Cruz Pedregon topped Funny Car qualfying in the NHRA Gatornationals for the third year in a row and fifth time overall, powering to a 4.068-second run at 308.21 mph Saturday in his Toyota Camry.
The 1998 Gainesville winner will open Sunday against 16-time world champion John Force.
“I looked at the time slip at the finish line and noticed that it ran really well to each increment,” Pedregon said. “It gave me the confidence to say, `I don’t think anybody is going to run this.’ From what I could see, we pretty much got all of it that we could. It had good splits, fast speed through the middle, and ran to the finish line. That was basically like, `If you want some, come get some.’”
Shawn Langdon led in Top Fuel, Dave Connolly topped the Pro Stock field, and Michael Ray was the fastest in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Langdon improved his leading time from Friday with a 3.776 at 320.58, Connolly had a 6.476 at 213.98 from Friday, and Ray finished at 6.793 at 197.74 on a Buell.
