Leah Pritchett was looking to get her season on track and the Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel driver took a big step in that direction Saturday.

Pritchett captured her first No. 1 qualifying spot of 2018 with her track record elapsed time of 3.680-seconds at 326-mph at the SpringNationals near Houston, Texas.

“It definitely has been a struggle,” Pritchett said. “One of the things I’m proud about with our team is the amount of unity where each individual knows what he has done right or done wrong. We have been very outspoken and learned from that. It’s easy to get down. You take last season and this season and wonder what the difference is. The difference is last year we were racing and this year we are developing and now we are developing and racing. We know we need to be exceptional because our competition is exceptional.”

Pritchett then took a moment to describe her run which blasted her to the top of the qualifying ladder.

“Going into that run in Q4, obviously we needed to lay down the numbers. What we had in our packages before should have produced that,” Pritchett said. “Time and time again, it is adversity, not lifting, not lifting, not letting up. That run I knew by 100 feet that we had got that first part right. The second quarter of the track I had this nice little quiver, and, in my mind, I am saying that’s the high-speed quiver that we are going after, and it started moving. Every track, even though they look the same, they are all 1,000-feet and they are all flat, they have different characteristics. Specifically, at this track, it is keep the dragster straight and in the groove. I was thinking if this isn’t No. 1, I don’t know what is.”

When Pritchett saw she was No. 1 it was a relief.

“Finally, we have it figured out,” she said. “Everybody needs a little confidence here. The feeling we have of doing well is something we needed. You make certain moves to advance yourself and you also make certain moves to advance your team. You have to not give up from an intellectual standpoint and you have to think outside your comfort zone as a tuner and I’m proud to say our Mopar team has a lot of guts.”