Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 12:53 PM Pritchett Holds Top Fuel Pole

Courtesy of NHRA Communications Photo copyright 2017 Auto Imagery, Inc.

CHANDLER, Ariz. -

Leah Pritchett

Don Schumacher always tells his drivers to never worry about Sunday until Sunday and the first goal at every event is to first qualify.

Don Schumacher Racing's seven active drivers are taking his orders to a much higher level or they misunderstood and thought he meant always qualify first.

DSR swept the No. 1 nitro qualification positions in the same event for the 30th time on Saturday evening and second time in two races this year when world-record holder Leah Pritchett and the Papa John's Pizza dragster held the pole in Top Fuel and Tommy Johnson Jr. in Terry Chandler's Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T shot to the top in Funny Car on his last qualifying run.

It was perhaps the most outstanding combined effort for DSR during qualifying at any NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event as Dodge Hemi engines powered by Pennzoil sent its three dragsters to 1-2-3 in Top Fuel and the organization's Funny Cars are seeded 1-3-4-6 for Sunday's eliminations that will begin at 11 a.m. (MT) at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix.

For Pritchett, it is her second No. 1 qualifying position in two events of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and her third over the past six events dating to last October.

The driver of the Papa John's Pizza Top Fuel dragster led by crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam will open the NHRA Arizona Nationals with a first-round bye for the second consecutive event in her quest for a second straight title and second in a row at Wild Horse.

Pritchett's pole-winning run was on Friday when her Papa John's crew helped propel her gold dragster to an NHRA world record with a time of 3.658 seconds. Three weeks ago, she posted a time four-thousandths of a second quicker in testing but records only can be set at a Mello Yello race.

"Our times today weren't what we would have liked but we learned a lot about our Papa John's Pizza dragster that will help us Sunday when we race for the trophy," she said.

"Holding on the pole is huge for us because we get a first-round bye to start the day. We want to run quick to go for lane choice in the second round but we also can try some things that other team's won't get a chance to do."