Drew Skillman, driving his family-owned Ray Skillman Chevrolet Camaro, held onto the Pro Stock lead he established Friday night to claim his first top-qualifying position of the season, sixth overall, and first on the quarter-mile at zMAX Dragway.

With his 6.534-second elapsed time, he’ll head the 16-car NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals field Sunday at Concord, N.C.

“Our car’s run pretty good all weekend. After the second hit, we just had a lot of momentum going forward. I don’t know what ended up happening in Q4, as far as the low E.T. All of us in the last quad were within a ‘thou’ of each other.”

He’s a young man of few words, but as he spoke, his voice contained a hint that he might have felt lucky to emerge as the quickest in this lineup.

Composing that quartet were Deric Kramer and Skillman with identical 6.574-second elapsed times, Jeg Coughlin at 6.575, and Greg Anderson at 6.577.

“We have a little bit of work to do [before] Sunday. But our team’s ready. The car’s ready. And I’m ready to go,” he said.

“I think tomorrow’s going to be totally different. We’re going to have cool weather come back in,” Skillman said. “You race the track on Sunday. It’s always different. Prep’s a little less, and with this cool weather coming on, the tracks; going to get better and better throughout the day.”

Skillman said he prefers “normal drag racing” but said he’s “getting more and more comfortable with the four-wide [format]. It’s a little less confusing. All the drivers seem to be on the same page, finally. That’s the biggest part, getting everyone on the same page. No one’s dinking around, for lack of a better term. Everyone knows when they pull in the water, it’s time to do it. As long as there aren’t people screwing up and double-bulbing it and doing all that other fun stuff, we’ll be all right.”

The Bargersville, Ind., resident is seeking his first four-wide victory and his first of this year. If he can win Sunday, he’ll have his eighth Pro Stock trophy.

Skillman has been all over the map when it comes to his place in the standings: fifth, eighth, fourth, seventh, and ninth, in that order. So he needs to stabilize his move toward the top of the Countdown to the Championship list.  

Just as in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, it’ll be difficult, with a tight field. For example, Anderson and Vincent Nobile were the second- and third-place qualifiers Saturday, just one-thousandth-of-a-second apart at 6.548 and 6.549 seconds.

Val Smeland (6.655 seconds) secured the 16th and final spot in the order. The Camaro racer from Shirley, N.Y., will face Skillman in the opening quartet Sunday, along with the respective Nos. 8 and 9 starters, Erica Enders and Jason Line.

Wally Stroupe and Tommy Lee did not qualify.