon drove his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to the top of the field and posted a track record of 3.814-seconds at 317.42 mph. It was Dixon’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season and 43rd of his career.

If you're up for some Nostalgia Funny Car racing on Saturday evening, we have streaming event coverage of the event promoted by Beserko Bob Doerrer at Atco Raceway in Atco, NJ.