Steve Torrence is the fellow in the Top Fuel crowd who keeps leaping up and down and holding up his hands as if to say, "Hey, look at me! I'm here, too!"

The gritty Texan has been out of the top five in the standings following only one race this season. He was runner-up at the U.S. Nationals, the previous race. He has an above-.500 round-win percentage. And early Saturday, in the third overall qualifying session of the Pep Boys NHRA Carolinas Nationals, he zipped to the top of the order.

Steve Torrence is the fellow in the Top Fuel crowd who keeps leaping up and down and holding up his hands as if to say, "Hey, look at me! I'm here, too!"

The gritty Texan has been out of the top five in the standings following only one race this season. He was runner-up at the U.S. Nationals, the previous race. He has an above-.500 round-win percentage. And early Saturday, in the third overall qualifying session of the Pep Boys NHRA Carolinas Nationals, he zipped to the top of the order.

But Friday leader JR Todd took back what he had claimed with a 3.804-second elapsed time at 317.64-mph speed in the Optima Batteries Dragster in his final turn Saturday on the 1,000-foot course at zMAX Dragway at Concord, N.C.

This is Todd's first No. 1 qualifying position of the year and third of his career. It's the second time this season he has been toward the top of the grid at Charlotte to begin Sunday eliminations. At the four-wide version this spring, Todd started from the No. 2 spot.

Saying he needs "to be in attack mode," Todd indicated his dragster was showing signs of that in his first run Saturday.

 He said he was "more impressed with the run we had going in Q3" than he was with the blast that knocked Torrence down to No. 2 in Q4.

"That was pretty spectacular, with the early numbers," Todd said of the incremental data (.844 seconds at 60 feet, 2.145 at 330 feet, and 3.031 at 286.44 mph at 660 feet). "The blower belt came off before the finish line. We were fortunate enough to sneak around Torrence in Q4 and grab the top spot."

Clay Millican, Todd's first-round opponent Sunday, set the bump position at 3.902 seconds. He aced out Terry McMillen, who was seven-thousandths of a second slower. Chris Karamesines and Ike Maier also missed the cut.

Said Todd of Millican, "He's one of those guys that can sneak up and bite you. It's going to be a battle from here on out. We need to be in attack mode."

The Kalitta Motorsports driver said, "We need to get all the points we can. It's a great start to the Countdown for us."

Kalitta Motorsports claimed the two No. 1 qualifying positions in the nitro ranks, for Alexis DeJoria will lead the Funny Car field.

Other match-ups of particular interest have No. 2 Torrence against No. 15 Richie Crampton in a rematch of the previous race's final round, Don Schumacher Racing drivers Spencer Massey and Antron Brown meeting as the respective Nos. 8 and 9 qualifiers, and No. 6 Shawn Langdon and No. 11 Khalid alBalooshi promising to neutralize the Al-Anabi Racing attack.

The rest of the first-round pairings have No. 3 Doug Kalitta versus No. 14 Morgan Lucas, No. 4 Billy Torrence vs. No. 13 Pat Dakin, No. 5 Tony Schumacher vs. No. 12 Bob Vandergriff, and No. 7 Brittany Force vs. No. 10 Leah Pritchett.

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